Friday 13th January - In Hospital

Sorry I haven't been posting for a while again, but this flu's really taken it out of me. Here's a summary of my recent Twitter posts for the last week or so:

10th Jan: What a waste of a day, damn flu. All I've done is watch TV, sleep, shiver, cough and I had a really long & bad fever this afternoon!

10th Jan : And the worse thing is, it's not getting better, if anything, it's worse. This flu has gone straight to my chest and it's hard to breathe!

11th Jan: That's another day totally wasted then doing nothing. Was going to go back to work tomorrow, but glad I'm not now - breathing getting worse!

11th Jan: And I couldn't get into the doctors today either- no appointments, got to ring again 8.30am tomorrow to try again!

12th Jan: Half past midnight here- up for my (now) usual cough mixture and Anadin session. Again.

12th Jan: First time on the net today! Got into doctors, new meds sorted, 5 days of steroids, no improvement yet. Fed up of being ill now, not funny!

12th Jan: So, another day of sleeping, watching daytime TV, & nothing else. No breath or energy to move or do anything. What a criminal waste of time!

And that was my last Twitter post. I was tired all the time, went to bed at 9.30pm, but couldn't sleep. Every time I moved my lungs filled up with fluid and I started choking. At Midnight-ish I took my quilt and pillow downstairs as I couldn't climb them at this stage. Everytime I moved I had to stand upright, lean against my wardrobe, and wait to catch my breath - it  took ages to get back every time, and it took longer every time.

At 3am I couldn't take anymore.

I had again woken up and just couldn't catch my breath at all for about 15 minutes when I eventually gave in and called the ambulance using 999. I woke Baby Daughter up and she went to the hospital in the Ambulance with me. 

Turns out the flu, this time, and on the back of my previous flu a week or so previously, had turned into a pneumonia type bacterial infection on my lungs, affecting my COPD. The Ambulance staff, on attending, put me on a nebaliser and Oxygen mask and the lungs, after about another 15 minutes cleared enough for me to breathe.

But that didn't last long. By the time I'd stood up, walked to the front door after waiting for Baby Daughter, the lungs had once again clogged up (within 5 minutes) so I had to go back on the breathing equipment again in the Ambulance as we went to hospital. I ended up being admitted to Kings Lynn's Queen Elisabeth Hospital.

It took the A & E three hours to bring my temperature down from 41 deg F by pumping me with antibiotics. At this time I was hoping to be able to go home; but I was admitted, and eventually stayed in hospital until 5pm Sunday, 15th .

I was discharged with a four days more antibiotic medication, which has just ran out today. So, basically, I was on Oxygen and intravenous antibiotics from the the time I went in, I was taken off the Oxygen Saturday morning, being reduced to a three hour nebaliser only until Sunday morning. 

By Sunday morning, I had been taken off everything and was just on oral antibiotics, being supervised through the day, until I was discharged. 

 

Monday 9th January

I have caught baby Daughter's flu, and I've just gone sick for a week or so. Sore throat, headache, I'm tired, lousy, every muscle aches and I'm now off sick until Thursday while I deal with it!

Sunday 8th January

Well, it's been a hectic three days since I last updated. Friday was manically busy at work the busiest day we've had with lorries for months. After finishing work at 7pm I then went around a friend's house to sort a couple of computer issues out with him, which took me about half an hour to do, I guess.

Best news on Friday though was that my mate Garry with the lung shadows has had it confirmed that, although no one knows what it is yet, that it definitely isn't cancer. Brilliant news!

Having got home, Baby Daughter was already in, and she's down with the flu, which kept me awake through the night on Friday as she was constantly coughing. I've had a second bailiff visit on Friday for the second Council Tax account, which I was expecting. Again, in return for giving this character a deposit of £140 I can repay the balance over a few months, which is what I'll be starting to sort out a little later this afternoon after doing my ironing, getting that out of the way for the week.

I've yet to transfer the 5% savings from my main bank account to my savings account, which, again, I'll do after the chores. I've dried my washing by hanging it on the shower rail yesterday, which is a commitment to save money as I'm not using the tumble dryer  now, so having secured and strengthened the shower rail previously, I can now do this every week (and, hopefully, convince Baby Daughter to do the same), which will save about a fiver a week on electricity.

I had a productive day yesterday, the kitchen is at last finished being decorated and is now brilliant white and  looks spectacular. So, the decorating, as well as  a trip to Asda (for a change) took care of yesterday. As well as that, I've played around with Baby Daughter's laptop and got it cleaned up - so it's going to be ready for me to work on in the garden in Summer. It's certainly performing better anyway.

It's now 11:50am on Sunday as I write this, I've been up for almost 3 hours, and I've woken up with a headache and runny nose and I'm hoping and praying I haven't caught Baby Daughter's flu. But I've been up 3 hours, and I haven't done anything yet save play around on the computer and update the blog here. So, I've got to get on.

