I called the college office and left a message just after 9am for both my tutors T & L2 to advise them I was not going to be in today as I was sick, just before I did this I got a text from a college friend telling me she wasn’t going in she had an eye infection she called in left a message but could I duplicate this and pass along a message to the tutor, ermmm yes I could if I was there… I’m not. Obviously I relayed this back in a text back to her.
The paranoid side of my personality worked overtime thinking if people see we are both not in they’ll think we’re off out together, god I’m 32 and my brain still dream ups these wild ideas! On top of that I was panicking about my UCAS application and didn’t want to miss what I figured could be an important tutorial so looking half dead like something that should have only been out on 31st October I dragged myself to the train station and made my way over the college. I must have been crazy, not only was I dosed up on every flu medication available in Boots, I’d not eaten anything properly in 48 hours but this was my UCAS application it was my future I had to see where it stood.
Arriving at Manchester Victoria I took a taxi over to the college, walking to the bus stop and onto college when I could barely breathe was not an option! I made it for the final 45 minutes of the morning’s Psychology class much to the surprise of some people. One person remarked ‘We thought you and F were wagging it with you both not being in’ I know it’s a joke… I love a joke like the next person… but can you see why I get paranoid so easily… you get friendly with someone and then they are off, your off… people start to put two and two together, doesn’t matter that you both live at opposite ends of Greater Manchester!
Anyway I managed to have a chat with L2 and sort out a few UCAS things so am feeling more relieved about it now, I’m still waiting for the UCAS application to come back to me but at least I know what needs to be added now. Having a chat to her today has meant I’ve been able to tell her about the new voluntary job which she can mention in my reference that she is writing, so I’m somewhat calmer over the whole UCAS application thing now, I just wish whoever has the job of sending this UCAS application back to me would hurry up and get on with it!
I may have felt like I was dying but glad I dragged myself in to sort that out now otherwise I’d been wondering and worrying about it till next week’s tutorial! Now I’m resigning myself to bed till I’m 110% fit again, I’m emailing tomorrow’s tutor to tell him I won’t be in!
I’m on Tamiflu day three… and somewhere I read nightmares were a side effect, they were not wrong, I have had the most weirdest nightmares, freaky panicking waking up wondering where the hell you are dreams! I question whether this flu is flu or a side effect of the swine flu vaccine, since typical symptoms recorded include flu like symptoms that can last for two to three days, I’m confused, does the fact I had a cough on Friday rule that out? I woke up feeling okay on Saturday morning, had one swine flu vaccine returned to bed because I was cold and tired and woke up with flu like symptoms early Saturday evening which gradually took over my entire body, the rest they say is history… Anyway I’ve done my bit for UK research just in case and reported it here!
This is the first time I have crawled out of bed in over 24 hours and I shall be shortly crawling back. I have been hit with the flu, ironic considering I had the normally flu vaccine on Thursday and the swine flu vaccine on Saturday morning but obviously this virus was already in my system to start with. The symptoms started on Friday but I made it through the day at college. I got the swine flu vaccine on Saturday which was a little like being on a conveyor belt at the airport with people going in every two minutes, mine was done by Dr W. There were no adverse reactions to it, a little stiffness in the arm afterwards but that’s gone now.
I returned back to bed when I got back from the surgery and by the time I woke up come 5pm I was awful, I felt like I’d been kicked by a horse, everything ached in my entire body. I don’t recall ever having flu before, chest infections yes but never flu I think I can now tell the difference between the two! Gradually I’ve got worse and since Saturday evening I am reluctantly taking Tamiflu, drinking large amounts of lemsip but am not eating my appetite is null so I am hoping the extra sugar in the lemsip will keep my blood sugars stable for now.
Is it flu or swine flu, I have no idea and frankly I don’t give a pigs trotter… I just know I hate feeling sick and even worse is the fact I’m not going to be able to get to college tomorrow and possibly for the next few days, that annoys me more than anything because it delays my UCAS application which I really wanted to go off last week but it couldn’t for one reason, I’m waiting for it to be returned back to me to add the grades I’ve got on the course already to aid my application, someone was suppose to return my application back to me to allow me to add my grades but they have not… I only went in on Friday to sort out this UCAS application because one of my tutors T was going to show me how to add the results I’d got now on the application and then it could go off, them not sending it back means they are delaying things for me, me getting sick = delaying it even more and that really pisses me off especially since the universities I am applying to are already offering interviews to people… I feel utterly disappointed, why did I have to get sick this week…
This week at college I got my assignment grades back for the Borderline Personality Disorder presentation and assignment work I did in Psychology last month, I got TWO DISTINICTIONS for the work I did! For the written exam we took in the class before the half term I got three passes, so no resit on that score! Needless to say I am very pleased especially with the two distinctions since it seems I am so far the only one in the class to get any distinctions which needless to say makes me very happy!
Am waiting on the Biology and Sociology results now, in the mean time have new work to continue working on! I’m keeping the post short, I have a feeling I’m coming down with something, how typical. Had my normal flu jab yesterday and tomorrow I am due to have the swine flu vaccine, although if this cough I have get’s any worse they may not do it at the surgery – I guess time will tell.
This week seems to have been full of activity but in a good way, I have at last got a voluntary job. I start in a couple of weeks for a local charity counselling service in the town. I really like the service and how it operates, it was established 10 years ago and runs from a church hall in the town although it’s not a religious counselling service the church hall is used for various things including blood donor sessions! My role is that of the greeter and receptionist working one evening a week to start, but they hope if they can get extra funding they may extend their evening services! They open Monday to Friday all day and currently two evenings a week but they hope to extend to three evenings a week, the service is very popular but there is also a long waiting list for people who are waiting for their services. I had previously heard of them before going for the interview and upon meeting the manager yesterday I was pleased with finding the job and he sounded like he liked me! I’d been looking since June for something voluntary and had sent off quite a few letters but had just one reply, most can’t be troubled because of the CRB check procedures involved, not actually knowing the college will do that for them anyway! Anyway this job is ideal, it’s local and it in the kind of subject area I am really interested in as well so I’m pleased! I am sure I don’t need to fill you extensively in but obviously greeting clients, telling the counsellor they have arrived, answering the phone, admin work, plus holding the responsibility to put the alarm on and lock up at night. It’s going to give an ideal amount of work experience for university!
My half term has been superb, just the thing I needed to wind down a little and catch up on some things I needed to do. I managed to get the Biology assignment done before the first half of the week estimating I have spent around 80 hours on it, I am impressively proud of the amount of work and effort I have put into it and the fact everything I am learning is actually managing to stay inside my brain! The rest of the week has been spent catching up with some other bits and pieces and dare I say it but doing some Christmas shopping despite the fact I didn’t particularly want to, it’s for people I have to buy for and I guess the sooner it’s done the better.
