Back Foul Beast

While me and Jaysen have been wandering this deep, dark tunnel that is know as "Poorly Boys" we've woken up this morning and can actually see what appears to be a light around the next corner of this germ-ridden tunnel. It has had a lot of twists, turns and pitfalls, but I do believe we're almost over it all.

Last week I felt like arse. On a stick. And Jaysen joined me. I decided to keep him with me over the weekend, save him sharing his yuck with grandparents or Tamsyn. Thursday, the school phoned me to let me know he was sick, and to come and get him from school. They let me know just as I was leaving to get him from school anyway, and allowed me to take him out a massive FIVE minutes early. After investigation, turns out they sent him, his germs, and his puke-bowl, back into a class full of 9 year olds.

With the way that school harps on about their targets, numbers and everything else, you would have thought they'd have NOT put the vomiting kid back at his desk. So no doubt everyone will get a turn of that little fun-ride.

Anyway, I got him home, dosed him up, and he flaked on the sofa while I dozed in my chair. He then started being sick which I put down to his temperature, swapped his duvet for my summer one and he's not popped since. We've been coughing in unison, taking meds at the same time and generally doing nothing.

Yesterday morning we got up and felt a bit better, but last night one of his ears went red and he was crying with an ear ache. Joy. More paracetamol, and off to bed - I woke up at eight this morning to find a perky little boy with a bunged up nose, feeding and watering the rats, dog and cats.

He even made me a cup of tea. Clearly the alien got through his eardrum and took over.

So, on the grand scheme of things, he'll be back at school tomorrow, and has only had one day off sick. Well, one day PLUS five minutes.

He's still got a blocked nose, and I've still got a cold, but finally, we're exorcising the ManFlu demons.

The power of vicks compels you. The power of vicks compels you.

Germwatch 2008

I am so done with being ill now it's not even funny. When the docs first said I "likely" suffered from Chronic Fatigue/M.E, it was pointed out I will get all the germs doing the rounds, and they would linger.

Docs get something right - shock horror.

I wouldn't mind, but the old wives tale of sharing a cold to get over a cold should be WELL in affect by now. I've shared it with Ruth and her youngest, Mand and Jack, Jaysen has it, Tam might have it, I had given it to Kellie (but she's the one that gave it back!)... Lane was here yesterday so no doubt she'll be whining at me in the next week about how I made her poorly. Jo and Steve were here yesterday too collecting some stuff while I "helped", so they will probably be all germed up soon enough.

Of course, with Jaysen having it (And he is SO still going to school!), that means he'll infect his class, and eventually, bring back the third generation of mutation to infect me all over again.

People keep making really great suggestions. Starve a fever, feed a cold. Yes, because I am sure that helps. Eat fruit and veg. I have pure juice every day, usually have a couple of bits of fruit, and generally have veg with my dinner. Multivitamins to bolster the immune system. Do that too.

I am just a sickly person it would seem.

Mostly it's my head and throat that are affected. Blocked sinuses, headaches, sore throat and a bloody cough I cannot shake. Oh, and green goo. You all love hearing about the green goo. On top of this, I am drained physically and struggling to sleep properly.

Everyone loves the germs. Maybe I should share more.

*coughs at the screen*

Oopsie Daisy

You may have noticed that there are two Musical Monday posts today. Two! And more's the point, they are both numbered the same to boot. Oopsie Daisy indeed.

Luckily I can explain. Firstly, I'm a plank, but we knew this. Secondly, the Who song I posted on Thursday morning while I was doing house work. I set it to post on Monday. However, I had forgotten I'd done it. The Ting Tings song I posted last night at about half nine while I was half asleep chucking photos over to Mand to put on the Interwebs.

Aside from that, I woke up this morning with a three year old toddler snuggled up against me stealing my bed space. I feel worse this morning than I did yesterday. Thankfully, it's germ-related and nothing to do with booze. Where I've been so busy over the weekend I've not let the germs take a hold, but getting in last night and just flopping down, the germ invasion took over.

I'm still all croaky and bunged up, but now I've upgraded to "coughing green stuff" which is always nice. It's Manly though, so it's all good.

Not got a clue what's happening today - school run, back to Ruths for coffee, pop a few doors down and get Sally back from Cel. The house is clean and tidy being that I worked so hard on it, so that's good. I can get in later with Tam, put on Playhouse Disney and then just veg out.

