Saturday 31st January - Monday 2nd February 2004

Not much change physically for the next few days. It was strange now to think that I no longer had a job though. I was much more concerned with my health however, and it was now coming to the end of the two weeks Dr M told me it would take to clear up, and it didn't seem to be happening.

Friday 30th January 2004

My hand became less painful today, but was still swollen and didn't move as it should.
The shop I had worked in for 15 years was finally closing down on Saturday 31st and we were all being made redundant. Although I had spent my last two weeks I should have been there away, I went down anyway to say goodbye.
Not being able to drive because of my hand and leg, I decided it would be easier to limp across the road and go by bus. This was almost a mistake as the bus I was aiming to catch passed me on the way to the bus stop as it was running early, so I had to hobble all the way back home and do it all again half an hour later. Then when I caught the next bus, the driver jerked as he pulled away, causing me to hit my hand on the rail as I tried to grab it to stay standing up! Bus drivers in Cornwall are a friendly bunch!
At least I got to see everyone at the shop for one last time.

Thursday 29th January 2004

Today my hand wasn't so bad and I could dispense with the frozen peas! Rob took us down to a local beach before he left for home. This time I also got out and had a little wander around the beach, where there were pieces of ice among the rock pools!

Wednesday 28th January 2004

Rob drove us to St.Ives, which is another favourite place of ours, and we parked overlooking Porthgwidden Beach. At one point Rob went for a walk but my knee meant I stayed in the car admiring the view.
Back home later, my hand was beginning to hurt a lot, and I spent the evening with a bag of frozen peas round it. Oh, and it snowed for a while too :-)

Tuesday 27th January 2004

Rob drove us to Gunwalloe, one of my favourite places, and it made a nice change to be able to go out again. I didn't exactly do very much apart from admire the views and at one point we watched a hail storm approach us and pass overhead.
Although I hadn't got out of the car up till then, we called in Somerfield's in Helston on the way home for me to get lots of shopping while I had the chance. Although I couldn't walk properly, I had a nice shopping trolley to hold on to :-)

Monday 26th January 2004

No change with my knee but my right hand became very painful as well. I started to realise just how much we use our hands without even thinking about it.
I spent some time getting the house ready for my mate Rob from Portsmouth, who would be arriving late that night for a few days' visit.

Wednesday 21st to Sunday 25th January 2004

Not really much difference between each day at the moment.
The new tablets didn't seem to be helping at all, and my left knee had now become swollen behind the joint as well so it was impossible to straighten my left leg. This meant it was very uncomfortable in bed so I started sleeping upstairs in the lounge on the sofa, so I could rest my leg against the sofa back.

Tuesday 20th January 2004

I went back to the surgery to see Doctor B this time, who became the one I was assigned to from now on. Instead of giving me more tablets of the kind I had on Sunday, he gave me different ones, saying they would be better. I also had the result of my blood test from last Friday, which was ok.

Monday 19th January 2004

No real change today.

Sunday 18th January 2004

My knee was still very swollen so I didn't go to work today. Also my hand was still feeling stiff. By the evening things were getting worse and I started to wonder what else might be happening inside, which I couldn't see, so I telephoned NHS Direct. For those outside the UK, this is an out-of-hours service for health advice.
They suggested I should see the duty Doctor immediately, who travels around to various towns but luckily just happened to be at the Falmouth surgery at the time. I arranged a taxi to take me.
The duty Doc that night happened to be the one I'm registered with, Doctor M, although I had never actually seen him before! He had a look at my knee and hand and asked a few questions, and told me it was probably a reaction to the virus I had had. It isn't very common but happens in a few cases. He gave me a few days supply of tablets out of a drawer so I could start on them straight away - the pharmacy would be closed at that hour - and said to go and see a Doctor at the surgery on Tuesday for some more. He said it would probably clear up within two weeks.
At least I was feeling rather more at ease now something was being done, and phoned for a taxi home.

Saturday 17th January 2004

Back at work although my left knee and right hand still feeling kinda stiff. As the day progressed, my knee worsened. Bending down was becoming very painful, and by the late afternoon my knee had become swollen. This turned out to be my last day at work for Our Price/Sanity.

Friday 16th January 2004

Went to the surgery for the Blood Test.
[Posted late due to an ISP problem]

Thursday 15th January 2004

My day off today. My course of antibiotics is finished. I notice a kind of 'stiffness' in my left knee, rather like I had run a 10k race the previous day. Although I had been kicking a ball about at work with a colleague on Wednesday due to our boredom, this doesn't feel right, and in any case, my right hand feels the same. I phoned the Doctor's who suggest I go in the next day for a blood test.

Monday 12th to Wednesday 14th January 2004

Back at work and all ok healthwise. Work was very strange as we were waiting for confirmation of when we were going to be closing down. There was hardly any stock left, so hardly any customers, and it was very very boring, and very different to how the previous 15 years had been.

Saturday/Sunday 10th/11th January 2004

Pretty much all ok now and back to normal.

Friday 9th January 2004

Today I received news from the doc of what I had had - it turned out to be a Campylobacter Infection - An infection carried in food rather than food poisoning, because the bacteria multiply after being eaten instead of in the food beforehand. So there we are! And now, because he knew what I had, he could prescribe a course of antibiotics, which I started on straight away.

Thursday 8th January 2004

Feeling pretty much back to normal today.

Tuesday/Wednesday January 6/7th 2004

Nothing really to report, just lounging around at home and gradually feeling better.

Monday January 5th 2004

No real change, but today I went down to the Doctor's Surgery to take my sample along!

Sunday January 4th 2004

Still feeling somewhat flu-like but spent the day upstairs out of bed not doing very much!

Saturday January 3rd, 2004

Started to feel like getting up again today, so spent the afternoon lounging around upstairs instead of in bed. Still not feeling very well, but not spending the day in bed is a positive move.

Friday January 2nd 2004

Another day spent in bed, feeling pretty much the same. I telephoned the Doctor's - you speak to the surgery and they arrange a time when a Doc will call you back. He told me to take in a sample to the Surgery. I didn't have the strength to go anywhere that day so it had to wait.
I got up and laid on the sofa for about an hour during the evening, but that was about all.

Thursday January 1st, 2004

I spent the whole of New Year's Day in bed. My shivering from the previous night had turned to sweating and I woke up in soaking wet jogging bottoms and hoodie! I didn't really know much about that day at all as I was mostly asleep, though I did wake up enough during the afternoon and switched on the TV for company where I found the brilliant old Black & White film 'Murder, She Said' with Margaret Rutherford. I was too tired and feverish to watch it as such, but I was listening to it!