Checks & Balances
It seems that my body has its own way of Checks & Balances.
Whenever it feels that I am cheonging too hard or packing in too many activities into my schedule, it signals to my autoimmune system to pull the handbrake and promptly hands me a heavy dose of Hives and an MC for the day. And contrary to popular sentiment that Medical Certificates (documents which we present to our boss that grants us medical leave for the allotted days) are much to be hailed for, receiving an MC is usually a cause for frustration and a tad of exasperation, especially when there is much work to be done, in office or elsewhere.
Yesterday morning shortly after reaching office, I started feeling queasy, something of no consequence which I labeled as a reaction to lack of food (I skipped breakfast because there was no time to eat). At lunch, though, I was unable to finish half of my ban mian and now had a wonderful combination of headache plus severe nausea. I walked extremely slowly back to office and then spent the rest of the afternoon struggling to do my work in between running to the washroom several times when the feeling of throwing up nearly overcame me. But there was no food to come out.
I hung on till 5:30PM and then headed home and straight for bed. There, I popped two panadols and tossed and turned, feeling feverish chills and having a full-blown outbreak of hives all over. At 10plus in the evening, I got up with reluctance to go to the Raffles Hospital A&E, as that is the only medical places open 24 hours.
Due to the effect of the two panadols earlier, I thought my fever was relatively cleared, and went willingly to the medical booth that has been set up ever since security measures were heightened due to Swine Flu. The medical officer took my temperature as I was recording down my contact details and then exclaimed, "38.5! You should be in quarantine by now!!" I looked up at him startled. "Here, this one is for you," he said, passing me a mask to wear. "And this one for you too." He passed another to my mom and instructed me to bring my piece of paper (upon which he had written a very big 38.5) to another counter.
For a few brief and awkward moments, I had the sensation of being an infectious leper.
Anyway, after a long wait during which I fell asleep twice, I finally saw the doc who prescribed me some meds and gave me a referral to a specialist whom I had seen last year before. When I reached out from the hospital, I whipped off the mask with relief. It felt wonderful to once again breathe in fresh air.
Today I went to see the specialist and then came back to rest. Though not back to normal, the nausea pill has been working so far to keep the unpleasant feelings at bay.
The one major regret of it all?
I didn't get a chance to carry my beloved niece when she came last night for dinner with the family. :( Here's some pics, though, to make up for it ;)
Whenever it feels that I am cheonging too hard or packing in too many activities into my schedule, it signals to my autoimmune system to pull the handbrake and promptly hands me a heavy dose of Hives and an MC for the day. And contrary to popular sentiment that Medical Certificates (documents which we present to our boss that grants us medical leave for the allotted days) are much to be hailed for, receiving an MC is usually a cause for frustration and a tad of exasperation, especially when there is much work to be done, in office or elsewhere.
Yesterday morning shortly after reaching office, I started feeling queasy, something of no consequence which I labeled as a reaction to lack of food (I skipped breakfast because there was no time to eat). At lunch, though, I was unable to finish half of my ban mian and now had a wonderful combination of headache plus severe nausea. I walked extremely slowly back to office and then spent the rest of the afternoon struggling to do my work in between running to the washroom several times when the feeling of throwing up nearly overcame me. But there was no food to come out.
I hung on till 5:30PM and then headed home and straight for bed. There, I popped two panadols and tossed and turned, feeling feverish chills and having a full-blown outbreak of hives all over. At 10plus in the evening, I got up with reluctance to go to the Raffles Hospital A&E, as that is the only medical places open 24 hours.
Due to the effect of the two panadols earlier, I thought my fever was relatively cleared, and went willingly to the medical booth that has been set up ever since security measures were heightened due to Swine Flu. The medical officer took my temperature as I was recording down my contact details and then exclaimed, "38.5! You should be in quarantine by now!!" I looked up at him startled. "Here, this one is for you," he said, passing me a mask to wear. "And this one for you too." He passed another to my mom and instructed me to bring my piece of paper (upon which he had written a very big 38.5) to another counter.
For a few brief and awkward moments, I had the sensation of being an infectious leper.
Anyway, after a long wait during which I fell asleep twice, I finally saw the doc who prescribed me some meds and gave me a referral to a specialist whom I had seen last year before. When I reached out from the hospital, I whipped off the mask with relief. It felt wonderful to once again breathe in fresh air.
Today I went to see the specialist and then came back to rest. Though not back to normal, the nausea pill has been working so far to keep the unpleasant feelings at bay.
The one major regret of it all?
I didn't get a chance to carry my beloved niece when she came last night for dinner with the family. :( Here's some pics, though, to make up for it ;)