Blergh I feel rough!

Germs, Water, Stress, Travel...

Being that the school is currently on half-term break, and being that I was poorly last week, the kids routine was all over the place once again.

I ended up with a stinking cold that left me completely exhausted. I literally spent four or five days just flopped out on the sofa. On the bright side, I watched the first two seasons of House MD, the first season of Extras, a couple of monster movies (which I previously ranted about), and caught up on some other films I'd not seen in a while.

The kids came back on Sunday... Or was it Saturday... Hmm... Anyways, we had a lot of laughs, running around playing and doing stuff. The weather was a bit grey over the weekend, but Sunday was evil rain hammering down out the sky.

So me and Kellie decided I should take the kids to hers, stay the night, and chill out. She has two kids, a 10 year old boy and a 6 year old girl, and they all pretty much got on. However, getting to hers was... Interesting. Monday was wet, dare I say wetter than the rest of the weekend. The three of us heading to the bus stop meant we got soaked. Then waiting for the bus, I put the kids in a phone box while I went from Soaked to Really Soaked.

Thankfully, it stopped raining once we got off at the other end, but there was a catch. Kellie lives on Canvey Island, a place prone to the occasional flood. And flood it did. The worst flooding in several years, apparently. It even made the front page of all the local papers.

Of course, being that it's lower than sea level, flooding is a given. Still, it could have been worse. Anyway - walking from the bus to Kellies, the kids pretty much waded the whole way. Sure, they could have walked around, but, well... kids ;)

Still, had a great time there, the kids marauded around, girls doing painting and colouring, the boys on the playstation - and finding any excuse to go outside and play in the "puddles".

Getting home, I had a couple of debt collectors turn up on the door which was nice... So had to pay them. Which was nice... Then went to Cels house where a power cut had messed with her computer. So I had to fix that. Her computer is a complete bitch, and a five minute job took nearly an hour. Gah! And between paying money, fixing computers, I received some news that my brain wasn't sure how to process, so I ended up puking all evening instead.

Which was nice...

On the bright side, I woke up this morning feeling much better. Germs are gone, I'm dry and warm, and while my stomach is all knotted from being sick for eight hours, I feel fine and good. Stress does funny things to me. Not sure I can go into it here, not yet anyways, so will be hanging fire before going into that.

Thankfully, it wasn't a bug. I felt fine until my tummy decided to evacuate, and then felt fine again. I'm not thankful it wasn't a bug for any real reason - except A) I didn't make my kids ill, B) I didn't make Kellie and her kids ill, and more importantly, C) I'm not going to be ill to go away for the weekend.

Ooooh I can't wait!

I Got A Lurgy

As I alluded to in my previous, I am poorly. Sunday night I noticed I had a bit of a scratchy throat (which is usually the first sign of an incoming yuck) and Monday morning, it was still there, with his friend, Mr Snotty Nose.

Of course, the weather report lulled me into a false sense of security with terms like "Extremely high pollen count" being bandied around. So I crossed my bits and hoped for that. Over the next couple of days, my energy levels crapped out, my aches and pains took over and I felt icker and icker.

I don't like feeling Ick.

While in town shopping today, I was struggling to walk, to keep up with Ruth (which is saying something...) and just wanted to sit. I even paid cash-money for flu meds which did sweet F-A. We got back to Ruths and I was sweating, freezing cold and felt crap. Ruth offered to get Jaysen, and when Jo said what time she'd be bringing Tam over, I called her, coughed in her general direction, and asked pretty please if she could keep her for a bit longer, which she was fine with and also offered to get Jaysen so I can just sleep.

Jaysen got in from school, and I flaked out on the sofa - he woke me up when Jo arrived to get him, and I flopped back on the sofa and watched the two movies to keep focused otherwise I'd not sleep tonight.

So, here I am sorting crap out before bed, waiting for the handful of meds to kick in and send me to La La Land for a few hours.

Dan is poorly. I tried to push through, but I had to throw in the towel. I just feel like a bit of a failure to be honest - having to rely on Jo to have the kids because I am poorly, yet the other single parents can deal with it without assistance. Next time I'll try better ;)

Now if you will excuse me, my head is ready to pop, my everything is hurting, and I need another drink. Yes yes, keep hydrated and all that.

