Taking the Rough with The Rough.

I had a colleague come up to me at work the other day and say "You look rough!"

I was shocked. Struck dumb by the fact that someone had noticed I looked ill. Usually people tell me how well I look! I had no response to give her except my stock response of "Oh, I'm not so bad!" Nothing could be further from the truth. On top of my daily struggle with persistent lower back and hip pain, IBS and toe pain (yes, toe pain - new one on me!!) I seem to have contracted the dreaded influenza that has been doing the rounds for the past few weeks. Everyone at work has had it, my wife actually collapsed whilst serving a customer last week because of it, my daughter got it late last week and now it's found me.

When I get struck by flu (or even just a mild cold) it magnifies all of my other symptoms. My famously disreputable bowels become even more disreputable, my chronic pain - which is welded at six or seven, somehow unwelds itself and hikes it's way up to an eight or nine, add to that a sprinking of nasal congestion tasting like one of my bowel movements, shivers, being boiling hot and then freezing cold, sweating, headache, blocked nose, runny nose, sore throat and a raucous chesty cough and you have the perfect recipe for feeling really, really ill!!.

Being acutely ill whilst at the same time battling being chronically ill is what really makes a rough life rougher - but it has its benefits. Most notable of which is actually looking ill.