Well, I knew I had a sore throat... just assumed it was what J had had earlier in the week that he shook off in a couple of days. But no, it turned into a full-on bout of bacterial tonsillitis. But... what happens when you get tonsillitis and you've recently had a heart attack? That was the thought going through my mind as I was contemplating raising my head above the parapet and risking a call to 111. I knew my blood pressure was up, my heart rate was up and my temperature was up - 38.8 - scorchio!
So, was there anything special I needed to do because of the recent heart attack?
Dialled 111 and got someone sensible for a change - well apart from the compulsory Ebola questions which make no sense when you've just told the call handler why you are calling. Actually I think I'd have mentioned it if I was confused, bleeding and had been to West Africa since my heart attack. Don't get me wrong, I kind of get why they ask the questions, but in context they do seem rather ridiculous.
Anyway, I got given an appointment with the out of hours doctor within an hour. Saw him and he confirmed that no question this was a bacterial tonsillitis and I needed antibiotics. Just another 8 penicillin pills a day to pop on top of the already large collection. I explained about the heart attack, and that I had been worrying about it affecting my recovery. He just said, you had all these things before the heart attack and you'll still get things from time to time afterwards, and it is no different to before. I just can't take nurofen and I've got to be a bit careful to make sure that people know what meds I'm on before they prescribe anything. Simple. In my head I was definitely overcomplicating things. Not sure if that is normal, but in my mind the doctor was going to want me to go back into hospital on iv antibiotics while they monitored my heart. But no, tonsillitis is still just tonsillitis - heart patient or not. Yes it speeds up your heart rate and your bp if you have a temperature but this is normal. Lesson learned perhaps. I think it is going to take me a while to feel 'normal' again and not worry about every little thing going on with my body. I did feel vindicated though as I definitely needed the urgent docs appointment. 24 hours on and my throat still hurts like hell but I don't feel quite as unwell and my temperature is down a bit.
So, heart attack victims get poorly like normal people and thats ok. Note to self for next time.
In other news... our Elsa cat is doing well. The vets seem to have fallen in love with her a little - she is a lovely temperament, and has been purring at anyone who strokes or brushes her. She's got a feeding tube in her nose because of her jaw injury and so the purr is really snuffly. We have visited her every day over the weekend for cuddles and she is progressing each day. The vets have been amazing, and we are incredibly grateful for what they have done. We are also pretty amazed that Elsa has managed to have an argument with a car and survived more or less intact. They now think that her jaw may sort itself out and she might not need an operation to fix it. I am not sure quite how many of her 9 lives she used up there but quite a few I should think. She might not be able to see quite as well out of her left eye after the accident, but that is a much better outcome than I was expecting.
The boys are bored. Really bored. How do I know this - the bickering level in this house is absolutely soaring. Mummy is ill which is boring, daddy is busy being mummy and daddy basically so only managing to do boring stuff. Hard to explain to them that being ill is boring too, and I'd much rather be doing fun stuff. I feel guilty about Father's Day - S deserves to be spoilt, and I did make him a cuppa this morning, but that was about my limit. The boys made cards and bought presents from Friends of School, so S was the proud recipient of a sponge and scraper to clean the car and a pair of socks with footballs on. I did get him a book that he wanted so he was pleased in the end, but I don't think it was the relaxing day being waited on hand and foot that he was hoping for.
So, my next challenge is next week - Steve will be back to near full time work, so I'll be doing all the school runs and trying to keep the boys entertained whilst simultaneously taking it easy. They are 8 and 6, how does that work? I can't drive them anywhere, I can't do much, so I might have to settle for the TV and iPad as childminders. Lets hope my blood pressure is up to it! Mind you if the cat getting run over, car not starting and tonsillitis haven't caused a problem I think it probably will be.
In a weird way I'm learning two things - one that I am still reasonably robust in some ways, and two I can still do quite a bit - even if the things would certainly not have been things I'd choose.
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