How I Survived The Swine Flu

     Phew! That was one ordeal! On Tuesday, September 1st, 2009, I, to my incredulous belief, had caught the H1N1 virus. I am until today completely at a loss for words to explain how I might have caught this, but it was a very painful ordeal. I will explain what had happened now. Be aware that I might not remember every detail about my illness as I was very disoriented at the time .

Day 1

I wake up in the morning with a resounding headache and sore, achy limbs. I thought at the time that the soreness in my arms and legs was from the exercises that I had had last night to get myself prepared for high-school. When I arrive at school that day, I go through my classes, but I cannot focus on what the teachers are saying because of this headache. I also note that my throat is becoming a bit sore and that it is getting tiring to lug my school bag around. At the end of the school day, I am hit with a wave of exhaustion; lifting my bag is getting to be a real pain by now! When I arrive home, I complain that I have a severe headache, my throat is sore, and that I feel extremely weak. When I check my temperature to my dismay it’s 103 degrees fahrenheit. These signs are all pointing to one thing and one thing only-swine. I go to the pediatrician and he tells me that he is sure of my infection and he says to start taking medication and prescribes Oseltamivir Phosphate (Tami flu for short). I take the medicine twice a day and basically I really need to sleep or rest for the remainder of the days ahead.

The first night was the worst night of my life. I go to bed at 10:20 P.M. I really can not get any sleep until 11:00. All of a sudden at 11:30, I start getting the worst shaking chills in my life! I shake so ferociously that it becomes hard to breathe! After an hour or so of mindless shaking, I feel the heat. I can literally feel heat emanating from my pores. I could have been an easy 104 or 105 at that time but I felt too weak to get up and check the thermometer. After another hour of this self-generated sauna of mine, I start to cool down. But no!, I have to cool down with a bang too! Suddenly, my pores seem to get bored of heating and resort to gushing sweat out of my system. After the heat wave comes the sweat bath. And this was not any sweat bath, I was literally soaking my bed sheets with this stuff. Finally after these hours of pain, at around 2-3 I get a couple winks and wake up again at 5. TO spare myself form further torture, I decide to get out of bed and lie on the ground, passing time.

Day 2

Today felt a lot better then yesterday. My sore throat was not so much sore because of the Tami Flu, which treats the symptoms of flu, but my fever was still at 103.2 around. Of course today I stay at home and I stay in bed for the majority of the day, reading and studying. When I do get out of bed, I go and drink the countless number of fluids necessary to keep the sick going along with my Motrin and Tylenol. My lifestyle has been severely boringified, as I can not really do much except sit and rest.

Day 3-5

Days three through five are all quite similar, to say the least. Every morning I wake up and take the countless pills of medicine needed. Then I try to enjoy a few television programs as I try to cough on the crook of my elbow every 15 seconds. Later, I take a nap or read in bed till I eventually fall asleep. At night, I have a meager dinner and replace the mask that I have started placing on my face to protect my family when I cough. On the 4th and 5th days, my night is peaceful aside from the fact that when I wake up I am drenched.

Day 6

Finally! It has been around 24 hours since I had last had a fever and that is the major sign of recovery. Today is a recuperating day and I stay home from school to clear up all signs of my illness. I have missed a lot of school and it will be a severe pain to make up all the missed work….

Day 7

The last day! Day 7 was another rest day of mine, as I have been healthy for around 48 hours now. I feel really excited to tell all my friends at school about this and how I have lived through the swine flu.

Thanks for taking the time to read my story. Please comment!!

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