I had gotten sick

In May 2024, I recounted the previous two months of my life because I had started a new notebook and also had a huge backlog because I had gotten sick and was not able to post.

In March and April 2024, I divided my time between my friends and family playing video games, fixing bikes and visiting museums like the MOMA. I attended the St. Patrick’s Day parade with my father. I visited Kings Beach via the train to Truckee along the American and Yuba canyons to go skiing.

I also did a lot of bike rides on my own and with friends: Fremont Bike Party, a muddy trip to the Diablo Foothills and another to Menlo Park. I took the bus to Menocino and explored the Laughlin range. When I returned from Menocino, I had a debilitating headache which really didn’t go away for about two weeks. I didn’t post that whole time and ended up spending a lot of time reconstructing what had transpired.

I had my kids on and off through the whole thing but they ended up spending more time with their mother. On the days that I did have them, they exhibited a fantastic level of maturity– feeding themselves and doing chores. However, they were acutely aware of my pain. At one point I even told them that I thought I was going to die to which one of them replied “we will always remember you.”

The pain started out in my head behind my left ear. I took some pain relievers but nothing really worked. I lay prone on my bed most of that Friday. I had had plans to take the boys to Marin that weekend but I broke the news to them that I couldn’t.

Later that weekend the headaches became concerning so I had a call with hospital staff. Unfortunately, they just prescribed some over the counter anti-inflammatories and made another in person appointment. As it was obvious relief was a few days off, I just set up a medicine schedule so that I could manage the pain.

During that week I did my chores and lay down a lot since the pain was too much at times. I had light dinners – like rice from the sushi place nearby, toast and applesauce. I had grilled cheese and tomato soup once.

I also had a friend come by to help out. My neighborhood is pretty entertaining so they were comfortable hanging out for a couple of days. As my situation improved we went to a restaurant.

We watched episodes of Sherlock Holmes.

When I was finally able to see my doctor, he said I was having cluster headaches and prescribed me a migraine drug which improved my situation immeasurably. He also ordered x-rays and a blood test for which I needed to fast. My head was way better by then, but my breathing had gotten worse.

By early May, I was back collaborating with coworkers via email working meetings from home. Only a few hours after I submitted a blood test and x ray, my doctor told me I likely had pneumonia. As the antibiotics started doing its work and I started feeling better, I decided to focus on my recovery – cut all the extras which didn’t leave me entirely satisfied.

I watched more Sherlock Holmes and returned to developing entries for my notebook to make up for not writing for nearly two weeks.

This is an occasional series chronicling my life. This Notebook Analysis series is meant to be contemporaneous piece developed as an agglomeration of my notebook pages. In each of these posts I used my notes to develop my recent thoughts.