January 5th

Cherish the past, adorn the present, create for the future. (my calendar motto for today)

Remembering my granny Mason today, who died 5th January, 1979 (an amazing 33 years ago).

It's been a really busy day at work today since 12pm noon, virtually non stop all afternoon. Really pleased it's over as it's been the busiest day for months. The weather this morning didn't help either - fierce winds and driving rain. Not good. Biggest thing to report about today is that I've had the second bailiff visit for the outstanding council tax, which I was expecting as I haven't been able to pay the bill this current financial year as everything's been really tight financially, especially with having two house moves in 12 months.

But this is the last time these people will have to come and see me to collect money; the bills will be paid next year, the year afterwards, and for ever more. This is a tactical move on my part; I needed the extra money & time to get myself established in this house which was completely bare when I first moved in, July 1st last, with my baby daughter.

Onwards & upwards. Payday tomorrow - that's the pressure off me again for another month or so again. I've got to sort myself a PO box number out this pay day so I can start advertising the business, sending out flyers and so on. Here we go!

January 4th

Well, that's another day over with then. Must admit though, my stomach stricture's been playing up a bit for the last few days, and has been especially irritating today, it feels like my wind pipe has swelled up in a certain section and it feels really uncomfortable.

Baby daughter had an unexpected night out again with a couple of friends last night, returning home just after midnight, again waking me up as they got out of the taxi. Is the disturbed sleep possibly a contributing factor to the stricture playing up? I don't know, but it was certainly repsponsible for me having extreme difficultty in getting up this morning!

I had a letter from the bailiff company waiting for me last night when I got home, confirming the payment arrangement, but also demanding the first payment for the 3rd January - the date I got the letter, even though I asked for a payment date of the 15th. They're just going to have to wait until this Friday (my payday) for their payment. Tough.

After the childless Christmas incident, I have come to terms with the fact that perhaps the kids I adopted don't want me anymore, but, rather than pass a harsh, 100% child rejection sentence on myself, I thought I'd wait until Father's Day to see what happens then. But I realised last night that Father's Day here in the UK is on Sunday, June 17th, but Middle Daughter is getting married on Saturday 16th in Italy, so all the kids will be over there for Father's Day, so I'm now waiting until my Birthday - 1st July to see what happens.

And, whatever happens, and whether I get to see the kids again, I'll accept. As simple as that.

But, to put everything in perspective, my workmate Garry is still off work, and I found out today that he's had fluid drained off his lungs and the shadows have been further investigated and samples taken. He's now waiting for the biopsy results.

I'm lucky really, aren't I?

January 3rd

Well, that's the first day back at work over with then. And what's it been like? Just as predicted really, and slow. And yes, I'm glad it's over with.

And there's nothing to report really. I've come back home and Baby Daughter's out with friends another Saturday type night for her as tomorrow is her first day off really since before Christmas, and she's out to enjoy it.

It's just after 9pm as I write this, and I'm tired. I'm struggling to keep my eyes open and I've started sneezing and having a runny nose. I've been cold most of the day, got soaked through in seconds this morning whilst out on patrol with a monsoon type rainfall as a result of some extremely strong winds. The storms are forecast to last most of tomorrow as well.

Ah well, we'll just have to see what happens then I guess. Only three more sleeps till the weekend!

January 2nd, 2012

Well, that's it then everybody. Christmas has been and gone and we're now at the 2nd January! That's another year gone then. I'm back at work tomorrow and I'm dreading it. I can't wait to be able to leave the job I detest so much and start working for myself from home.

I haven't blogged for the last few days on purpose. I was hoping to be able to tell the world that the kids had been to see me, but they haven't. I held off blogging until today because today is a Bank Holiday here in the UK, and I was hoping that I'd hear something from the kids.

Absolutely nothing all over Christmas, not even a card. Well, at least I know where I stand then, don't I?

Ah well, that's that chapter closed down then I guess. I'm looking forward to Summer at the moment, what with the brighter days, and a special lady now in my life to share a few of them with me occasionally. And, in the meantime, I'm concentrating on building the business up.

That's the way I can prove to the (ex) family unit that I don't need them either. That I can do just fine without them.

And that's what I've concentrated on this weekend. I've got my second monetised blog on line now, this one's about working from home. I'm getting ready to move my web site onto a new server in the next couple of weeks, which I'll be concentrating on next weekend, and from there I'll be concentrating on marketing and bringing some money in from the sites.

The best thing about the the break in between Christmas and New Year is that my magazine arrived Saturday, and I can see three months of hard work now in print, and it does look good,even though I say so myself!

Right then, it's 10pm as I write this and I'm getting ready for bed as I'm up early in the morning for work. I am trying to stay enthusiastic about the job I don't like; there are many people at work who do actually like to see me, and talk to me, but, more than that, I'm looking forward to everything getting back to normal.

Next Christmas will be better. Not only because my daughter's staying with me, but also because I'll be a third of the way to my gap year objective. I'll be fighting to meet every goal on the way this year.