If you’ve looked in on the blog at all this week, you’ll know I haven’t been very happy. The cold that won’t go away is actually bronchitis, I’ve had toothache from hell (filling fell out, dentist put a temp in and it hit the nerve) and my first ever nosebleed, I have been in the wars and very unhappy about it. Normally, this is the point I make a joke about being grumpy and move on but today I want to actually talk about it.
The bronchitis is two weeks old and because I’ve been on my own at work, I’ve had to go in. I’ve not been sleeeping properly, doing anything strenuous makes me cough and wheeze, and my temperature control is all over the place. I’ve been doing all the sensible things because surely it’ll be over soon. I’m just tired and fed up with being tired, my sunny attitude has completely vanished. It’s got to be over soon.
The toothache added to this has just made everything feel impossible to cope with, the last time I was in this kind of pain was when my wisdom teeth were pulled out. Generally, I cope with pain in a traditionally English fashion and carry on as best I can, but dental pain is the one thing that I really can’t cope with, I think it’s because nothing seems to help and it’s not at all predictable. I’ve been near tears on more than one occasion (except that also makes me cough!). Yesterday it had finally calmed down enough that it didn’t hurt all the time.
Friday was the only day this week that I felt ok and life started to feel that it might be worth living. What it has done is made me realise how lucky I am that I’m not chronically ill and don’t suffer from chronic pain because if I did, I could not concentrate on anything and be at all productive. So the story of this week is it was grey and dull. I’m back at the dentist next week and the doctor said that it should be over in a week or two! Fingers crossed.
Food
1) Coffee and alcohol, no more than 3 times a week.
9/6 on the coffee, some days the thought of coffee was the only thing that got me out of bed in the morning.
7/6 on the alcohol, this was because on Wednesday night in desperation I used whiskey as a mouthwash, a remedy of last resort (after painkillers, asprin paste and bonjela.) Not a lot of whiskey less than 10mls, it was surprisingly effective!
Self care
2) No computer after 9pm on a school night (Sun to Thurs).
10/10 honestly I’ve been too tired to concentrate, you will have noticed how the blog has suffered this week!
3) Paint my nails!
Fail, took the varnish off at the weekend and didn’t get around to replacing until Friday. They are painted this morning and I could fake it but that feels like cheating!
4) Book an appointment with a dentist.
I went to see them and you know the result!
Home
5) Sort out the DVD’s in the living room.
Done, I need to blog about it
6) Sort out the pictures in the kitchen.
Not done as I need a trip to Ikea first, which is happening tomorrow.
Exercise
On the advice on the doctor I am not doing any gym until I can breathe properly that will probably be April, I may do some shorter, slower walking as the doc feels that some fresh air will do me no harm (although where I find that in London, I’m not sure!)
7) Gym twice a week.
0/4
8) 2 10k walks in March
Not in one go, I walked to the dentist and back twice which was 8km in all!
Nic Dempsey 