It’s Probably Just Flu…

Let’s start at the very beginning. The first few days of 2018 started very similarly to this year. A most wonderful Christmas time had just been enjoyed and the new year had been ushered in with joyous anticipation. One year ago today, on Saturday 6th January, I enjoyed a day out at Tilgate Nature Centre near Horsham in West Sussex. Most of the day was spent rushing ahead of the rest of the family with one of my nephews who just couldn’t wait to see the next animal.

That morning I had woken up with a stiff neck, but other than the post-Christmas bloat, I don’t remember feeling particularly unwell. Little did I know, however, that was about to change spectacularly! By the time I was dropped home in the evening I was starting to experience some minor flu-like symptoms: Sweating but I was cold, then hot, then cold again; shivers, aches and pains; and a headache. I had some food, went to bed early and hoped that a good nights sleep would make it better. It didn’t.

The next morning all of the symptoms had increased and I woke up feeling awful. I really wanted to stay in bed but I was due to lead worship (the music) at Church. Not wanting to drop anyone in it at the last minute, I dragged myself out of bed, had a shower and went to Church. I somehow managed to set up my guitar and microphone and then took a seat. By this point, it felt like a sit down before you fall down kind of moment. A friend came over and asked me how I was. As he put his hand on my shoulder he commented on how hot I felt. He then told me that I should probably go home to bed. I agreed. So I did.

I’m not entirely sure how I managed it and I’m almost certain that I shouldn’t have been driving, but I drove home and went straight to bed. In my previous post, I mentioned how some moments of last year felt like bad dreams now. The next few days of that week definitely fall into that category. I left my bed to visit the toilet and that was about it. Even that was a massive challenge as my room is on the middle of three floors and the toilets are on the other two. Although I wasn’t needing to make that journey much anyway, as the pints and pints of water I was consuming were mainly exiting my body as sweat!

At this point, I would like to say a big thank you to my two home nurses that week – also known as Jo and Sarah. Jo is my landlady and Sarah is her grown-up daughter. But in reality, they are two of my best friends. Actually, I’d go further than that. They’re like extra family members (and my family are already pretty amazing). You know the kind of people who will do anything for you. Those who don’t expect anything from you, but encourage and inspire you to be the best version of yourself. They lift your head and cheer you on when you are lacking strength and consumed by fear. They’ll sit with you when life sucks and listen to you moaning, without judgement. They’ll stand by you when you need it most. Laugh with you. Cry with you. Celebrate with you in the best of times and walk with you through the worst. I hope that we all have, and aspire to be, friends like that.

Jo and Sarah are most certainly friends like that. I have never felt as bad as I did during those first few days. I couldn’t sleep due to a brain-squeezing headache and the most bizarre hallucination of a small Indian boy standing by my bed talking to me. I didn’t want to eat anything because it wouldn’t stay down and it hurt to open my eyes. I do remember one good moment though. I was burning up constantly and sweating buckets, so Sarah brought me some pure orange juice ice lollies. Oh my goodness! They were like cool, refreshing rain on a baking hot summer day. I think I may have eaten two or three in a row. By this point, we were all convinced that I had full-blown flu. After all, we were in the middle of a flu epidemic. Turns out we were wrong. VERY WRONG.