1. Simpsons Season 9 arrived this morning – I ordered it yesterday.
2. The boy sent me a surprise box of chocolates. Not for Valentine’s – just because he is sweet and he loves me.
3. My Bare Escentuals sample pack arrived. Tiny pots that will be oh so fun to play with once I’m feeling better.
4. I get to call my sister in about 10 minutes.
5. After my doctor’s appointment yesterday I dropped my bike in at the local shop and when I collected it today they had made it all shiny and fantastic.
6. I just finished The Curse of Monkey Island having played in roughly hour long slots for about a week.
7. Last night I slept from about 2am to 9am without waking up – I have only been able to sleep about five hours unbroken for about a fortnight.
8. When I woke up this morning, I was breathing through my nose. It was actually clear!
9. Even though Saturday was very difficult [we went to Weasel's parent's for the day] I made it through and I got to shop for clothes for Weasel which I love to do because she is tall and thin and designers love that.
10. Weasel cancelled the credit card we’d used to get out of debt this week. We are going to find a money back card [since we are going to pay it off every month] and switch to using the credit card instead of our debit cards for all out usual purchases.

Phew! 9 and 10 were a stretch, but I managed it!

You know how when you’re ill and everyone is all sympathetic and wishes you well? And it makes you feel that little bit better because you know they care?

After two months of that, it starts to have an opposite effect.

I have had very little outside contact with the world, and let’s face it, I normally have very little, we’re talking a tiny small amount of contact. The tiny small contact I have had has mostly consisted of people saying all the sympathetic things and now it just pisses me off. “I hope you feel better soon!” my reply, “Yeah, me too.” Grump.

I’ve taken to asking my loved ones to kill me. I call them bastards when they refuse.

EIGHT WEEKS AND FOUR DAYS. I mean come on! Three courses of antibiotics, enough painkillers for a small country and every single pleasure in life removed and replaced with constantly throbbing teeth and a swollen nose – and my ear is still plugged so hearing is shagged too.

I find myself grateful that I can actually look at my monitor [provided the brightness and contrast are turned down and that is is for an hour or less - maybe stretched to two if I take a nap right after] and so happy that I can read books again. These ‘improvements’ are pathetically small given the amount of time, drugs and rest they have had.

So back to the doctor’s tomorrow.

I’m tired of having to take naps after breakfast. As if waking up, taking drugs and eating was that difficult.

This entire Debbie is all about how ill I’ve been. If you’re not interested in the details, skip it all. Also I’m not thinking as well, so if something doesn’t make sense I apologise.

So the second course of antibiotics didn’t shift it either. I started on Saturday and the following Wednesday I went back to the doctor. I got a steroid nasal spray and antihistamines to help calm things down. I’ve been doing that, steaming and painkillers.

I did go to see Immi [22nd] in the end, it was difficult, but I enjoyed it. Doodle and I prefer the back so I had a nice wall to lean against and I had water and drugs. The walk home was the hardest.

I also went to Avenue Q [26th]… I was feeling better on the day and I thought I might be at the end. Weasel and I both thought it was excellent, about half way through I was in agony. I was grateful for the 3rd row seats because I had to take my glasses off. By the time we got on the train home I couldn’t read because of my eyes and I was exhausted.

My eyes have been pretty fucked, I have been able to watch TV more comfortably and I can read in small doses. The computer is still difficult, I’ve had to keep the brightness and contrast turned way down.

Anyway, last Thursday I decided I should go back to work. I battled through the initial morning yuck and headed off. I managed to stay until 3:30 I couldn’t use my computer for most of it and my hat was a permanent resident on my head to shield my eyes.

Horatio arrived that evening. On Friday I thought that if I could work then I could go into town and get lotion. So we walked in, I got my lotion and we came home. It was awful. My nose/eyes/teeth were hurting so much. I rested, chatted with my parents, the boy took care of me and armed with a Horlicks [malted, milky warm drink to aid sleep] with a shot of Drambuie [honied Irish whiskey] and a pile of drugs I went to bed. I couldn’t sleep. I waited and waited. I took two showers. Finally around 4 I headed for the sofa. I put Disintegration [The Cure] on since that is my official sleep to CD and managed to get four hours in. I took another shower, rested some more then put myself together and Horatio and I went to the pub for games.

This was the meet I’d planned UKA back in December, we kept having to postpone it. I felt so grotty the whole time, I’m amazed I managed to make it the whole way through. I’d deliberately planned it locally cause I didn’t fancy London right before Christmas. Thank god I did. We played all sorts, we talked, drank and generally got on really well. Most of the UKA people dropped out, but thankfully Mish was able to make up the numbers. I am going to try the same meet again next month, if I’m still able to use the computer when I’m finished here I’ll go tell the forum too.

When I got home I had another shower, took more drugs, steamed and many other similar activities. I felt awful. Nothing was going away. My teeth hurt, my eyes hurt, my nose hurt, everything. I was so distressed I couldn’t help myself and poor Horatio didn’t know what to do either, I finally called Weasel at 11:30. She helped me calm down and told Horatio what he could do. Horatio did it and arranged for a doctor to call us back. At 3am we finally heard back and I had an appointment at a clinic at 8am. Horatio was so sweet while we waited, I couldn’t do anything, including sleep so he read to me and talked with me. I finally told him to go to bed so one of us could function.

I’d been toying with the idea of a humidifier for weeks and since I couldn’t sleep I used the time to find one. I didn’t sleep at all. The taxi arrived and we headed to the clinic. I got a very fancy antibiotic and stronger painkillers. I have managed to sleep since, five hours was the longest run I managed. The painkillers are bliss. My skin on the face is awful. The constant watering and the tiredness has made my eyes hurt and the skin around them has suffered too. My lips are yucky too.

EDIT: I didn’t finish Sunday. We got a taxi to and from the clinic, then Horatio went and filled my prescription and got my painkillers. Then he went and bought my humidifier. He took care of me. He liaised with Weasel to make sure I wouldn’t be on my own too long. He was wonderful. Weasel got home early cutting her weekend with Jon short. She took over from Horatio and I managed to get to bed around 8:30. I’d be so lost without them.

Wednesday will be exciting, it will mark week eight of awful illness! I think I’ll throw a party for it.