Just as I thought, the muzzy head and tickly throat had festered overnight and I awoke this morning at 5.15 when the alarm went off feeling absolutely rotten!

Last night was another virtually sleepless night (fourth in a row). I thought that in my exhausted sleep-deprived state, I would collapse into bed where I would sleep soundly all night. This of course was not to be. As soon as I entered my bedroom the heat hit me, like walking into a greenhouse on a hot summer’s day. This didn’t bode well for a good night’s rest.

After 10 minutes, I decided I had to cool down; Off I went to the bathroom to get some loo roll which I had drenched in cold water, and once back in bed, I plonked the soggy, pulpy mass on my forehead for a bit of relief. This didn’t quite do the trick, so I nudged Mr Grump awake so that he could dab the sopping tissue on my back to try and cool me off.

All my attempts to cool off proved unsuccessful and yet another restless night ensued…

I had valiantly decided that I was going to go to work, but after failing to summon up any energy, my tired body aching from the hacking cough that had disturbed me so often, coupled with a raging temperature, had me admitting defeat and I phoned in sick.

After another fruitless couple of hours of trying to go back to sleep, I decided to drag myself downstairs to quench my raging thirst, plus I was in need of sustenance, as my appetite was strangely unimpaired by my malady.

The rest of the day has been a series of bizarre bouts of feeling boiling hot, grabbing anything cold I could find to cool my brow, and then cooling off, getting mad bursts of energy, racing around trying to get things done, until the next hot spell kicked in again, where I would repeat the whole process.

In the midst of one of my warmer moments, my daughter arrived home from school looking flushed. Oh, not her coming down with it as well, however with the resilience of youth, she still wanted to go out, but not before she told me ” Mum, my head is really itchy, and I can’t stop scratching.” I carefully examined her head; curiously mine had been itching for a few days as well…..Great, we now have got bloody nits!!!

Mr Grump springs into action, his head is bald and shiny and he is not intimidated by a few measly nits…oh, no! He has grabbed the nit comb, which has been lurking since last time, (one of the joys of having school aged children) and is raking through my daughter’s long thick hair, shouting in delight each time he has captured and annihilated one of the little blighters!

So here I sit, with my cool pack on my head, scalp tingling from the savage combing I endured at the merciless hands of Mr Grump… Isn’t life fun!

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