27 September 2011

My sick week


Its Tuesday today

Last week on Monday my throat started hurting, then I went home on Tuesday because I was starting to loose my voice and my chest was really heavy/hard to breathe through - I thought it would make sense to have the afternoon off and ' recover '

Boy was I wrong

On Wednesday, I called in sick, my throat was hurting like it was on fire
I woke up every two hours the night before in serious pain
I endured it, I wasn't thinking straight, I wasn't getting enough oxygen
( I later found out that my boss could barely hear the message I left on his voicemail )

On Thursday, with the burning fire in my throat keeping me awake all night, I called work again
I should have tested my voice before I picked up the phone, so my 
" Hi its Becky " turned into " cough, hawk, icky "
My boss said he couldn't really hear me, but get well soon

On Thursday night I did some heavy breathing, got some oxygen to think straight and figured out that having Panadol and throat spray ( among the other drugs the pharmacist gave me ) by my bedside would help me
At 12pm, 2am, then again at 4am I sprayed like my life depended on it
It helped, but only enough to get 2 hours sleep at a time

On Friday I didn't bother calling in, I emailed, there wasn't any point they would have thought it was a prank call and hung up on the silence on the other end

On Friday afternoon I caught a ride to Auckland with one of my husbands workmates boyfriends
I had tickets to go to Christchurch, I would never have been able to drive myself & I was so grateful that someone else was going too

It was meant to be a ski weekend
It turned into a me almost falling down and collapsing every 5 minutes weekend from exhaustion
My husband took care of me and on Sunday I started feeling much much better

On Monday I headed off to work with no voice but keen to prove I was well enough to be there

My boss sent me to the doctor

The doctor sent me home for two more days

The doctor said I had an infection of some kind, she wasn't really sure what it was, but all the congestion in my chest was making my oxygen intake limited and that was wearing me out
She also said I had an ear infection and my ears were very very red
The doctor said that she really had no idea so much so, that if the antibiotics worked, it was bacterial and I'd feel better on Wednesday ( since thats what she prescribed )
If it was viral, then I wouldn't 
( since that was not what she prescribed )

I've been taking antibiotics now for two days and I THINK I feel better, I'm not sure
I haven't really tested myself

All I know is, I'm heading off to work tomorrow to prove once more that I'm better
I'll loose my voice in about 10 minutes

Fingers crossed I remember to take my prescription to work with me tomorrow

Wish me luck!!!


** If this blog doesn't make sense at all, you know why** 



18 September 2011

Orchard

I can now say husband and I have finished planting our orchard & installing an irrigation system 
( hurray! ) 
because no way am I walking around with a bucket watering them like last summer! 
We only had 13 trees in then but even so, it was a mission!!!

We now have 46 trees/vines/bushes etc.... whatever they are called

I know you're curious wondering just what there is so here goes:
5x Apple 
3x Apricot
2x Avocado
1x Blueberry
1x Boysenberry
4x Feijoa
3x Grape
1x Grapefruit
1x Guava
2x Lemon 
1x Lemonade
1x Lime
5x Mandrin
2x Nectarine
2x Orange
4x Peaches
2x Pear
4x Plum
1x Quince

Notice I'm missing one? Thats because there was a citrus tree already here when we bought the property
It hasn't attempted to grow any new fruit so until it does, its the mystery tree!
When we moved in, there were already 2x apples, 1x lemon, 1x mystery citrus and 1x quince

And it cracks me up every time that one of my trees is called Orion  ( my mums cats name ) and another called Richard ( my brothers name )
I think to know which tree is which for my yearly diary of what the trees do, I'm going to have to remember all their names. Some poor trees didn't come with any so I'll have to make them up based on their character that comes out 

We're trying to get them to establish their roots but they are intent on producing fruit
So far I've had to pick off teeny tiny lemons, mandarins, nectarines and tomorrow, peaches
I feel like I'm taking their babies away.... 

In preparation for the upcoming ( years away ) 46 trees worth of fruit, I've been practicing using other peoples fruit 
( and my quinces ) 
...so last week I made some grapefruit marmalade

I had it on my toast this morning for breakfast, it was yummy!

and to think, we still don't have a vegetable garden going yet!!!