On the rise, but still not superman
Jul 24th, 2007 by Peter
20th July 2007 Yilan
Slept like a baby for the first time in 3 days. Woke up and felt much better. The fever seemed to have gone, though C still thought I was a little too warm. I was dizzy as hell though and could feel that I had very little strength and endurance. I managed to shave myself, which was about time. I had almost grown a full beard since the 15th. It looked that way anyway. Somehow my beard has turned blacker here in Yilan, while it normally is more brown/red back in Denmark. Maybe I just remember wrong. I decided to try out a bath. I really needed one and a tiny walk would test my real condition.
The bath was excellent, but as I waited outside for C to finish I could feel that I was already getting tired in my legs. I was getting increasingly dizzier and needed a lie-down. Fortunately C wasn’t that long so soon I was back in bed. 20 minutes was all I needed to feel acceptable again. C convinced me to take a taxi to C’s parents. There would only be one child and not 10 making noise like in her sister’s apartment. If I needed sleep, it could be possible to fix. After arriving I was happy to see the bed. I didn’t feel very bad, but just dizzy. 10 minutes in the bed cured me and I was able to write a bit about the days gone. I was far behind on my writing. The days in ill-hell made it impossible to keep up. I simply hadn’t got the energy.
C’s sister arrived and wanted us to go to her home. I already told C that what I really needed to be fit again was time to relax. Somehow she doesn’t always remember this. It was like she expected me to be 110% again after one shot in my right buttock. That’s just not the way I work. When I get ill, I get ill for about 1 week. If I don’t keep to the plan of medicine and rest, I easily get a flashback to a new low. So I am extra careful. Since I already had agreed on going to a restaurant the same evening, I felt I had already stretched it too far, but I was not let of the hook that easily. The restaurant we would dine at was close to C’s sister’s home, so I caved to logic. Might as well go now than later. Same trip and I did feel acceptable after some time in bed in C’s sister’s house.
I just hate these small discussions. I am ill and need rest. C most of the time wants to help, but she overdoes it. When I say “no thanks” she keeps asking until I turn the ugly voice on by sheer annoyance. It has to happen, but it could be avoided if only she would listen. All I have said and done during this illness has been correct and what the doctor eventually has ordered. Being ill and having to discuss every little thing when you really need some rest, is not helping me at all. I know she does it out of love, but it’s damn hard to swallow when you are really really low on energy and tolerance due to bad health. Anyway – just needed to bitch a bit, but you should not doubt that I love the girl, ok? :-)
We walked to the restaurant. It was a short walk, but still hard for me. Managed without fainting, puking or talking in riddles though, so I guess I was doing all right. The food was cool and I ate a lot. Not “a lot” as I can eat back in Denmark, but compared to what I’ve been eating the days before, I was on the right track. I was allowed to stay off the toasting. It took a lot of repeating the sentence: “No thank you”, but I managed. I was still heavily dizzy from the flu and didn’t want to add strength to that.
Not drinking was cool, though. It gave me a chance to observe the drinking combatants as they worked their way through 3 x 600ml bottles of rice liquor and a shitload of beer. It was a long evening and we headed back to the apartment tired and in need of sleep.