No loss of appetite

A consequence of my now-fading cold is that I had little energy during the height of it; this meant I didn't go out for my usual walks and instead I spent the extra time resting when I would otherwise have been exercising. As such, the past 10 days is the most inactive I've been for months.

At the time same, my cold did not affect my appetite; while every other part of me felt terrible, my stomach was very much in good working order. Thanks to no drop in appetite combined with an increase in sugars, such as having a lot of tea, I have gained some weight. To lose this weight quickly, not only will I have to start walking again but I'll also have to drastically cut back my diet; I wanted to do this, anyway, as I already had extra weight I wanted to shed but now I have some more I need to lose.

I shall do it; it will be good for me to lose the extra pounds and get back down to the weight I was at 2-3 years ago.

Just a minor infection redux

To my annoyance, what I thought was a 48-72 hour bug is persisting. I woke up this morning with a return of the sore throat (although not to the same extent as a few days ago) and have been coughing intermittently throughout the day.

I'm not convinced it's a full-on cold...just a minor infection that seems to be taking its sweet time to fully clear out. As long as it doesn't have me ill like I was in October and February, I shall be fine.

Just a minor infection

During Monday afternoon, my throat became sore and when I went to bed that night, it was still burning and I felt cold all over my body, thus I went to bed with sock and my robe on in addition to my usual nighttime clothes. I thought I had caught a cold, which would be awful timing if so given the work I have to complete over the next three weeks.

Fortunately for me, it appears to be a bug that seems to last for about 48-72 hours. I'm glad, because the last thing I need right now is to be bedridden at critical time during this academic year. Extra rest, tea and food has helped stave this one off!

Yep, still coughing

Yep, I'm still coughing, which is extremely irritating; however, the coughs are neither as intense or as frequent as they were yesterday. Even better, I've felt no desire to sleep this afternoon, which is a change from previous afternoons because, while I was still awake for most of the night, when I finally made it to sleep I slept deeply.

Still hoping the cough will be pretty much gone by Monday. I don't want to spend the first post-reading week lectures coughing away...

Not dog mess

Besides submitting a formative plan for an essay that is due in three weeks, my day has mostly been unproductive. My cold meant I couldn't sleep and so I was up all night until almost 6:00am, which I most definitely could have done without. As such, I've had to sleep in parts of the day to catch up on rest; needless to say, I'm not happy with how today progressed.

This evening, I went up to Morrisons to purchase for dinner for tonight. On the way there, I trod in something slippery and then groaned, as I thought I had trod in dog mess. There's no easy place at my accommodation to clean my shoes but beyond that, even if there were, being sick still meant I wasn't looking forward to the prospect of cleaning dog dump from my shoe.

Before continuing to Morrisons, I removed my shoe to ensure it really was mess on my shoe. Luckily for me, I had only stepped in loose mud from the grass; I had not stepped in anything disgusting. A feeling of relief came over me at that point.

Urgh...not right now!

Since the evening of Monday, I have been unwell; I have caught what appears to be a low-to-medium insensity cold, for while I am coughing and feel hot, I am not sneezing nor do I have a running nose. At least not at the moment: A cold I had within the last year started out like this and new symptoms would appear as old ones faded.

All I can say is, "Not right now!". I'm supposed to be seeing a film and going to a friend's month-late birthday celebration on Saturday, plus I also was considering going to see my mother and brother on Sunday. If I am still unwell by then, I will have to back out, which I don't want to do.

Second or still the first? (2)

Unsurprisingly, I am still unwell; it was a struggle making it through my two-hour lecture but I was not only able to do so but also answered one of my lecturer's questions, to which he later said was a good response and referred to be my name. At least when it comes to my lectures and seminars I am perfectly able to contribute without much if any problem other than, at the present time, being ill.

I will recover from my illnesses, of course, but I won't deny that they are damaging my early weeks at university, from the reading I am required to do to the exercise I've wanted to take.

