Monday 1 November 2004

Pic of the day: Actually I look even more tired than I feel, surprisingly.

Sick. Writing.

Despite not having worked for a week, I got one of those sickness attacks again. They have a pretty standardized form, these, although this time I can't say I felt any pain in my lower left side, which I will often do when these happen.

The pattern is like this: My bowels start to move with great vigor. I become slightly queasy as well, but that is not where the real action is. This is the time when the pain manifests usually, though not today. I may look pale at this time, according to my coworkers. (It usually happens there.) While I remain in the bathroom, the bowels move ever more intensely and painfully, and I begin to worry. But it does not proceed to full-fledged diarrhea with dehydration. Instead, it progresses to the next phase. At this time, I start shivering with cold even if the room is warm (as it was today, 24 decrees Celsius, or 6 degrees above recommended office temperature and a couple degrees above recommended relax temperature as well). At the same time, I become very sleepy. Abnormally sleepy, as if late in the morning after staying up all night. I would fall asleep right there if I were not shaking with frost. It would seem like fever, but the temperature in my armpit is very close to normal. I put on as much warm clothes as I can, pace on the floor because I can't sit down without shaking even worse. Eventually the shaking subsides, I sit down, and become warmer and warmer. At this point, I fall asleep. I have no choice in the matter. I basically lose consciousness, but not in the same way as in fainting, rather exactly as when falling asleep after stretching the limits of staying awake. Sitting in my chair, I sleep deeply and dreamlessly for some minutes. When I wake up, the attack is basically over. My appetite is reduced for half a day or more, but this is no great loss. I am phat enuff.

Actually, last time I walked to the shop to get groceries, I had to pull in my belt another notch. There are still two holes left, and I still have a visible bulge, but this is the way it is going. I could not eat large meals now even if I tried. Two slices of bread is uncomfortably much. I should have my doctor check me for stomach ulcers, but I understand the procedure is very painful and has various bad side effects. Anyway, the stomach acid attacks seem less intense this past week, but I guess that could be due to eating so little rather than to not working.

***

As opposed to working, I've been writing. 4264 words. I am not likely to keep that up, because a little while into November my wrist and my throat will probably both be sore. I am not used to speaking a lot, so dictating pages of novel will usually wear it out. I have trained it through November, but the effect (if any) is that I am now hoarse by default. Or that could be the weather.