Have been waking up in the middle of the night with the sands of the Sahara incessantly plaguing my throat for almost a week now. It all began with the disgusting bittergourd soup that came together with my chicken rice for lunch on Tuesday. Right after downing one spoonful of that liquid poison, my entire throat tightened and it felt as though a noose was being pulled around it. I thought nothing of it and expected the sensation to disappear after a few hours, if not days. Alas, the dreadful feeling remained throughout and on Sunday night, I feared for the worst. Thoughts were running through my mind about how many illnesses tend to go unnoticed and when you finally realize, it's already too late. I have already endured one episode last year and definitely cannot afford, with my future in mind, to have another surprise sprung on me. I have heard stories about your body giving subtle signs and how you should take heed of these symptoms. In addition, my doctor had instructed me to head straight to the A&E in the event of any cough, flu, sore throat, fever symptoms and it scared me. It could mean that my body has developed an adverse reaction to my medication, resulting in a low white cell count and deteriorating my immune system to its minimum effective state. Fortunately, it was a false alarm. The doctor diagnosed it as an acute upper respiratory infection (in short, a bacterial infection of the throat) and gave me 2 days of MC.