Nighty night.

Poorly...

She was sick last night, is hot today, and not a happy bunny.
Well, she wasn't till I gave her some medicine - she's currently attacking Jaysen..

Uh Oh

After reading the "news" this morning about the rabies "scare" - I used the terms news and scare as loosely as possible - I went about my business and doing my own thing. However, after a while, the dreaded Boredom kicked in.

Now granted, I am clean, smooth from a shave, my hair is ever-so-sexy and clean (and conditioned!), and I am dressed. I have the balcony door open, which I sit beside, I have music blaring (check my Last.FM page), and I am contemplating some booze. It's nearly 2pm on a weekend, I can booze if I wanna.

Oh, and I am being spammed by an Aussie wench.

But, randomly clickity clicking around the web and I found myself looking at information about rabies, and, thanks to the internets and it's tubes, I am now a rabies victim. Bear with this, but assuming you read my blog on a fairly regular basis, you will HAVE to agree with the diagnosis:

The first symptoms are a flu-like fever (My temperature is always up and down, and I am always being asked "getting Man Flu") as well as Headaches that can last for "a few days" (Let's face it, I am a walking headache!). After that, the victim becomes Confused (No comment), Anxious (look at the state of my fingers and you will know I am always dealing with anxiety), as well as delirious (While it is tough being so studly, clever and great, there are those that believe I am delirious). Lastly, this will quickly develop into hallucinations (but pixies DO do my housework when I am tired and hurting!) and Insomnia...

See! I have Rabies!

Next time someone says "Bite Me" they will be sorry. And ooooh I could go around and infect the country. It'd be like 28 Days Later!

Back To It

With me having felt rough all week - the week Jaysen is off school no less - and doing nothing but fight the powers of daytime TV and falling asleep on the sofa, we decided this afternoon to head to a friends for dinner. Nothing fancy, but the kids played in one room, we had "adult" conversation in the other. My week off from school runs, early mornings and cleaning school uniform was replace by feeling pants.

Ugh.

I still don't feel great - though, of course, eating that tub of Amaretto Ice Cream certainly didn't help matters - but we came home early in order to get an early night. We had company all weekend, and now the house is quiet again, it's nice to drop my jeans, put my feet up, and burp foamy almond burps.

Damn ice cream.

Of course, having to get up at the arse-crack of Monday morning should be interesting, as I've been dealing with evil insomnia once again. Well, partly it's insomnia, partly it's napping during the day frying the poor body clock. But I've been dozing during the day and up from about midnight till some silly hour, either playing games, reading the internet, hassling people on MSN or, er, playing more games.

Last night I was up till gone five in the morning, the night before was 4am, and the night before that was 3am. To add insult to injury, I've been getting up against at around half eight, just a few hours later.

I can't say it's doing me any good, what with the date that is up coming, not to mention random stuff that I don't blog about getting into my head. When I am tired, I dwell on things, I replay events over and over in my head until they are completely different from the actual event, and, in general don't do myself any favours.

So, tomorrow morning I should be up early, get Jaysen sorted and get out to pay bills and buy some of that pesky food stuff the kids seem to need every day or two. I am hoping that by keeping busy I will be knackered but stay up, have another early night and get the body clock back onto GMT-London. Which means I am going to bed early, like, in about 10 minutes. I am so manly.

And I must buy some more ice cream tomorrow...

Rhymes With Bucket

So today, against my better judgement, I decided to attempt to reconstruct the dead computer. I put it off and put it off because, frankly, I was really hacked off with the whole situation. I've had a feeling it's been screwing of late, and expected it to go wrong, but not quite on such a monumental scale.

I had the main components out of the case and connected on my desk, testing everything I could with Jo's parts we knew were working. While having a rummage, I found the cause. My graphics card - the part that I prolly use most due to my gaming needs - has gotten hot. I don't mean "I bit on the hot side" I mean, "melted the fan" hot. To help out, the side of the case has been taken off, and a desk fan - the sort you crack out in the summer - is blowing on the inside 24/7. However, things have obviously gotten worse, and the graphics card has gotten so hot, the solder itself has melted.

