There's no easy way to tell people this...

I have been sick lately. Quite sick. Migraine, fever, nausea, all the good stuff. And when I say migraine, it's not the sort mums have when they need to get the kids to shut up, or they need dad to take the kids for ice cream. I mean the type where you lose eyesight and balance, and really shouldn't drive, or walk. I was driving when the last big one hit, and I'm lucky I didn't crash.

Being an Aussie guy though, I held out to go to the doctors. The problem I had was that some people near and dear to me saw me in this poor state and thought they should bully me into going to the doctor.

I went along reluctantly and was prodded, poked, tested and scanned. Apparently my brain is fine (or has no damage) and most of my fluids showed no real issues.

My eyesight is also a bit screwed, and goes some way to explaining my migraine problem.

My liver let me down though. The tests showed two things. Liver damage, probably from alcohol and/or drugs, and the other, stranger thing showed that I have an hereditary disorder called Gilbert's Syndrome. Strangely enough, my grandfather's name is Gilbert, but it’s not his syndrome. Some French dude called Gilbert discovered it.

The upshot of the whole thing is:

lay off the booze; I gave up drinking about 18 months ago due to abdominal pains accompanying hangovers;

treat your liver well; fatty food messes with the slab of meat known as the liver, it takes a lot of energy to process the crap we put into our bodies;

get your eyes checked; I wanted to believe that glasses would make my eyes better, I know better than that, but I lived in false hope.

I'm going to survive, but isn't it odd that we can have all of these things wrong with us, whilst living a fairly good and healthy life. I had a pretty intense relationship with some liver damaging substances in my younger years (in fact a good percentage of my life) and although I have left it all behind, I will pay the price for a while to come.