I will not lose, dammit.

What I came here to tell you though is that as you know from my post a few days ago; I have been one of the lucky statistics to succumb to the H1N1 virus and I am here to tell you that it is NOT fun.  Two other friends of mine that I know of (and there could be more that just don’t know they have it yet) have also had the pleasures of dealing with it as well and they will tell you too that it is nothing close to pleasant; in fact it is the absolute extreme opposite.

Because I know there are an incredible amount of people out there that just think they have a sinus infection or a cold when really, they have the H1N1.  I KNOW there are more than a fair amount of people out there thinking that, because I was one of them and I’ll be completely honest when I say that.  In order to try to help a few others out there that think they may have it, don’t think they have it, or don’t think it is anything serious…. let me just tell you the following:

1. Monday evening, October 5th, I started getting what I thought was a cold/sinus infection.  I got home from work that Monday and a severe sore throat had developed within a few hours.  Then I had the headache, neckache, stuffy/runny nose (you know, one of each in each nostril), a few body aches, the jaw ache, the cheek bone pain, etc.  All classic symptoms of sinusitis and/or regular cold/sinus infection symptoms.  Heck, why would I think any different?

Due to those symptoms on Monday night, I took some meds and went to sleep only to not barely be able to sleep because my throat hurt so bad and my sinuses had went from semi blocked to full force can’t barely breath blocked.  I had my cousin’s wedding on that Friday the 9th and I was her personal attendant, and I decided that I was NOT going to be sick for this.  She was in my wedding last year and I owed that to her to be there for her and I was not going to ditch out on her 4 days before her wedding.  Due to that, I called my supervisor early Tuesday morning and said I would not be in that day since I for one was feeling horrible (I thought) and for two I wanted to try to nip it in the butt before Friday.  I went back to bed that Tuesday morning, and slept straight through until 2:15pm.  I got 14-15 hours of sleep from Monday into Tuesday; obviously my body needed it.  Tuesday night I felt better, kept taking some meds and left it at that.  Wednesday morning I got up, and I felt a little better; still clearly not 100% but I thought I was on the mend.  I went to work, continued meds during the day, had some hot flashes, and what felt like I had a fever.  I went over to my moms desk at work and checked my temp and I did have a low grade fever of 99.3.  I got home that day,  nursed it with lots of sleep and cough meds through Friday.  Friday AM, I had the worst sinus headache, EVER… took some Advil and such and was on my merry way to my cousin’s hotel room and got ready for her big day!  Saturday morning, I didn’t take any meds; thought I was on the mend until I woke up Sunday morning with my body feeling 800 pounds and a neck that felt like a bobble head and general body aches that made my head spin.  Still; didn’t think anything about H1N1… I kept thinking; oh but my cough isn’t that of people with H1N1 and ohh, I’d know it if I had it and yada yada yada.  Well…

2. Exactly one week from the start of my first symptoms; I went to work on Monday the 12th because well… I didn’t think I had H1N1.  I bought some cough drops, kleenex and Sudafed and slept on the couch that evening because I was coughing SO BAD in bed.  There was absolutely NO way I could even TRY to get some sleep while laying in bed.  Tuesday morning I felt a little worse, still… thought I was okay.  Last time I had a sinus infection; it lingered for 3-4 weeks and I didn’t think this was any different.  Tuesday at work, I felt like death… literal death.  I got in the car for the ride home and it took ever fiber of my being to walk from my car to my house.  I got in the door, looked at Duke and said, “Momma doesn’t feel good.” and Chris turned around from the livingroom and looked at me and said, “Momma doesn’t look good.” and I was weaker than I had been in the past week.  I felt horrible; progressively worse as the night went on.  My biceps, my hip bones… OH MY HIP BONES, my thigh muscles, my fingers, my wrists my… everything.  My facebook status says it fairly well:

This status was on the horrible Tuesday evening where I felt drastically worse.  My mom came over, I took my temp and it was 103.8 but I’m fairly certain the battery was dead because it died shortly there after on the thermometer and it wasn’t consistent.  Either way; it was horrible.

