I’m done on my 494th day in the army, with 235 days more to go (thanks to the fact that my ORD date falls on a Sunday) and for the first time in my National Service life, I had to take a Medical Cert to rest at home. Apparently the sudden cease to my running training, infused with a night of cycling on the road coupled with a BBQ with the class to conclude a busy day on Saturday was too much for my body to take – I woke up yesterday afternoon from a nap with a severe sore throat and this morning the feverish feeling I was experiencing prompted me to report sick at the Polyclinic. At the registration they took my temperature and it turned out to be a 37.8 degree Celsius, rather startling for a time like this because hospitals and such are panicking over the H1N1 flu virus matters.
I entered the consultation room and soon the verdict was out: 2 days MC, fever resulting from the throat inflammation – I needed plenty of rest for the body to engage in the war with the infection and that’s what I did, sleeping almost the entire day and waking up only to take the prescribed pills and taking my temperature. I was suffering from the typical feverish feel, a hot feeling inside the body without the ability to perspire, even until now. The last time I felt almost so terrible was last September when I was suffering from the same sort of infection but I didn’t obtain an MC and eventually recovered from a night of sleep in camp. This time is definitely much more serious, almost bordering the time before enlistment when I had mild Bronchitis and was having fever on and off for 5 days.
I guess this illness signifies a pit stop from work for me; I’ve been slogging for quite a while now and lately the changes happening at the workplace is getting on everyone’s nerves. This is one of the rare times when I actually felt incredibly frustrated with the army. Usually I take things pretty well as they come but this time the changes were a little overwhelming. I had to console myself with the thought that when I leave the army for society, changes of greater magnitude and degree would have to take place inevitably and they can affect my life way more than army does (eg. loss of my paycheck, lack of time for my family, having to work in rather adverse conditions); then it doesn’t feel that bad after all.