Second or still the first?

Over the course of the day, I have gradually become ill with a cold; however, I am unsure if I have a new cold or if one I had last Friday continues to persist but has transformed. This whole week I have felt unwell at points either with sneezing or coughing (never both at once, though). Unfortunately, it is common at the start of an academic year at university when students bring their bugs and share them with the rest of the educational population.

I am supposed to be seeing a college friend this Sunday. If I am still sick by then, I'll have to cancel and re-arrange...for a second time! I cancelled last weekend because I was ill and I don't want to have to cancel again.

The severe headache

As I've posted here a few times recently, I've been suffering from a cold but that the cold is on its last legs. The cough is the part that still lingers but it, too, is growing weaker. Not weak enough, however.

This afternoon, I went for a walk. While out, it was cold and raining somewhat and I coughed quite a bit while out and when I returned, the coughing had caused a small headache, which soon progressed into a major one. It became so severe that I had to ask my brother to go to one of the local stores - in the early evening, too - to purchase and energy drink that has helped in the past when I've had a severe headache.

Between my cold and this headache, I haven't had much of a pleasant time recently! I'm feeling better now and my head doesn't feel too bruised from the headache.

Rob Ford

I was shocked when I saw this article appear in my newsfeed yesterday:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-35872594

Rob Ford was the mayor of Toronto, being elected there in 2010. He became prominent in the news in 2014, in the months leading up to the mayor election of that year, due to his drug use and erratic behaviour. Ford withdrew from re-election when it was discovered he had a cancerous tumour. That cancer has since killed him.

On one of the days before his death, I thought about Ford and wondered what he was up to. He was a councillor in Toronto and had intended to run for mayor again.

The chills have returned

An early part of my cold that I was sure had passed has reared its ugly head again: The chills. This evening, I started feeling cold immediately before dinner and as a result, it took me ages to eat my meal. I am currently sat in a bedroom with a heater on, as I am too cold to do anything else at this time.

I want to go to college tomorrow to complete some miscellaneous work and to chat to a few people, such as my Employability teacher, but if there is scant improvement to my health, I'll message my teacher to say I'm not coming and I'll stay in bed. What would be the point of coming in sicker than before, on a day when I don't have any timetabled lesson scheduled? I want to go but I won't be much fun if I'm still ill.

Discussion under illness

Thanks to improvements in my health, I was able to complete today's discussion-based assignment without too much trouble. Unfortunately, several other members of the class were also sick; it seems that either whatever I caught has spread or there's some bug going around. At any rate, I think people will be glad for the upcoming break only so they can recover.

Exam under illness

As it happens, I am still ill; I have a sore throat, a nose that simultaneously blocked and running and have a nasty-sounding cough. Yep, I definitely appear to have caught a cold. It couldn't have been timed any better, too!

This afternoon, my class had an exam. Two of my teachers suggested that I return home to rest and complete the exam next week; while I deeply appreciated their concern, I didn't want to have the exam hanging over my head during the weekend when I also have a discussion-based assignment to complete on Monday. As such, I finished my exam paper on time and handed it in when everyone else handed in theirs.

I'll receive the results of the exam sometime after the upcoming Easter break.

Where did that come from? (2)

After a good night's sleep, today I awoke feeling greatly improved from yesterday. While I have a minor cough and a slightly runny nose, the bruised head feeling has been erased and I no longer ache. I was able to attend college today without any health issues whatsoever; I helped out with raising money for charity again.

Hopefully, after another night of good sleep, I should feel even better tomorrow.

Where did that come from?

I experienced a difficult night due to aches, a headache and shivers. I'd barely received any sleep when out of nowhere, I started to shiver, despite my being wrapped up in bed covers. I was forced to put on extra clothing and take some paracetamol for the headache. Later, after I had officially awakened, I struggled to make it through my classes today but I was able to remain for the duration of the lessons. When I returned home, I went straight to bed.

