Flaming Nora

It started with a bad cold . Then it made me pig sick , then filthy sick and then (hoorah!) I wasn't quite as sick and went back to work. And now (boo!) I'm back at home on the sofa with a flareup of symptoms I don't understand. My GP has been worse than useless, giving me two sicknotes but no eye contact, never mind advice. Tomorrow I see a different GP in a new health centre I've registered with who'll hopefully shed some light on what's going on.

I've had to send in a sicknote to work. It's only the second time I've ever done that in my life, the first time being many, many years ago, and I've worked full-time for almost 30 of my earth years. So, the swine flu went after a course of Tamiflu but it's left me with a virus that's causing burning in my head, neck and back, a high temperature, rash and a filthy mood. Apart from the GP (twice) and A&E at th'ospital (once) I've not been across the doors in almost three weeks. I want to be well but it's all I can do to sit at the computer and moan.

Despite no flu-like symptoms, the doc's given me Tamiflu and instead of being poolside with a beer in Spain, I'm still off work sick with a bad cold and now, a nasty virus too. This is my first day out of bed in a few days and the fact that I'm up and blogging, emailing and catching up is a sign of recovery, I hope. However, we've had to cancel our two week annual jollies to Spain , which we've had booked for months, to a very special place to celebrate a special anniversary for my lovely man and I. Needless to say, we're both fed up. It's only the second time in my life I've had to cancel a holiday due to not being well. The first time was as a kid when my brothers and I all caught chicken pox at the same time. My parents cancelled our annual fortnight to Gorleston-on-Sea and once we'd recovered, they took us on a last minute booking to Walton-on-the-Naze. I've never been back.