Now, Wikipedia tells me this has a melting point of 180 to 190 °C (360 to 370 °F), so I would say the card has "well and truly overheated". Of course, it doesn't end there. One component of the graphics card, marked just "1R5" has fallen off completely. Two capacitors are loose. And, melted solder has dripped onto the motherboard and blown it. It's dead to the point, it doesn't even attempt t boot up. No beeps, no errors, no BIOS, just... dead.

So, unless I win the lottery, sell a kidney or otherwise find a case of money, it's no computer for me, just the laptop, which doesn't run games. The other components are all fine - I just the PSU, the Hard Drives and CD/DVD/Writer, plus the peripherals are fine too, so now I've just got to save up.

On top of this I am stressed out no end (I hate fixing computers when I know there's nothing I can do), plus feel rough as arseholes with some germs fighting their way into my body. Oh yes, my head is pounding too.

So yes, my computer. The solution. It rhymes with Bucket.

Pick-Me-Uppers

When I get down in the dumps, as it were, it's not always terribly difficult for me to get out of the funk. Of late, aside from a a few hiccups here and there, I've been mostly "up".

Minds out the gutter at the back there.

Of course, Bethy's birthday usually leaves me feeling a little more deflated than usual, plus having been poorly since Christmas, plus the insomnia, well, it kicked me in the balls a little harder than usual. However, Jo in her infinite wisdom (stop laughing again) decided that there was in fact one thing that would ultimately fix me up.

No, they don't sell that in Asda.

Stealing the phrase from Firefly, Jo made the perfect food that we call Wife Soup. I've blogged about it several times before, but if you want the recipe, you can find it on this post here. Which, coincidently, turns out to me the day after one of Bethys angel days.

See, she makes it to make me feel better.

Of course, being keen on experimenting, I had a very large bowl, followed by some more. Just to make sure it was cooked right.

Anyways, I'm still poorly, but I think I am on the mend at last. I'm not attempting to cough my internal organs across the room any more, and after a 4am throat-clearing fit, I got a large, hard lump of something out my throat, and a while later my voice started coming back. I spent yesterday sounding like a teenager with a breaking voice - it'd just turn off or change pitch while talking.

Body still feels like it was hit by a bus, head is still doing the "Wom-Wom-Wom" thing, and my sinuses are still trying to kick out the front of my face.

But then, does ones face have a back?

Oh yes, and insomnia still reigns. I've done a few 36 hour and 48 hour days in the last fortnight, several 20+ hours, and spent an inordinate amount of time wandering the house in the dead of night.

Ah yes, life - it's grand :D

(Yes, rambling - it's gone midnight and i'm on my wobbly pills)

Voice Gremlins

I feel rough. We all know this. Yesterday I could tell from my throat that I would wake up silent this morning. And I did. I've tried talking and as per usual, sound like a sick Ringwraith, rasping away.

But it hurts.

On top of this, my head is totally clogged up, and my sinuses are trying to force themselves out through the front of my face. Yeah, I feel sooo good.

Jo is still poorly too which makes this even more fun, plus she's dealing with a monthly guest which is even more fun.

If anyone happens to come across my voice, please clean the dust off it, and send it back. I might not like the sound of it, but demanding a cup of tea is so much more difficult without it, and the only sign language I know doesn't tend to get me what I want.

Germs In The House

As seems to be a bit of theme for British Bloggers at the moment, once again there are germs lurking in the house. It apparently wasn't enough for me to be poorly over Christmas. Within a couple of days into 2008 I started feeling a bit icky, and generally poop again.

Added to this, me and Jo have stomach aches, which have kept us awake most of the night. Plus with her "time of the month" visiting... Yep, it's all fun and games. Between stomach aches keeping us awake, her time of the month and my germ-filled head, everything is just peachy at the moment.

Touch Wood so far the kids are fine. Jaysen was taken in to school by Ruth this morning, and Tam is - as I write this - being moody because I won't let her eat crisps.

Anyways, thanks to everyone that has suggested help with my shaving - I have a half dozen different things to try out over the coming weeks, so thank you all :)

And to who ever asked about my phone plan - the Unlimited Texts apply to UK phones only. And according to the small print "Unlimited" means "3000"... Fair Usage Policy and all that ;)

On Keeping Strange Times...

