UNWELL GIRL

I have been horribly and pathetically ill since Tuesday last week. I have neuralgia - and for those of you not familiar with the phrase, it is some kind of complaint whereby all the nerve-endings on one side of your face and head become acutely sensitive - which leads to unbelievable pain, I have to tell you. I noticed my teeth on the left side of my face were terribly sensitive when I woke up last Tuesday but by the end of the day that had spread to my jawline, my ear, even that side of my scalp. I finally got a doctor's appointment last Thursday and she confirmed it and said I also have swollen glands and a throat infection and she put me on penacillin and some strong tablets specifically to calm nerve-endings.



Had Grand-daughter and Youngest Grandson overnight Friday. Their mum and dad offered to cancel as soon as they saw my pain-racked face but I insisted the children stay as they would be a distraction to my growing misery. And they were. Youngest Grandson awoke at 1.30 am on Saturday full of the joys of spring, wanting only to coo and kick and play and would not settle down again until I took him into bed with me (I know the baby books forbid this but I was shattered and I knew he would be if he didn't get back to sleep) and he went out like a light in ten seconds flat.



On Saturday, we took them into Croydon. Grand-daughter had expressly requested a tram-ride and a trip to the cafe to share a cake with Grandad, and who were we middle-aged fogies to disagree. We started out at Nero's in George Street and she utterly delighted in having half of Grandad's chcoolate muffin, then we progressed to North End where she cadged a ride in the Barbie car on the roundabout set up there with one flash of her big blue eyes. Then she was given a sticker by a clown and then she fell asleep. Youngest Grandson had slept most of the morning anyway in their two-tiered buggy. After lunch we took them home and Youngest Step-daughter collected them a few hours later. As usual, once they had gone, our cosy homestead became, for a couple of hours anyway, a desolate wilderness of hush, still with their toys scattered about.



Around eight o'clock, the neuralgia hit me full force and at nine pm, Hubby woke me up from my slumber on the sofa and suggested I go to bed. I then slept twenty out of the next twenty-four hours. I was in dire pain all day Sunday (what I remember of it!) and all day Monday and knew as soon as I got up Tuesday that I was in no fit state to go to work. Finally I went back to the doctor today and she has signed me off for the rest of the week. There is an area about 2cm by 1cm on my left cheek that is swollen and inflamed and, although the pain has gone off quite a bit and my teeth are now functioning almost normally again, I know I am still not a hundred per cent. I am feeling a lot better though so Hubby snapped his fingers about 4pm this afternoon and said with tons of passion "Tomorrow you can write all day! It'll be good practice for when you can write full time. " So tomorrow, it looks like I'll be writing all day. Maybe I can even breathe life into The New Idea - it is surely far too good to keep simmering on the back burner.