Life with Swine Flu

This morning I text'd my boss to let him know that I was sick and wouldn't be coming to work today. He replied by telling me that he was sick too, not going to work too, and btw, his daughter has the Swine Flu. I started to ask him his symptoms. Fever. Check. Coughing. Check. Headache. Check. General Malaise & Fatige. Check. Sore Throat. Check. Oh boy. I got what he's got. Since I have a doting wife, 2 kids under 2 1/2 and spent Sunday evening hanging out with my entire family, including 80 year old grandma I decided I needed to get tested so I could warn the masses.

I made an appointment this morning and was told that the CDC is not "confirming" swine flu cases anymore unless you are hospitalized. SO they did test me for Flu A. Since there are no other flu strains that are active this time of year there is a 95% chance that I have the H1N1 Strain aka: Swine Flu. OH MY GOSH I'M GOING TO DIE I CAN'T BELIEVE IT HONEY WE'RE GOING TO HAWAI'I TOMORROW AND WE'RE SPENDING ALL OUR MONEY HURRY TAKE OUT LIFE INSURANCE CAN I GO SKYDIVING MAYBE IT'S TOO LATE WHAT ABOUT HELI SKIING? CAN I HELI SKI IN JUNE AND I'VE NEVER SEEN THE NORTHERN LIGHTS OR BLACK SAND BEACHES OR WHITE SAND BEACHES OR MACHU PICHU WHAT HAVE I DONE WITH MY LIFE AAAAARRRRRGGGGGHHHHHH I HAVE SWINE FLU I MIGHT DIE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!.

WRONG.

I'm not going to die from Swine flu, and neither will you. Here's how it went down for me. My boss had it worse than me I think but our experience has been somewhat similar from a symptoms and timing standpoint.

Friday morning I did an assessment for work that had me running around for 4 hours and afterwards I was telling Erica how sore I was from it. She basically called me a Nancy for being sore from sitting in a chair. Then Friday afternoon I felt like i had zero energy while I struggled to finished out the day.

Saturday I got out to some golf with a ward friend but felt phlem and sore throat in the morning and greater fatigue, achy bones, sore muscles, constant runny nose as the day went on.

Then came Sunday. I got hit by a Mack truck! I stayed in bed all day pretty debilitated. It felt like my muscles had atrophied completely. The headache from Friday and Saturday turned Migraine on Sunday was calmed by a helpful drug. Besides that, the Tylenol, Advil & Tussin wouldn't touch the symptoms. By Sunday evening I had slept enough and was feeling better so we went to regular Sunday dinner. I woke up this morning and again was blasted by the Peterbuilt but am feeling better in the evening again with residual runny nose and incesent caughing. If it weren't for Vaseline my nose would be raw and I've writtin Charmin for a sponsorship since I've used their toilet tissue exclusively. We'll see what tomorrow brings.

A LITTLE ABOUT THE PANDEMIC
Frmo the Center for Disease Control or CDC: The World Health Organization (WHO) called H1N1 a PANDEMIC du-dun-duh (scary sound here). It is now found in 70 countries across the world. "WHO’s decision to raise the pandemic alert level to Phase 6 is a reflection of the spread of the virus, not the severity of illness caused by the virus."
Talking about the severity of the influenza, across 50 states, Washington D.C. and Puerto Rico are these statistics: TOTAL 17,855 cases with 45 deaths. That means you have a .00252 % chance of dying from H1N1 Swine Flu. If that scares you, don't get in your car or stand in an open field in a lightning storm. As Happy Gilmore said, more people die each year falling off their toilet.

WHAT TO DO NOW?
My Dr. prescribed me Tamiflu. This drug can be taken if you have the symptoms or preventatively if a family member has symptoms and you don't want it. The drawback is that Tamiflu is VERY expensive. 10 pills cost $103 total, $60 of which was my copay. OUCH! I got the 10 pills for Erica and 2 bottles of the liquid for the boys which the incompetent Wal-Mart Rx staff did not mix for me but were supposed to. Please people, don't shop Wal-Mart. It's just not worth it. Save your soul and hit up a local Joe.

I'm most contageous during days 2-3. The disease is spread when a particulate that I sneeze or cough lands on a hand and the hand contacts an eye or mouth. It is not spread in the air. The incubation period is 1-3 days, so If you are going to get sick it will be 1-3 days after coming in contact with someone. Consequently I'm wearing a mask wherever I go in public for 7 days or til I exhibit no symptoms for 24 hours. But I'm really trying not to go and do for that term because wearing a mask really sucks.

Final probing question you all wanted answered. I have not been kissing pigs. That would be another popular pandemic known as swine mono. Terrible, just terrible.