Yes folks, I'm up at silly o' clock once more. I'm not entirely sure why I am awake (again) at half two in the morning, but I'm no longer surprised when I look at a clock and see some god-forsaken hour when the rest of the house is asleep. It's not so bad in the winter, as it's pretty much always dark when you look outside, but in the summer... That's when it drives me nuts.

I've not actually been to bed yet... Lane came over after church this evening, and we ended up watching Gladiator while gossiping. She decided that 1am was late enough for her, and half an hour later (you know women, bye doesn't mean bye) she left. I shut the door and am still awake. Pah.

Also, what isn't helping is the fact I woke up this morning with that feeling in the back of my nose and throat again. The sore, hurting feeling of Mr Germ tapping on my head and telling me "Pssst, you're going to be sick for a week!". For goodness sake, I only just shifted this bloody cold - how the hell did I get it back so soon?!

I figured for a change of pace to start with, I'd address some people I know and their own "insomnia".

"I often lay in bed reading till 3am"
No, not insomnia. You're just engrossed in your book.

"I wake up for a wee every night at about two!"
No, that's just your bladder needing emptying.

"I'm just so tired all the time"
Well, maybe, but probably more to do with disturbed sleep.

"I wake up at half five every morning without an alarm"
Good for you...

These are pretty much all random comments I get from people when I mention being up and about at silly hours of the day or night. For example - I just finished doing two days of washing up and cleaning the kitchen. People that have bad sleep vs insomniacs, this is the sort of thing I am talking about. I'm now sitting here blogging. As coherently as normal at nearly three in the morning.

In fact, people that try to sympathise with something they have NO idea about... Please, if you've never been in someones shoes, try to understand, but realise you really don't know what is happening, and piling on the overload of care is too much for some of us.

Before you judge a man, walk a mile in his shoes. After that who cares?... He's a mile away and you've got his shoes!

Plus, this is also a good time for random thoughts. For example, through the joys of Facebook, I've slowly slowly been coming back in contact that I grew up with - I'm talking people I first met twenty years ago, hung around with, played games, got in trouble. One of these has come back, and while we've not spoken yet, it's stirred up some strange memories I had forgotten about. There was a point a few years ago when I wanted to grab this person and shake them and ask what the hell they thought they were doing... But now, I don't know...

Not that all my thoughts are deep at this time of night. I once lay in bed for hours trying to work out why blue Fairy Liquid was blue, and if it now kills germs, what did it do before? And if the speed of light is 299,792,458 m/s (yes, I checked), what does that make the speed of dark - and does it mean dark is faster? And what is dark?

Which then led on to - and hold on to your hats here - the fact that light/illumination is FALSE and that darkness is NATURAL. Here's my thought on this. For any kind of light, there needs to be some sort of reaction - usually chemical or a side effect of something else, while darkness is normal. The sun - chemical reaction of burning gasses. The moon - the reflection of moonlight off the surface. Light bulbs - electricity heating wires to make them glow OR a current running through a gas. Candles or any fire - the chemicals and fibre of the wick burning. Kerosene lanterns are just burning chemicals. Glowing fish or animals are chemicals reactions. (see footnote) And then my mind went on to the Good vs. Evil / Light vs. Dark argument, and wondered if my very thoughts shook the core of the Vatican. Which I doubt, but still ;)

Ahem.

There never really was any point in that train of thought, and people still look at me like I'm a loony, but to be fair, I'm not wrong :D Oh, and for the record, when I wrote to the Fairy Liquid makers, they explained that old Fairy cleans better than most brands, but the blue antibac Fairy kills the germs on the sponge as well as the stuff being washed. And it's blue because apparently blue represent cleanliness and clinical stuff. Plus they gave me £10 worth of vouchers to buy their stuff.

I didn't ask what they thought of when they saw Green Fairy. All I thought of was boogers, bile and mold.

So now, with stupid thoughts running through my head, I've had my cold "remedy" which I know is just flavoured water with paracetamol in it, I've had a throat sweet which I know is just a boiled sweet with gloop inside and some menthol to make you think it's doing something, and I'm going to try to sleep.

"Try" being the operative word of that sentence.

Footnote:
I FULLY expect some smart ass to come by and explain for me. I actually expect that person to work for NASA. Saying no names of course. But don't try the whole "Darkness is just an absence of light milarky!

