Moved in
This is likely the first blog entry my new neighbours will read. Assuming they have time.
So here's the health impediments since I moved in:
Coldy-sinusy thing. Eliminating who I've passed it onto from where I've been, my conclusion is this came from the doctor's surgery. Lovely. Slight sniffles and a sore throat on Thursday, then a horrible night of coughing. By Friday the nose was streaming, it got to my lungs and I had a headache. I tried working from 'home' but only got an hour in before I couldn't think any more. I had a fever Friday night which seemed to pass sometime in the night, after which it was mostly dealing with the aftermath. Namely ongoing sinus problems and heat in the lungs. The fact that I'm up at this time tells you that they aren't all over with. Still at least it's mostly *controlled* coughing now.
Heat. The under-floor heating isn't all bad, but the room has single-glazing and tends to reflect outside temperatures. There is however a good electric heater (well, not bad anyway). I'm coming to some conclusions about it.
a) It needs to go on in the evenings (presumably earlier as Winter draws in), and when I get up in the morning
b) It needs to go off when I go to bed. Getting the temperature balance is really difficult but I've been getting too hot at night which I think is adding heat to my lungs. I woke up really dehydrated this morning.
c) It needs to go by the window, not by the bed. I always had this plan, but was stymied by my room having all of 5 power sockets. I now have an extension, it's just a matter of physically moving it. A number of reasons for the move: it's where central heating goes because that's where the cold air is; it's more central to the room; it may make temperature balance better/easier; and because I suspect the ozone it gives off isn't good for my sleep.
On a related note, I think having cayenne in my toasties on Friday was a poor idea. I suspect it accelerated the fever but at the cost of adding heat to my lungs. (Also, new pot is stronger than old pot.)
Doing stuff. I'm beyond the 'energy needed to think about packing' stage - it's mostly just finding things not present (bread knife, chopping board*) or needed unexpectedly (drying rack). I've even done most of my unpacking, slowly over a few days. I would have done more without the wretched cold. I'm talking here about looking after the place. Making food. Buying food. Washing up. Of these, only buying food would have taken significant energy, and the worst bits are being taken care of for the time being. I do miss having a kitchen with everything in it though. I haven't done any real cleaning yet either, partially because it's only been 4 days, partially, again, the cold. It will be interesting to see how I feel when the students are in and I'm looking after everything myself. The slight aggravation is that everything I go to is 5 minutes further away by van, and the van is an extra couple of minutes away. Nothing is quite so easy.
* found back on a dusty shelf in my old place; it was at one point in the pile of things to take. Odd.
Posture. The computer screen is further away from me and higher (because there's a shelf, it had to go on the shelf). The chair is different (and probably not ideal; but nor was the other one). And of course my back is suffering from all the nasty coughing (to differentiate it from the normal controlled coughing; no, really). I've noticed my posture has been slipping horribly and I've been doing my best to correct it. But it's tough.
Sleep. So yes, 4 nights of disturbed sleep (getting better luckily). Because it was either a day off or a weekend, I've been fine until now but I went to bed two hours later than I intended and I've been awake for an hour. Getting to the osteopath at 10 is going to be interesting and I suspect I'll be coming back here afterwards to prepare for the day, instead of going straight off to get more shampoo and a cheese slice. It's not the bed though. Just my sinuses.
--
In good news, I've been pacing myself pretty well, and the notepad app on my phone has kept me organised. Both osteopath and acupuncturist are on two-week not three-week appointments at the moment to help me through the transition (although the tension in my lungs is barely to do with that; just bad timing). I start my new work pattern this week, and we have +2 staff (even if one of them has to hotdesk with me; hope he can cope with my messy desk, being off Friday meant I couldn't tidy it).
Thursday was the first time I ever felt swindled by acupuncture. I turned up 10 minutes late, distracted by work, cold and (it turned out) a hypo. By the time I sorted my blood sugars I only had 15 minutes to go. He said none of the herbs would help while I had the cold (yay!) and I'm not sure how much effect the needles had in 10 minutes. (In theory it should be sufficient but I didn't notice much change.) Previously he's had more sympathy and given me a bit longer, but maybe he needed to go home. Anyway. I won't hold it against him really, it was just frustrating when I was feeling so bad.
I took some 19 to see if antiflammatories helped (I think they did) and once it receded a little some 23 to rehydrate the lungs (and to cool them down in the process). I think the latter has been having an effect, and is why I could clear my lungs when I woke up an hour ago. (With apologies for the graphic descriptions) my sputum is horribly thick from the heat, but it's not a terrible colour which gives me hope that if I can clear it (before the upcoming busy busy weekend) then I won't get an infection.
