It's not been a good week...

I have been fortunate, up till now, to have had very good health. I've had very little time off work. This week one of my partners is on holiday, so being ill was a particularly bad idea. There have been a lot of nasty viral illnesses around this Winter and I was congratulating myself on avoiding them all when, at the weekend, I had a slightly runny nose and a mild sore throat. On Monday morning I felt pretty normal. "Clever old me" I thought, "to shrug that little sucker off so easily!"

By mid-afternoon on Monday I had virtually no voice. I've never had significant hoarseness before, and I didn't realise how tiring it is to try and conduct a consultation when you are having to make a supreme effort to squeeze the words out. I was mildly amused to note, as I have observed before, that the patients I saw either didn't notice I was unwell or were too polite to comment on it! I decided to take Tuesday off so that I could make a concerted effort to fight off the virus.

I struggled through yesterday at work, but last night felt my left eye was a bit uncomfortable. This morning I awake with pretty florid acute conjunctivitis---something else I've never had before!

I have always felt that doctors empathise much better with patients if they have experienced the patient's symptoms themselves, but, if anyone's listening up there, I've had enough for one week thanks!