3. Tuesday evening, I called my supervisor, explained my symptoms and that I was not coming in to work.  I slept on the couch on Tuesday night; and I had a doctor appointment scheduled for Wednesday evening for my Narcolepsy and so I figured I could talk to my doctor then.  I felt so horrible, and hurt physically SO BAD, that I called my doctor earlier that morning and left a message (how they understood my voice, I don’t know) and wanted to see if there was any way for me to either A) get in earlier or B) if they didn’t want me there due to the H1N1 symptoms, if they could prescribe me something.  My doctor called me back and they said they didn’t want me in; he said I need to be off work for the next 24-48 hours until after my fever breaks, and that yes, I had H1N1 and I was to stay home and not go out in general public.  So, fast forward until Thursday… no more fever; and still feeling like crap, but DEFINITELY better than Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday.  Friday rolled around and I was beginning to feel much better… still clearly not 100%; still coughing up a lung, but definitely better…  however, notice the status update on Thursday evening/early Friday AM in the middle of the night at 2:43am.  But then when I did get some sleep and woke up later on, I felt a little better…

4. Friday evening, things got significantly better and on Saturday I was definitely feeling better… still not 100% but better than Thursday and Friday.  Progress people; progress.  The coughing was horrendous though.

5. Sunday I went over to help my dad for an hour or so outside.  I didn’t think much of it; I was still coughing but I dressed warmly, covered my mouth and soon after we were done with what he needed; I went back home.  I wasn’t going to go over to help him, but I thought I was on the mend and Chris was mowing lawn, and dad had to cover some big boats that he was storing and so I really wanted to help him because since we don’t live there anymore, he doesn’t have the help anymore.  Well, my mom is there, but my dad and I always used to do that stuff together and I would have felt bad had I said no.  So, I went anyways.

6. Monday the 19th (yesterday) rolled around and I went to work for the first time in 5-6 days.  I felt better; still coughing, no body aches, still stuffy nose, and needed cough meds but that’s about it.  By mid afternoon I was feeling icky; I got the body aches and nasty feeling… but it passed, and I didn’t think much of it.  I got home from work; pooped… clearly still not back to myself.  I ate supper and by about 6:30pm the coughing started.

And it didn’t quit.

And didn’t quit.

And I’d puke.

And I couldn’t catch my breath.

And I’d gag.

And it didn’t quit.

And didn’t quit.

And I’d spit up crap.

And it didn’t quit.

And come 10:30, Chris was nervous enough and called the hospital.

They paged the oncall doc who then called us, and said since I had H1N1 and was getting better, but not just got worse, that I needed to go to the Emergency Room.

Two neb treatments later, chest x-ray and a prednisone pill …I was sent home with some Tylenol 3 w/ Codeine and prescriptions for prednisone and albuterol and told absolutely no work for next 48 hours.

Thank GOD, for the Tylenol 3… It’s actually allowing me to get some sleep without hacking up a lung.

Other than that, I am doing better… and PLEASE, all I can say to you is this…

LISTEN TO YOUR BODY.

If you aren’t feeling well, and you get extreme body aches and a fever along with coughing?  Chances are you have H1N1.

Review these symptoms and watch for them.  I truthfully believe that everyone is going to get this nasty thing… it’s just a matter of when and how bad.

Take care of yourself.  I’ve learned some valuable lessons with this whole ordeal the past few weeks; and really… well, it was an eye opener.

And if you have Asthma or any related respiratory disorders?  PLEASE take extra precautions.  I can honestly tell you that if I had Asthma or a respiratory problem on top of H1N1… well; I’d likely rather be dead than deal with the horrendous breathing problems.  I’m a healthy person otherwise and this has taken a severe toll.

And if you have the flu… STAY HOME.  PLEASE STAY HOME.  Even if you’re unsure if you have the flu, STAY HOME ANYWAYS until either a) your fever goes down, b) you feel better within a day, or c) you clearly have just a cold.

Ugh, I could go on and on.  This is nothing to mess with, I don’t know how much more to stress it other than right now, laying on my couch, with a chest that feels like it’s going to burst every time I cough, and a sterum and chest cavity that ache, and a constant feeling of having to cough, and a raspy voice, and not being able to take a deep breath without going into an extreme coughing fit that brings you from a laying down position to a sitting up position all by itself because you cough so hard, and the general rattle in your chest?

…is not fun and I don’t want you to have to go through it, either.

Trust me.

Wash your hands. A lot.

Tagged as: albuterol, chest xray, emergency room, ER, H1N1, H1n1 flu, health, hospital, nebulizer, no work, prednisone, swine