Not Feeling Good...a long read...

My throat flared up the Monday of the Chinese New Year week. It was so bad that I had trouble swallowing. Rest was not forthcoming as Carbo Kid hung us out to dry - didn't want to sleep, perhaps due to change of environment. We had to drive around in the car until midnight, check whether he had fallen asleep and then only take him home to be tucked in. And there's no guarantee that he won't wake up just as we're about to put him down on the bed.

The weather definitely didn't help and out of desperation I went to the doctor. This doctor comes highly recommended by my in-laws. Among the reasons was he charged cheaply. I waited for 10 patients in front of me in his seedy looking and musty clinic. When he saw me he immediately suggested an injection. So even though I hated to be jabbed, I had no choice. I needed to get well fast - the New Year is but 2 days away! I also took home quite a bit of medicine. In all the bill came up to...RM25. Darn cheap. I really can't think of any reason why I was hit by this throat infection except to blame it on the weather. For 2 weeks I've watched my diet diligently, avoiding the problem foods like mandarins, cookies and fried stuff.

The throat cleared up end of the next day and I should be elated except that I was still not getting enough sleep due to the kid. The weather was still hot, with one afternoon hitting 36C! Perfect for Badwater training, deplorable for doing every other thing.

This went on until the day we left Penang for KL. The journey from Penang to Ipoh wasn't so bad. Only some expected traffic at the Juru toll. But the jam was about 5K long immediately after exiting the Taiping tunnel all the way to the Jelapang toll. Total time taken from Penang to Ipoh: 2 hours. Met up with an old friend for lunch in the equally blazing Ipoh and left at about 3:30pm.

Things went downhill from here. We were baked for 4 hours before reaching Rawang. The longest crawl was the 30K journey before the Rawang rest stop. After that it was free flowing.

I'm now still recovering from the after effects of the journey back. The cough has been very persistent and the phlegm has turned from thick yellowish gunk to white (signs of recovery). I've gone to 2 more doctors, desperate to find a quick cure and have even done the nebulizer. The throat irritation is caused by the phlegm. The sooner this is rid off, the faster I'll recover.