Dissertation time
I'm so never going to participate in Nanowrimo!
I went on holiday with a clean bill of health, but fairly exhausted (see last post). Holiday was good - lots of rest, reading and exercise. I stopped going to the Uni pool a few years ago* so I only really swim on holiday, and I did daily. Not the longest swims ever, but it was good. And I walked. Unfortunately I never got the really fast walks that I was aiming for (cause: holiday- and family-itis). And towards the end of the holiday I became really tired, especially after I took some no.14 and a hypertonic saline nebuliser and proceeded to do physio for three hours.
A few days after I got back, and still feeling tired, I realised that my lungs were a lot worse than I realised. I hastily took some no.10 (first time in a long time), did more physio and hypertonic saline. Walking into work last Monday I realised that there was no way that I would have the energy to do my dissertation if I was in work, even with the amount of holiday I had available to me. That day I asked for a month of unpaid leave which, combined with my remaining holiday**, would mean I didn't need to work until October. Luckily I have a great boss and she arranged it with almost no hassle.
So Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday last week I spent each morning chilling, and each afternoon until 8ish in the University library, reading and typing away on a computer. The first 30-50 minutes I probably spend prevaricating, and then it's pretty solid work until I go, with just a few odd breaks for Dilbert etc. (I just cannot get that level of concentration at home!) By Thursday, though, it was fairly clear that I was getting tired and slow, so I took a day or two off. Four days later, I'm back...
There is no doubt in me by now that dissertation-writing takes a lot out of me, but I also have a nagging feeling that something else is up and I'm not sure what. I'm taking either no.14 or no.10 daily now (first time in a while), I have doubled my steroids and I'm even doing my colomycin nebuliser each morning. I only hope I can figure out what's going on before it causes too much grief. If I have to work out a way of getting antibiotics into me, I would like take my sick leave in October when I get to miss Freshers Week!
* I thought it wasn't doing me much good. In hindsight, I think I was just getting fed up and self-embarrassed at my lack of improvement (or even worsening).
** I've been rolling over 5 days of holiday leave since I joined the University (when I was young and bouncy enough not to need it) for a rainy day. I've heard various weak protestations, but my plan has paid dividends since the rainy day has arrived.
Fuel prices : seem to have fluctuated between 102.9 and 103.9 p/litre
I went on holiday with a clean bill of health, but fairly exhausted (see last post). Holiday was good - lots of rest, reading and exercise. I stopped going to the Uni pool a few years ago* so I only really swim on holiday, and I did daily. Not the longest swims ever, but it was good. And I walked. Unfortunately I never got the really fast walks that I was aiming for (cause: holiday- and family-itis). And towards the end of the holiday I became really tired, especially after I took some no.14 and a hypertonic saline nebuliser and proceeded to do physio for three hours.
A few days after I got back, and still feeling tired, I realised that my lungs were a lot worse than I realised. I hastily took some no.10 (first time in a long time), did more physio and hypertonic saline. Walking into work last Monday I realised that there was no way that I would have the energy to do my dissertation if I was in work, even with the amount of holiday I had available to me. That day I asked for a month of unpaid leave which, combined with my remaining holiday**, would mean I didn't need to work until October. Luckily I have a great boss and she arranged it with almost no hassle.
So Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday last week I spent each morning chilling, and each afternoon until 8ish in the University library, reading and typing away on a computer. The first 30-50 minutes I probably spend prevaricating, and then it's pretty solid work until I go, with just a few odd breaks for Dilbert etc. (I just cannot get that level of concentration at home!) By Thursday, though, it was fairly clear that I was getting tired and slow, so I took a day or two off. Four days later, I'm back...
There is no doubt in me by now that dissertation-writing takes a lot out of me, but I also have a nagging feeling that something else is up and I'm not sure what. I'm taking either no.14 or no.10 daily now (first time in a while), I have doubled my steroids and I'm even doing my colomycin nebuliser each morning. I only hope I can figure out what's going on before it causes too much grief. If I have to work out a way of getting antibiotics into me, I would like take my sick leave in October when I get to miss Freshers Week!
* I thought it wasn't doing me much good. In hindsight, I think I was just getting fed up and self-embarrassed at my lack of improvement (or even worsening).
** I've been rolling over 5 days of holiday leave since I joined the University (when I was young and bouncy enough not to need it) for a rainy day. I've heard various weak protestations, but my plan has paid dividends since the rainy day has arrived.
Fuel prices : seem to have fluctuated between 102.9 and 103.9 p/litre