Tuesday 22 March 2011

How are you?


Thank you for asking. Actually, I think I must be run down. I went to bed (after watching another 3 episodes of 'Deadwood') feeling like shit last night, and I awoke in the morning feeling exactly the same way. I am not normally one to moan, but here goes:

I have a tightness around my ribcage which seems to correspond to all the symptoms of pleurisy that I have heard described, and I have a semi-permanent set of inflamed adenoids.

I have a nose which is so blocked, that after I blow it, there are prolonged, high-pitched squealing sounds coming from the sinus tubes in my skull, which can be heard from the other side of the room.

There is a constant ringing in my ears, and my right knee is swollen to twice the size of the other.

My neck and shoulders permanently ache, and the only way I can get comfortable is to lie on my back. All my teeth slightly ache.

Apart from that, I feel fine, and my bad back has almost totally recovered, so I am off to work again in a minute, to put the finishing touches (you would not believe how difficult it is to fill the cracks of semi-translucent, white marble successfully) to this 'Crouching Venus' sculpture which should have been done about 6 months ago.

Michaelangelo once said that stone carving kept him fit in later age. What he didn't say was that he had a team of young men who did it for him when he started flagging.

26 comments:

  1. perhaps a vacation is needed.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Just what I was thinking, Grouch - it's been about 3 years since I left the UK. That's a bloody good bit of advice.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Flu? I had the flu in my knee once. Awful.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I'm grand thank you! How nice of you to ask.

    Oh, I see, you meant you, not me. And there was I thinking that someone cared.

    I hope you feel better soon. It sounds like a set of ailments that not even a double gin would cure. Shall we pray for you?

    ReplyDelete
  5. Flu in your knee, Sarah? If only it would stay there and not migrate.

    I DO care, Mise - there is nothing like caring for others to take one's mind off one's own troubles... right, enough about you. You can pray for me if you think it would help, but none of your heathen, Irish popery, mind you.

    ReplyDelete
  6. That's a lot of inflammation for one body to carry around Tom...dare I say, have you considered seeing a doctor?

    ReplyDelete
  7. I've had enough anti-biotics for the time being, thanks Jacqueline.

    ReplyDelete
  8. yes for once I agree with grouch
    get some sun

    sorry you feel crook mately..its been a long winter

    ReplyDelete
  9. That sculpture is absolutely beautiful! Hope you feel better soon. Sounds to me like you need to go somewhere hot and steamy. Very good for blocked tubes...

    ReplyDelete
  10. Hope you are feeling better soon.

    ReplyDelete
  11. You've inhaled too much stone/marble dust over the years. You're turning into a museum piece!

    ReplyDelete
  12. I am worried about you. I will refrain from giving my RN advise.

    ReplyDelete
  13. p.s. Painters just get 'Painter's Colic'.

    ReplyDelete
  14. I'm glad to hear that apart from all that you feel fine. Dr. Willow suggests a concoction of whiskey, lemon and honey, a hot bath, a big fluffy pillow and a large piece of dark chocolate. A very large piece.

    ReplyDelete
  15. I'll refrain from advice. Hope you feel better soon.

    ReplyDelete
  16. While I am an asthmatic and now am recovering from sinus surgery I can totally sympathize. I too will refrain from advise except to agree with those that say vacation in a warm sunny place. If you came to Florida you could write another series on your adventures here! Hope you feel better soon! Ann

    ReplyDelete
  17. That sounds just miserable. I wish I had something to cure it for you, but that's not possible so at the most I would advise ibuprofen, hot tea, heat heat heat. It sounds like a virus has settled in and needs to be sweated out.

    ReplyDelete
  18. Dare I ask the obvious question Tom - are you seeing a doctor?

    ReplyDelete
  19. It's a bitch getting older. In the morning I look for parts of me that don't hurt. If you come up with 50%, you are doing OK.

    ReplyDelete
  20. See we're all concerned! Poor old you! Get better soon, life would not be the same without you! I have said many a one for you and will continue to do so right now while I'm typing this! Venus looks fantastic!

    ReplyDelete
  21. My prescription is two weeks in the sun.

    ReplyDelete
  22. Oh - I am genuinely touched by all your comments, especially as I have been over-egging my symptoms (though they really exist). Sometimes it makes a nice change to explain why one is being so beastly to others around you (Ah cain't stand mendacity!') and others, it is just nice to pick and choose.

    So far, I have most liked (apart from the general sentiments regarding false impressions of how nice I am to know) the whiskey (I am drinking some Irish as I write) the chocolate (I had some just before the Irish) and the holiday, which I plan as I sweat on my death-bed.

    The next post will be much more uplifting, but bless you all for what seems to be genuine concern (bastards - now you've made me feel guilty for worrying you).

    ReplyDelete
  23. It's the long, cold winter that's doing it, Tom. I'd like to bend down and repaint my toenails but my back is giving me jip. I've just booked a last minute week (hopefully) in the sun - far better treatment then whisky and chocolate.

    ReplyDelete
  24. I'd like to bend down and paint my toenails too, Cher, but these days I have to employ a Filipino transvestite to do it for me. He eats all the chocolate and drinks all the whiskey anyway, so I will take that holiday to tell his parents - first hand - how he is faring in this cold climate.

    ReplyDelete
  25. You can die just as easily in Constantinople as you can in Bloody Bath! And when you are dead...it's someone else's problem to deal with the corpse.

    ReplyDelete
  26. I am trying to make it a rule that wherever I die, H.I. does not go to the expense of dragging the corpse back home. I can't remember which Greek philosopher said, when asked where he would like to be buried, "You can bury me wherever you like - IF you can find me."

    ReplyDelete