14:29:48   Back from copy run. Stop making sense.

I need to stop document production. My error rate now exceeds my accuracy rate. No matter how hard I work for accuracy, new errors are introduced. The copy effort drove this home. As I passed documents through the machine, it became painfully obvious the multitude of things I had missed, or overlooked.

My sleep schedule is completely out of whack. Try as I might, I cannot maintain a normal sleep schedule. The ringing in my right ear is now at a very high volume, operatic crickets singing something by the Talking Heads. Same as it ever was. Same as it ever was. My left ear appears to hear nothing at all.

I have a severe headache on the left side of my head. It runs from the ear toward the crown and there is a second headache located somewhere on a horizontal line between the left ear and the nape of the neck. This is the second time I have had this type of headache. The previous occasion was during the creation of my last submission to the insurance company in late July, early August.

And you may tell yourself
This is not my beautiful wife

The real concern is that this headache will become persistent. Normally these headaches clear with a nap, or with a longer period of sleep. With the headaches of August neither naps, nor longer sleep, seemed to clear them.

Dr H warned of the danger of overextending myself and potenially causing further injury by trying to “push through.” I am aware of my huge focus on maintaining the effort, of bulldozing my way through each obstacle in order to meet the Collège des médecins du Québec 30 day deadline. At the same time, I grow painfully aware of how unproductive my efforts have become. I work very, very slowly in the attempt to avoid errors and frustration. This puts me in conflict with the looming deadline. And even operating at a slow pace, I continue to make errors. These are only caught in passing, in a sporadic and random way.

Once in a lifetime
Water flowing underground

So I think I need to stop what I am doing. I have most of the submission complete. I will send in what I have, take a break from the effort and try and re-group. But given my experience in August, I do not think my recovery from this phase of acute headache will occur before the October deadline is up.

And you may ask yourself
Well…How did I get here?