Of course

Thanks to God, I'm ALLright now. Healthy bunny. The flu-like illness that I had for the last three weeks has now settled. Last week was the worst. I actually had rigors. Rigors like rigors should be: shaking the bed and all. Madness I tell you. Never in my life I experience such thing, so of course I was so upset (the hypochondriac in me more like it) thinking that it was actually the end of world. Thinking that I was about to die. That was on Thursday of last week.

I came back from my GP practice (having sitting in consultation with my GP tutor- which was fine at the time, until I had my lunch and couldnt eat- which was out of the norm for me- like completely- then the rigors started) feeling very dreadful and shaking (with teeth clattering of course) all my way on the train. 

Then, I decided (one of my wisest move that day) to text HM#1, plaeding her to pcik me up from the train station as i felt as is I was about to pass out. 

Can.not.walk.back.home.feeling.so.fucking.cold.like.i.was.about.to.freeze.to.death.

Stepping into her car, she asked one question: Are you alright?

And the gate gave away. Tear gate thats it. The feeling was just so overwhelming- I felt so awful, so tired, so shaky, so pissed-off, so ill, so depressed, so dead, so cold. I just sat there at the back seat and cried. Like a baby. Talking baby. (Ranting about how stupid my GP -my actually GP's gp- my own doctors as I couldnt get any urgent appointment- hello- I'm dying here!!)

She was used to it though (me crying, not me being unwell). There was BFF too in the car. And that of course only lower down the threshold for emotional outpouring. They were concerned of course. For the facts that i) I looked very unwell ii) I cried without inhibitation iii) I kept on cursing with alot of the F words.

Primary Care Trust (Out of Hours) service was contacted. Appointment was booked two hours later. Hot soup was consumed while waiting. I was triaged (nurse) and examined (by doctor of course). Antibiotic was prescribed. Chemist was visited, prescription was obtained. First dose of Abx was taken. Dinner and was put to bed by HM#1.

End of drama.

All this while (last three weeks) I've been having headache that worsen when waking up from sleep in the morning/coughing/sneezing/bending down. I was convinced that I MUST have some sort space occupying lesion as that kind of headache is characteristic of raised intracranial pressure. Or at least my hypochhondria alter-ego thought that.

Coryzal symptoms tied up with headache, the diagnosis given by the doctor was: sinusitis. I was like: really? sure it is not something more serious? I'm septic already!

Temp: 38.9c and RR 18bpm and pulse 110bpm. 

Thats classified as SIRS (systemic inflammatory response sndrome).

"Alter ego: I'm dying here. Im dying here, helllllllooooo...."

Duh, give it a try. 

The next day I felt much much much better. Like magic I woke up that morning (Friday) without headache and temp. Id been having headache for the longest time, I actually forgotten how does it feels to NOT have headache. Feels good, let me tell you that.

Friday went by so quickly. Drowsy from the lemsip. 

So did the weekend.

This week I feel much better. There is actually bounce in my walk. I skip while I walk when I'm happy. I start singing again. And humming to tunes. Making small talks that I was too uninterested to make before with the staff of the GP practice I am at right now (gosh- they must think that I'm a snobbish asian girl who simply dont talk to other member of staff apart from doctors). I wake up in the morning, looking forward to things that lay ahead of me that day (as opposed to cursing of course). I wake up without headache (I know, i mentioned it already- but this is a very important point). I find it nice to receive phone calls from friends (as opposed to feeling dreadful having to put up an upbeat tone or declining the calls). I watch ANTM and Gossip girls. I start gossiping and going shopping again. I start to like my crushes again. 

I'm almost normal.

Yeah.

Of course, thanks to GOD.

*Of course, the title of this entry: count the no# of times that I said that phrase. 

Series of unfortunate events

As we all know, I'm doing my community placement in a little town (smaller than SmallCity). I like the GP practice but I absolutely hate the commuting bit.

Today, the weather was really cold (4-5degree) despite the day being sunny. Arriving at the SmallCity train station I decided to get a taxi, because I dont wanna walk back to my hall. I couldn't even imagine how much worse the coughing would be like if I walk in cold temperature like this. (Editor's note: p53 is a known asthmatic- however, the last time she had an asthma attack was close to 8 years ago- so she's putting it all down to the viral infection that she has)

p53 (went to a taxi)

Taxi driver-TD (summon me to get into his taxi)

p53: can I get to ******** Street?

TD: you can walk there- why do you want to get a taxi there?

p53: its too cold, I dont feel like walking.

TD: waste of my time only. (pulling out of the taxis driveway)

And with that I felt: wth? I was so tired to rebut what he just said. But certainly couldnt believe my luck. What a shiiiteee day!

(Arriving at my hall) TD: Tsk, tsk, tsk. Its just around the corner, you know.

Oh, come on- drop it. I paid 2pound for the 2 mins journey. He looked damn annoyed, but I have the last say: Customer is always right.

GP land

GP land so far has been very tiring but entertaining. 

At the beginning, I started with apprehension thinking that its all gonna be damn ol boring depressive patients. And common cough and cold. Plus the fact that I have to travel to an even smaller town for it (40min door to door journey).

I was right to some extend. Many patients like that. However, I've seen interesting cases. For example: barotrauma post scuba-diving, meningioma and palpitations that turned out to be an ectopic case.  

One of the GPs is an absolute bonker! I love him (just like how I love my BIGPROJECT's tutor). He (now will be called- THE GP) is a type of person who will put minimal possible effort to get by and hates patients who come in with nitty gritty problems. 

Quotes so far:

Patient #1: I think its the bugs that've been around. I bet you have a lot of patients with it.

THE GP: Hmmm... not a lot... only like hundreds each day.

Me: Is it alright if I go out through the back door? 

THE GP: Yup sure, because if you try to go through the front one, you'll find it impossible to do so. I've locked it. 

Then, there is another GP whom I like very much. He's so nice. When I found myself with a non-functioning otoscope and surgery list of multiple ear problems, I frantically went searching for a replacement.

GP: You can use my otoscope.

Me: But then what if you need it later?

GP: Its alright, I'll use yours.

Me: But its NOT working.

GP: (big smile + wink) I'll pretend that it is. Patients wont know any difference.

Wish me well

I am very ill. So please do wish me well.
Yesterday, I didn't go in at all. In fact on Thursday (the day before yesterday), I skipped the afternoon half because of this constant headache I had.

On Friday morning, I went to the skill lab to practice some skills. OMFG- how tedious and how I just couldn't concentrate. Then I said to HM#1 (who I love dearly) that I wanted to have some hot soup. Off we went to a small village cafe about half an hour drive from the base hospital.

Back home afterwards, I had some Paramax (Paracetamol + Metaclopramide). Yeah- that was how unwell I was. Nauseous for no apparent reason. Unless you guys want to consider intracranial problem. No, lets not go down that route.

I slept very early (not a surprise, I know) and I was very crossed with myself for missing Little Britain USA. Again.

Hence, that's why I'm up very early on weekend (big no-no in my life). Cross my fingers and hope that something good will happen today.