I can’t say whether I came in contact with a sick person or I touched the same door knob or hand rail as one. It doesn’t really matter now. For the past four and a half days I haven’t left my house because I’ve displayed every symptom of what people are calling H1N1 or swine flu.
I woke up Thursday feeling pretty well. I got home from the newsroom relatively early and I wasted only about an hour and a half of the time I could’ve been sleeping by playing video games.
I felt fine through all three of my classes. I was looking forward to the four-day weekend I have every week because I don’t have Monday or Friday classes. Although that particular weekend I had a lot to do. I ended up getting very little of it done. Before heading home, I stopped at the Village Pantry on University Avenue for a drink as I’m prone to do.
Sometime between when I left my house and returned I came in contact with something or someone that made me sick.
The rest of the day I felt weird, not yet sick, but I knew some kind of sickness was coming so I pretended I felt fine to see if I could trick my body. It sometimes works for common colds; apparently it doesn’t for this.
I woke up Friday shivering, yet sweating profusely under four layers of blankets. My head was pounding and my whole body ached as if it were among the worst hangovers I’ve ever had. A lot of the symptoms are similar to those that come from having a few too many drinks.
I was frustrated and totally unsurprised because I had been sick three times already this semester. I could tell this one was worse though.
I got out of bed feeling as if I’d slept for an hour rather than 10. I stood up with the intent of heading to the bathroom. A wave of nausea knocked me down immediately. I felt as if I had been severely beaten while riding on the teacups.
From there I split time between the couch and my bed. I’d spend a few hours shivering and a few more burning. My fever topped out at 103.8 degrees. The coughing, sneezing and congestion started Friday evening.
Occasionally, my roommate and maybe a friend of his would run through the house holding their breath to avoid infection while I threatened to blow my nose on his pillow.
I’ve been surviving on about seven or eight pills – vitamins, ibuprofen, cold medicine – a gallon or two of water and usually one meal a day. I haven’t had the appetite for much else and I’m not sure if I could’ve kept it down.
I started feeling a lot better Tuesday, though still a bit achy, congested and dizzy. I imagine I’ll be able to make it to my Thursday classes if I keep recovering at this rate.
From about Friday evening to Sunday evening, I can confidently say that was the worst I remember feeling. However, five days or so isn’t that long when talking about serious illness. The inconvenience was just as bad as the sickness.
