What's been happening.....

Lots has happened since I wrote that last post. Lots and lots.

I did the ironman. I loved every minute. It proved to me I was born to run (and not necessarily swim or cycle!!). Just kiddin' really..... I enjoyed the swim but wasn't too happy on the bike. But the run...wow....loved every bloody minute. I'm delighted at being able to run a 3:30 (apparently hilly) marathon at the end of an ironman. I'll be forever proud of that alone....I blogged about it over at Team Geared Up so I won't go into it here.

Trouble was, tend days later I felt unwell. Two days after that, when the pain became severe, I saw my doctor. Three days after that I collpased in A&E and was hospitalised. They initially thought it was meninigitis so lots of alarm bells ringing then but they kept saying there was other symptoms not matching the meningitis diagnosis. Anyway things got worse in hospital. They did a lumbar puncture and said I had meningitis, so I was isolated and people wore masks etc. if they came into my room. After a LOT more tests they said I had contracted leptospirosis from the ironman swim and that I also had pneumonia too. They did one of those camera-down-the-throat tests which I was more scared of than the lumbar puncture!! Anyway 2 weeks and 3 life threatening illnesses later, I was eventually allowed go home (that was a week ago). Happy days, hospital was killing me....I have no energy and can't quite run yet but it gets better by the day.
The whole thing has shaken me a bit. You don't imagine something is going to happen in any given day that will stop you in your tracks. What started as a bad headache and developed into the worst pain I've ever felt, could've ended differently. :-)

I started a new job today, well it was a training day. It's in retail and the store opens for real on Monday. It's a whole new direction for me.....I've only ever worked in Architectural/ Construction jobs so all is new (and considerably less well paid)!! But it's a new start and I'm really positive about the whole experience. I'm learning lots of new stuff....