The pain of it all
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It's ironic. I'm hardly ever ill and haven't had a single sick day from work (or school/college before that) in about ten years or more. And yet whenever I book time of work I seem to come down with something. It would appear that while other people's immune systems are sometimes adversely affected by being extraodinarily busy, mine thrives on it.
I know I should probably know better in some cases. I usually take most of my holiday at the end of the year (it's a case of use it or lose it, and I've rarely had chance to use it before then). Around that time of year, it's winter and there's usually some bug or other going round. Last year I came down with some kind of cold just a couple of days before I was due to start my holiday. Although I overcame the illness itself in a day or two, it was one of those that involved extended periods of coughing, which basically ravaged my throat and wiped me out (I couldn't eat) for most of the first week I was off. That's just a typical example.
This year, I decided to take the first two full weeks of May off work. I still live at home and my folks were off to Egypt during that time so I'd have the house to myself. I'd ordered a big screen TV and a Playstation 3 console, so it should have been fairly decent, if rather solitary (most of my friends are still at work). And indeed up until the second week it has been good. It's been pretty hot (and I'm not really one for hot weather), but that aside, I've had no ailments to complain of. Until today.
This morning, I woke up perfectly normally and went through my usual getting up / getting washed routine. It all seemed to be going well and I noticed no problems whatsoever until at some point after having washed my hair, I realised I couldn't actually stand up properly. It didn't take many attempts to establish that this was because any effort to do so was accompanied by a rather considerable amount of pain in my lower back. I've either trapped a nerve or strained a muscle, but my back isn't happy about it and isn't afraid to let me know.
After a day spent wandering around feeling like Quasimodo, I thought it deserved a blog entry being as it feels like I've wasted at least a day of my holiday. I've barely been able to move, and when I have it's not been without some considerable difficulty. I've actually achieved none of the things I had planned for today, but at least I've managed to find something to write about.
Maybe my body is trying to tell me something. As someone who likes to be kept busy as much as possible, perhaps my near perfectly timed ailments are my body's way of reminding me to relax a little. If only it had a more convenient way to do that! I'm off to bed now and hopefully my back will be better in the morning. If not, I'll have to reconsider taking holiday in future.