Da Flu

Don't you hate it when sneezes become a cold, a cold becomes the flu, the Flu becomes ManFlu, and then - THEN - it has the audacity to develop into the dark pits of Migraineville. I've felt rough as crap all week, and Thursday I woke up with "that smell" that usually says Mr Migraine is coming for a visit. I spent Thursday and Friday pretty much out cold in bed, not getting up till the crack of 3pm.

On top of this, Jaysen has had a stinking cold, and Jo has been complaining about her foot or something. I think she's still trying to milk that particular sympathy cow, but alas, Mr Dan has been too ill to notice. Lucky for us, one of our friends have been waiting on us hand and foot (heh) so it's not been too hellish. And think of me what you will, but Cel is (to use the P.C term) "a member of an ethnic group", or (to not be P.C), she's black. And I give her such a hard time. So to have Cel cooking dinner or cleaning up, I get to make comments about her needing her chains, or to shine my shoes. She knows it's all in good fun, and she'll play along too. Especially in public which cracks me up. At one birthday party or another, my family was over, and I introduced her as my personal housekeeper.

Yeah, I'm a bastard.

Anyway. Mr Tim, I've tested the template in IE and FF, and it seems to work fine and dandy, and you are the only person with an issue (I think)... Perhaps come to the new age and use IE7? And the link bar across the top is indeed part of the template. I think the site I use (which is in another language!) convert WordPress templates to Blogger.

So, with my germs on the way out finally - we're back down to Defcon Stinking Cold - I'm hoping things are going to get back to normal. Ish. Whatever normal is in this house.

Oh, and in my search for a post image, I tried "ManFlu Virus" as a search string in Google Images. Amazingly, it provided one porn site, and, well, take a look - third row, third image...


Clicken to Embiggen, but there we have it, an image of the ManFlu virus. And for those that don't know what I'm talking about, click here.

Oh, edit because I forgot - congrats to those of you that twigged the header image on the blog is "Sex, Drugs, Rock and Roll". Took me minutes to make it ;)

Clogged

Today, I have been mostly blowing my nose. In fact, since Saturday, that seems to be ALL I am doing. I feel rough, icky, and my head is completely blocked. We had bolognese last night, and I couldn't taste it. I hate not tasting food.

Jo is OK today - aching from Stairway Acrobatics, but otherwise OK. She's spent most of the day with her leg up and resting, either playing on the computer, the playstation, watching TV or dosing on the sofa. Such laziness.

Anyway, when my head is all gloopy, I like music that doesn't rattle my teeth. Such as this song that I used to listen to all the time. The Cranberries - No Need to Argue. Musical Tuesday? Maybe. More a "song of the moment" more than anything. The video is a homemade jobbie from someone on YouTube, and is very well put together - matches the song perfectly.

Feet up, volume up, relax, enjoy...

Snotty McSnotpants

Yes, a cow-tissue dispenser, in honour of Miss Daisy-Moo that put us up for the weekend. Not to mention in addition, I am currently Mr Snotty McSnotpants of Snotsville, Snotonia. Someone has managed to return my cold to me, and this time, on top of the constant sneezles and eye leakage, it's in my throat too.

First we thought I was allergic to something at Daisys cowshed beautiful home, but we couldn't pin down anything. Local flora and fauna? Would have stopped by now. Allergic to there being no dust in the air, unlike home? Probably not. So, we're back on the assumption that it's a cold. I had it, Jo and Jaysen had it, and now the mutated bug has returned to me. Joy.

I can't stop sneezing and blowing my nose - it's sore again from constant tissue-wipage., my head is doing the all-over-ache thing (no, not from booze thank you) and I hurt from head to toes. I felt rough enough (hehe) this morning that I had Jo do the school run. It's cold outside, so it's best she brave it.

Me, I am wrapped up snuggly in my Big Red Dressing Gown and am contemplating getting out The Big Green Jumper for when I get dressed. Nothing says "Dan is Sick!" like the Big Green Jumper.

But anyway.

We had a great weekend and neither of us wanted to come home. The food was great, the alcohol consumption was impressive - Saturday night saw us drinking random shots from random drinks, ranging from distilled brandy (which blew ye olde socks off), melon, apple, lemon liqueurs, tequila, sour drinks, comedy drinks, as well as "holy shit this is vile, here Dan you taste it" drinks.

