h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

...I went down with scarlet fever, didn't read at all for over a week, and hardly ate for a fortnight. A doctor was rung for, but none came as there were a lot of viruses and bugs (including noro) going round at the time. I was in no condition to ring back and argue or plead. To be fair, antibiotics might have shortened the illness by all of two days, but I wouldn't have been able to reach the nearest chemist to get them anyway.

By the time I became lucid again, I was ridiculously weak and a whole dress size thinner (not as nice as that sounds, wearing a half empty bra is demoralising). Sitting up was exhausting, walking any distance at all at more than a snail's pace left me breathless and coughing every few paces. Eating with a sore mouth, shrunken stomach, and no appetite, was just one more painful chore to get through for several weeks.

The stain of the rash took several weeks to fade noticeably, I was peeling for well over a month. Worse than that, as soon as I became even slightly tired or stressed, I couldn't think straight.

A year on, I'm two dress sizes down, better at looking after myself, and almost back to preSF strength. Only almost, it's been extremely hard and frustrating work to get this far.

This isn't a request for sympathy, it's an acknowledgement of how far has been come so that I don't stop before full recovery.