Then we get to see what bugs the freshers bring. Joy.
So here's the health impediments since I moved in:
Coldy-sinusy thing. Eliminating who I've passed it onto from where I've been, my conclusion is this came from the doctor's surgery. Lovely. Slight sniffles and a sore throat on Thursday, then a horrible night of coughing. By Friday the nose was streaming, it got to my lungs and I had a headache. I tried working from 'home' but only got an hour in before I couldn't think any more. I had a fever Friday night which seemed to pass sometime in the night, after which it was mostly dealing with the aftermath. Namely ongoing sinus problems and heat in the lungs. The fact that I'm up at this time tells you that they aren't all over with. Still at least it's mostly *controlled* coughing now.
Heat. The under-floor heating isn't all bad, but the room has single-glazing and tends to reflect outside temperatures. There is however a good electric heater (well, not bad anyway). I'm coming to some conclusions about it.
a) It needs to go on in the evenings (presumably earlier as Winter draws in), and when I get up in the morning
b) It needs to go off when I go to bed. Getting the temperature balance is really difficult but I've been getting too hot at night which I think is adding heat to my lungs. I woke up really dehydrated this morning.
c) It needs to go by the window, not by the bed. I always had this plan, but was stymied by my room having all of 5 power sockets. I now have an extension, it's just a matter of physically moving it. A number of reasons for the move: it's where central heating goes because that's where the cold air is; it's more central to the room; it may make temperature balance better/easier; and because I suspect the ozone it gives off isn't good for my sleep.
On a related note, I think having cayenne in my toasties on Friday was a poor idea. I suspect it accelerated the fever but at the cost of adding heat to my lungs. (Also, new pot is stronger than old pot.)
Doing stuff. I'm beyond the 'energy needed to think about packing' stage - it's mostly just finding things not present (bread knife, chopping board*) or needed unexpectedly (drying rack). I've even done most of my unpacking, slowly over a few days. I would have done more without the wretched cold. I'm talking here about looking after the place. Making food. Buying food. Washing up. Of these, only buying food would have taken significant energy, and the worst bits are being taken care of for the time being. I do miss having a kitchen with everything in it though. I haven't done any real cleaning yet either, partially because it's only been 4 days, partially, again, the cold. It will be interesting to see how I feel when the students are in and I'm looking after everything myself. The slight aggravation is that everything I go to is 5 minutes further away by van, and the van is an extra couple of minutes away. Nothing is quite so easy.
* found back on a dusty shelf in my old place; it was at one point in the pile of things to take. Odd.
Posture. The computer screen is further away from me and higher (because there's a shelf, it had to go on the shelf). The chair is different (and probably not ideal; but nor was the other one). And of course my back is suffering from all the nasty coughing (to differentiate it from the normal controlled coughing; no, really). I've noticed my posture has been slipping horribly and I've been doing my best to correct it. But it's tough.
Sleep. So yes, 4 nights of disturbed sleep (getting better luckily). Because it was either a day off or a weekend, I've been fine until now but I went to bed two hours later than I intended and I've been awake for an hour. Getting to the osteopath at 10 is going to be interesting and I suspect I'll be coming back here afterwards to prepare for the day, instead of going straight off to get more shampoo and a cheese slice. It's not the bed though. Just my sinuses.
--
In good news, I've been pacing myself pretty well, and the notepad app on my phone has kept me organised. Both osteopath and acupuncturist are on two-week not three-week appointments at the moment to help me through the transition (although the tension in my lungs is barely to do with that; just bad timing). I start my new work pattern this week, and we have +2 staff (even if one of them has to hotdesk with me; hope he can cope with my messy desk, being off Friday meant I couldn't tidy it).
Thursday was the first time I ever felt swindled by acupuncture. I turned up 10 minutes late, distracted by work, cold and (it turned out) a hypo. By the time I sorted my blood sugars I only had 15 minutes to go. He said none of the herbs would help while I had the cold (yay!) and I'm not sure how much effect the needles had in 10 minutes. (In theory it should be sufficient but I didn't notice much change.) Previously he's had more sympathy and given me a bit longer, but maybe he needed to go home. Anyway. I won't hold it against him really, it was just frustrating when I was feeling so bad.
I took some 19 to see if antiflammatories helped (I think they did) and once it receded a little some 23 to rehydrate the lungs (and to cool them down in the process). I think the latter has been having an effect, and is why I could clear my lungs when I woke up an hour ago. (With apologies for the graphic descriptions) my sputum is horribly thick from the heat, but it's not a terrible colour which gives me hope that if I can clear it (before the upcoming busy busy weekend) then I won't get an infection.
Then we get to see what bugs the freshers bring. Joy.