And a fried breakfast for the morning after. Perfect.

If anyone there happens to get ill, I am going to point out that it's Jo's fault and she should get all the blame.

Anyway, this week sees Jo poodling off to deepest darkest where ever this Friday, leaving the kids to kill me and bury me under the outhouse. Aside from the germfest that is me, I'm hoping this week toddles by uneventfully, and the germs get out of Dodge.

Germs and Life

So, last week I got poorly. It started in my nose and spread from there, making me feel, well, icky as hell. My nose was blocked but running green, by eyes were bulging and watering, I ached and felt like crap. I carried on as best I could, but otherwise just sort of curled on the sofa feeling sorry for myself.

No, this wasn't ManFlu - that is a much worse disorder. This was just a cold, and I did stuff around the house and what have you. Of course, in the process, I managed to give it to Jo who is now dealing with her ManFlu. She's such a wimp ;)

So, aside from feeling grotty all week, I've been really tired, and the weekend with Emmas news, I've been kind of deflated the last few days. I've been keeping busy and trying to keep the head occupied, but it's not working the whole time. I just wish I could give Emma a big hug, tell her it'll be ok.

And since last night, my head has started pounding. Great.

Withdrawl Sucks

That sums it up and covers everything.
Yes, still really suffering today and hating every second of it. And "might" see the doctor tomorrow if I am lucky.
That is all.

Head: Offline

Well, I woke up this morning (cue blues music) and felt crap. A few weeks ago, our family doctor who was struck off on a long-term basis decided to retire. He gave us three weeks notice. Of course, for almost two of those weeks, we were in Holland.

Last week, I started running low on my meds, and in order to make them last while we find a new GP, I've been skipping doses.

Yes, I now realise how bad that sounds.

Yesterday I was twitching and zapping and felt crap. This morning - after a diabolical night - I woke up and didn't know what the hell I was doing, what was going on or anything. I had completely lost the plot and felt like shit. Paroxitine (Paxil) withdrawl is not fun. I was babbling, I was dizzy, stumbling, couldn't form a sentence properly... And then I burst into tears. I just didn't know what anything was and was completely spazzing out.

Jo zoomed out the front door to our nearest GP, said "we need you to be our doc" and they agreed to see me tomorrow. I have two pills left (one of which I've already taken) so they should be able to help. Talk about a nightmare. The zaps are nearly constant, but fading in their intensity, but I am an emotional wreck.

Cold Turkey is bad, mmkay.

Still, at least now we probably have a new GP who is highly rated, and I have realised that I am not quite ready to cease my addiction ;)

The Germs Keep A-Comin'

I am fairly sure that the germs that enter our house are some sort of super, bionic, genetically-engineered uber-germ that just cannot be killed... See, I am still poorly, but more "I Have A Cold" than anything else. Jo is also poorly, but she's suffering in the same way all girlies do each month.

No, the joyous stomach bug has shifted from me onto the little man. Jaysen spent all night (and I do mean all night) awake, upset and generally a sad little chap. Before this, he sat on the stairs telling me how much he didn't need school and didn't want to go in today. Miraculously, he starts "getting ill" not long after this, so me and Jo consider the fact he's pulling a fast one. 10pm he's still awake and feeling ill, same for 11pm. Just after midnight, he's crying, tired, wants to sleep and feels ill. I get him onto the sofa, put on some music and sit with him, and the inkling of "he might be telling the truth" springs into my sleep-deprived mind.

2am he's still awake and crying, 3am, 4am, 5am... 6am I give up on any chance of sleep and get up, shower and sit with the poor little lad, who by now is burning, burping and looks like crap.

And then the vomit-stream begins.

Thankfully, it only lasted for about six hours (only...) and has since stopped, and needless to say, he's off school today. We tried him on Dirolyte but he despises the stuff. And I do mean despises. He's been napping on and off today, completely not hungry and generally unhappy.

Fingers crossed he (and, especially, *I*) manage to sleep tonight. He'll be off school tomorrow as well as they don't let kids in till they are 24-hour puke free, so hopefully tomorrow it'll be more a case of him wanting everything instead of just sitting and being an unhappy chappy.

And as a side note, Jo had her hair done again today. Very sexy, very nice - will get pictures tomorrow no doubt ;)