Bleh

So for the last few weeks everyone around me has been sick with the most horrible flu. I generally don't get sick too often (I replace illness with injury more often than not) and this time I fought hard against it with appropriate amounts of sleep, vitamin C, fruit and vegetables as well as regular exercise. it was a close call, but I was managing until I ended up standing outside in the freezing cold for hours waiting to vote.

 

On Thursday morning I woke up with a sore throat but I was otherwise fine, but lunchtime I was halfway through Leia's box of tissues (she was very kind to offer them regularly). for the record, she's just started her very own, very first blog, so please go check it out! She's putting tons of time and effort into it (and I think I might have given her the flu...). Anyway by Thursday night I was battling to breath and pretty much totally miserable.

 

Friday was pretty unpleasant, particularly because I had to teach fungi (according to the lecturer it's pronounced "fun_dje-eye") to my batch of first year kiddies. I could have persuaded someone to cover for me, but as I'm heading off on fieldwork before their next lab i wanted to say goodbye. It was very cute, when I finished giving them tons of advice for the rest of their labs (we do a little beginning-lab briefing session) i broke the news and they all said "awww" and seemed saddish. One of the nicer kids wasn't there which was sad, bit the one with a rapidly-developing attitude problem was absent, which made my life much easier!

 

They all worked merrily away and left after a few hours, most of them stopping to say goodbye and thank you to me, which was quite bizarre - this group has been the best first year lot I've had, but I have never pretended to care about them, and I'm pretty sure they're aware that I have no further influence on their marks! One girl ran over and hugged me and refused to let go, which was extremely awkward, as she's quite short and I'm rather tall, so I had a vice-like grip around my ribcage while she went on and on about her labs with me being the bright spot in her week. At the same time her friend, who was waiting for her, walked up to us and said "Can we leave now or are you two having 'a moment'?" I kept patting the kid on the back rather awkwardly until she went away.

 

I spent Saturday at the vet, trying to do my job but largely unable to talk. One of the regular clients came in, and i groaned inwardly - she's the one who loved to chat, and both vets hide from her. I was quite unfriendly, but I just couldn't handle making small-talk, when all I wanted was for her to go away so I could blow my nose. I was supposed to wait to be paid after my shift, but I just said goodbye to the vet on duty and went home, where I had some tomato soup and collapsed until the next morning. That was about 18 hours of sleep! I got up in the evening to get a hot-water bottle to put on my chest, and to take more flu-caps and med-lemon, but otherwise it was me, in bed, with a box of tissues on my pillow, a dustbin next to my bed for said tissues, and my trusty ipod which was pretty useless because my ears were blocked and I was almost totally deaf...

 

And by Sunday I was almost totally better, but with an awful cough and a voice somewhere between Macy Gray and Norah Jones... Fortunately Monday was a public holiday and I was able to watch a ton of movies at work, while getting some or other brand of cough syrup from the pharmacy next door - apparently it's highly addictive because something like 3 of the four ingredients are controlled substances, all I know is that it tastes bad enough to be something I will be more than happy to quit! Unfortunately it works so I have to live with it for a few more days!