This is a quick post on the Alicante trip coming up in a few weeks time and that I am highly unlikely yo make it this year. I was all set on coming and on the verge of booking a hotel and all that stuff when to things happened. I was made redundant and my health took a funny turn.
Thankfully the health issue seems to have been caused by a virus that knocked me for six. I think I might have been going down with it around the time we all met up in Bedford and it then stayed with me till the end of last week, which resulted me checking in to a hospital ward for a few hours. I was short of breath, basic walking was a struggle, I had a weird rash on my lower legs and my kidney function was in peril. They did x-rays for my lungs, an ECG, a CT scan and took bloods. The scans revealed nothing sinister, no blockages, the blood results were indicative of dehydration; probably the result of a viral infection. So they put me on a drip for a few hours and took me off nearly all of the medication I take for my kidney transplant, blood pressure meds and diuretics. The really curious thing is, now that I am on jsut one tablet for my blood pressure rather than five, it's staying rather stable?
We have a habit in this country of being prescribed medication for certain things, sure enough some of what I take is critical, it keeps me alive and well having had the transplant back in 2008, I am on immunosuppressants and tiny amounts of steroids, the rest were issues to tackle earlier side effects and never retracted. Why don't we try stopping some of them? I might be better for it.
So I shall keep a journal on this one - the upshot of all of this, is that yesterday a blood test taken the day before shows, I've recovered or in the process of getting better. I feel much more perky, my energy is back, my focus has recovered and I am motivated.
Most of February, I felt like rat shit.
I've got used to the redundancy reality now and have just 8 days left at Vixio, the company I've worked for these past five years. My last working day for them is April 10th and then we've got a week off in lieu - why the fuck they didn't just put us on gardening leave, I've no idea. They are just dickheads.
Have had some interviews and have two later stage interviews booked for next week. It is a slow process but then I am now starting to go for Senior or Lead Engineer roles for the better salaries.
The upshot if this, with the timing of it all - I am pulling out of Alicante, unless some miracle happens next week.
I am going to get back to planning an Oxford meetup though, so watch this space on that one.