Bravely struggling on

I am currently dying of what I have diagnosed as Meningicoccal Influenza. I am hardly ever sick and now I feel like my skin is on fire (dead giveaway for flu) and my throat is so swollen I can't move my head (must be meningitis).

I have to soldier on because I've got an appointment in town. Despite working in the field of freely-available medicines I don't seem to have any paracetamol in the whole house, however, and my housemate drank all the emergency lemsip so I'm hunched like a crone with limited mobility. Getting into the shower took about fifteen minutes and then I had to stay in there for three-quarters of an hour trying to summon the energy to re-open the showerscreen.

Last night was worse, though - I couldn't sleep because someone had set my bed on fire and all my joints hurt. I actually did wonder if I might need to go to A&E because there just seemed to be so many incapacitating things wrong with me. I hate feeling ill in the middle of the night, it's so scary and makes a mockery of my 'totally independant' attitude because I want to sob quietly into a housemate's shoulder while they call me an ambulance and mopped my fevered brow.