I am seriously hoping that I have not picked up a cold or, worse yet, the flu. I have an important exam on Friday and I have the second part of an assignment to complete on Monday, the latter of which is done in verbal form. If I'm sick, my chances of earning high grades will be severely impacted. With any luck, a decent night's sleep will defeat whatever sickness I underwent today.

Jimmy Carter victorious

Back in August, former US President Jimmy Carter announced that he had been diagnosed with brain cancer and that the cancer had spread around his body. The prognosis for him appeared poor, given his age and the extent of the cancer.

Well, last month he said that his response to the treatment was going well and today he declared that the brain cancer is "gone". Carter has done it: he has defeated brain cancer. Even with the resources at his disposal being a former president, defeating cancer at 91-years-old is a tremendous feat.

Congratulations, Jimmy Carter; this is excellent news!

Sick in the third week - seriously? (2)

My tactic of sleeping for twelve hours to fight off my cold worked - for the most part. While I still had a painful cough, a sore upper lip and a slightly dodgy nose, I was in excellent health today compared to yesterday, when I was burning through tissues. I was able to properly concentrate in class this afternoon, which was good because we were covering new material and I did not want to miss anything.

While I should be able to fully overthrow this cough in a day or two, I am hoping that I did not catch any new colds from the bus this morning. The bus on which I rode was one of the most crowded I've ever experienced; there were few coughs but those people, like me, might have deliberately been holding their coughs back.

Sick in the third week - seriously?

Today began my third week of my new course and I was both shocked and angry to have developed the symptoms of a cold last night (sore throat, running nose - the usual suspects). As such, I spent all of today in class blowing and wiping my nose, with only minimal note taking for my subjects at hand.

Fortunately, a large amount of today's input was material I'd covered before and I was still present for every second of my lessons. I hope I'll feel better tomorrow; I honestly do not need another cold - not after last time.

Jimmy Carter and cancer

Former US President Jimmy Carter revealed yesterday that he has cancer, which has spread around his body:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-33898331

I am upset by this and not just because Jimmy Carter is someone for whom I hold great admiration and respect. Carter is a fundamentally good human being, who has performed an abundance of humanitarian work since he left office. For cancer to afflict such a kind and gentle person as him is deeply saddening and frustrating.

I have mentioned Carter in several of my other blog posts: (1), (2), (3), (4). In the case of that last post, it's hard to believe that less than a year has passed since I wrote about Carter's 90th birthday.

May President Carter defeat cancer and be allowed to continue his excellent work or enjoy a relaxing retirement.

The massive headache

I experienced something excessively unpleasant yesterday afternoon. During my mathematics lesson, I started to develop a headache; I thought I would be able to control it by having some water and by taking a nap during the class break.

Alas, this wasn't the case. My headache worsened by the minute and, because I found the room unbearably hot, I had to leave the class and attempted to listen to the lesson from the hall. The assistant that we have in mathematics came out to chat to me but, sadly, I ended up having to cut the conversation short when I rushed to the bathroom to be sick.

That wasn't the end of it, though; usually when I have a headache being sick clears it but not in this case. I had to wait in the hall again, where the assistant asked if I had been sick and said that that often cleared headaches for him, too. When the lesson finally ended, I packed all my college items away, made some hasty goodbyes and went to my bus. The bus ride back home wasn't fun because I had to restrain myself from being sick for the duration of the journey and when I returned, I was sick for a second time.

The headache persisted, so I went to bed and rested for a few hours, after which my head felt bruised but the pain had dissipated. I remained awake for a few hours before returning to bed for the night and I've felt fine today.

That was the worst headache I've had for several years and it annoys me greatly that it caused me to miss part of a lesson. I think it was caused by a combination of late-night revision the day before and up incredibly early on the day with my being in a hot classroom. Perhaps unsurprisingly, I forgot to bring with me yesterday any painkillers for headaches.