In March 2010, while living in Pine Mountain, I found myself very sick one Monday morning. I had a fever, the chills, aches and pains, a nasty cough, nauseated...you get the point- I was miserable. I remember laying in bed wrapped in blankets crying all day. I called Chris to see if he could come home from work- he couldn't. I started feeling a little better after taking some OTC pain medicine. It seemed to break my fever and also subsided the aches and pains. I was hoping to wake up the next morning all fresh and new like the spring day ahead of me. Fat chance. I woke up worse than the day before- all the same symptoms, but I felt on the edge of death. I called Chris crying again- begging him to come home to take me to the doctor. This time he took me seriously and came straight home. We drove to the local doctor office in town and of course they were going to lunch and would not be back for over an hour. I told Chris I could not wait that long. We drove to the next closest doctor office in a nearby town, but guess what? That doctor office too had closed for lunch. I felt so sorry for Chris because by this point I was a crying, moaning and groaning mess. My memory recalls this Tuesday as a beautiful, sunny, birds chirping kind of day. And here I was feeling like I was one step from the grave. Chris took me back home, gave me some more OTC pain medicine and a snack. He took me back to the first doctor office, which by now had a line waiting outside for them to open back up from their lunch break. We got out and waited in line- this was pure agony because by now it hurt like crazy just to stand up. After what seemed like an hour wait outside and inside, it was my turn to see the doctor. They did all the normal stuff- took my temperature, listened to my lungs, looked in my ears, did a strep throat test, and also swabbed me for a flu test. The doctor came back in and stated in her very serious tone, "You have type A flu. Do you know what that is?" I just looked her. I assumed it was just the normal flu, but obviously it wasn't or she would not be asking me this like I was 5 years old. I shook my head no. "Honey, you have the swine flu," she explained- peering at me over her glasses. "Oh. Can I go get my husband?" She said yes and out the door I went. And I must admit I opened the door to the waiting room with a smug look on my face and announced proudly (yes, I said proudly) to Chris that I had the swine flu. I did not realize he was not alone in the waiting room so I had a few strange and scared looks shot my way. The reason I was so proud, you wonder? Well, I was under the impression Chris did not believe I was that sick so this was my badge of honor...errrr....proof. To wrap this story up- I had to get a painful shot in the hiney, we were both given Tamiflu, along with other medicines, to treat the swine flu. We were also to stay quarantined at home for 5 days- that was the best part.
“Being ill is one of the greatest pleasures of life, provided one is not too ill and is not obliged to work until one is better.” Samuel Butler
No comments:
Post a Comment