Doctor's advice

Normally, when I get sick, life goes on. I still have to go to work, I still have to do chores and I still have to get up early. I just know my wife is going to laugh at that when she reads it because she thinks I always get a severe case of man-flu but she is not here to argue her point.

Normally, recovery always comes second to the everyday duties. In fact, if my old boss is reading this, he would find that I only ever had one day off sick from work!! (and I wasn't sick ;) I would live with a cough and running nose and just hope that it eventually goes away. Most of the time it does, but sometimes I end up at the doctors for medication. I always love the advice the doctor gives; 'Make sure you get lots of rest and drink plenty of water.' Is this advice really a revelation for some people??!! All I want to do when I'm sick is sleep, and I have to pay $70 for some one to tell me I should?! I won't start a rant about going to the doctors or I'll never stop.

Anyways, I have finally got the chance to put the doctor's advice to the test. I am currently in Hong Kong to do some training before the Tour of Thailand. I arrived with a flu and the weather has been cold and raining so I have taken the opportunity to 'get plenty of rest'. What does that mean? Well, I have slept for around 12hrs per day and watched a lot of movies in between. Not only have I caught up on twenty odd years of self-imposed sleep deprivation, but the recovery process has sped up a lot. Normally, it would take me around two weeks to get over a cold properly, but after only three days of sleeping, I am feeling much better.

I never doubted the doctor's advice would work, I have just never really had the time to use it. Maybe I should have actually taken time off work when I was sick? Then maybe I wouldn't have ended up with bronchitis all those times either? Thank god for hindsight.