Tuesday, November 17, 2009

Oink, Oink (maybe)

It began Sunday morning.

I was scheduled for praise team at church and woke up stuffy and sneezy. Somehow I still made it through rehearsal and two services. Then I led a 2-hour rehearsal with the youth choir.

Then I went home and took a nap. I took my temperature upon entering my house and it was 99.7, so no big deal. 2 degrees is nothing to worry about. (my normal temp is 97, not 98 like most people)

I went BACK to church a mere 3 hours after leaving, and helped the teens sort grocery bags full of Thanksgiving meals for families in this city who wouldn't have Thanksgiving any other way. It's a wonderful thing our church does each year.

I sneezed approximately 135 times during the 3 hours we were there. (I truly don't think that's an exaggeration...believe me, there are witnesses). At some point, one of our 7th graders started turning around and giving me a high-five after particularly impressive explosions.

We went from there to A's parents house to watch the Colts and Patriots play...ohmygosh what an amazing game...and I continued sniffling and sneezing. Not quite as much though, because I had stopped at Walgreens to get some meds to help. Unfortunately, the meth users have made it impossible to get the good stuff at 8:30 pm on a Sunday night...because the pharmacist is gone and it's unlawful for anyone but the pharmacist to give me my one box of hope. So I got the not-quite-as-good stuff and made my way.

When I got home I took more drugs and waited awhile to go to bed. I hate not being able to sleep because I can't breathe, so I thought if I got tired enough I'd be able to sleep.

So I went to bed around 1, and woke up at 5.

I was FREEZING. (and the heat was on full blast)

I was thirsty.

So I stumbled downstairs and poured a glass of sweet tea that I had made the night before.

It was at this point that I realized I was burning up (even though I was freezing) and that I was awfully achy...so I decided to take my temperature before taking a drink of the tea.

101.8

Yikes.

And you KNOW that with all the hype about swine flu I *knew* that's what it was.

I was too weak to do anything except text A and my friend Mattie (who works in the office I'm temporarily at) and tell them that I was running a fever and wouldn't be leaving the house today. Mattie's response was "I hope it's not the swine flu!"

(well, that wasn't her only response. she also brought me chicken soup and throat coat tea, both of which I am VERY grateful for!)

For the next 4-6 hours my fever fluctuated between 101 and 102 and I fluctuated between sleep and delirious texting. Finally around 9 or 10 am I googled "swine flu symptoms" and thankfully landed on a pretty informative site.

Note that it's a site from the UK. They apparently are a little less stressed out about piggy flu than we are around here. I'm glad. I scrolled down to the symptoms part and read them.

It said:

If you or a member of your family has a fever or high temperature (over 38°C/100.4°F) and two or more of the following symptoms, you may have swine flu:

  • unusual tiredness,
  • headache,
  • runny nose,
  • sore throat,
  • shortness of breath or cough,
  • loss of appetite,
  • aching muscles,
  • diarrhoea or vomiting.
unusual tiredness? check
headache? my head felt like it could roll off my body from the weight. check.
runny nose? do the 30 tissues in bed with me give a clue to this? check
sore throat? hell yes. check
shortness of breath or cough? eh, not more than usual
loss of appetite? check
aching muscles? oh my word yes. check
diarrhea or vomiting? thank goodness no.

Yeah, according to that list I might have the swine flu.

Thankfully the site also said that it's pretty mild for most people and gave this checklist of reasons to go to the doctor:

Call your GP directly if:

  • you have a serious existing illness that weakens your immune system, such as cancer,
  • you are pregnant,
  • you have a sick child under one,
  • your condition suddenly gets much worse, or
  • your condition is still getting worse after seven days (five for a child).
So as long as I haven't gotten progressively worse by Saturday-ish, I'm good. None of that other stuff applies to me at all.

Thankfully my fever broke mid-afternoon and there have been no signs of it going sky-high again. I'm playing it safe and staying in again today, but it looks like this piggy flu (if that was indeed what it was) is not going to keep me down!

Plus, A brought and prepared dinner and then kept me company for awhile. TBS had a Family Guy marathon on, so between that and our two Macbooks we were set :)

However if I'm not back in the swing of things around the blog for awhile, you'll know there's a pig to blame.

Maybe when I get my appetite back I'll put some REAL sausage in one of my recipes. :P



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6 comments:

Brooke said...

when i was sick a couple months ago i did the same thing - then i googled regular flu symptoms. they really aren't that different!

hope you get to feeling better soon!!

HappyascanB said...

Eeewwww. . . . I hope you get better soon!! Nothing like a little piggy piggy. . . .

Anonymous said...

I saw your comment on Bethany's and had to come see what it was about. (I've been busy reading Thanksgiving blogs and not keeping up w/others as well.) Anyway, what an onset. I too run about 97 on the normal temp (hard to get people to believe that) so when you get that kind of fever, it feels much higher. I'm glad you had someone to bring you feel good stuff and look out after you. Vick's Vapor Rub (menthol and eucalyptis) helps some. They have it in little individual inhalers that's very helpful - a little more powerful than the jar stuff. Or a script for Astepro. ?? Anyway, please take care of yourself. HOpe you're feeling much much better soon! Jenn

Unknown said...

Oh no! I hope you feel better soon :)

Aleta said...

You got a High-Five for your sneeze - That's hilarious and sounds like something Greg would do. He calls it a Lung Orgasim. Lol.

I hope you're feeling better. Some friends who have swine flu said it actually didn't last as long as the regular flu. Drink plenty of fluids and get rest!!

BonBon Rose Girls Kristin said...

I hope that nasty piggy has left you alone!