This Little Piggy or maybe Have You Seen the Little Piggies?

Pig jokes will be funny for about 20 minutes. Starting now.

A week ago today I was sitting at a baseball tourney, watching Chris' games. Sunday it felt like allergies were kicking in, although an internet search told me nothing was really high in terms of allergens. Monday the Mack and Peterbilt trucks hit me. Tuesday I did not even get out of bed - all day. I turned on TV, got a can of ginger ale, a bottle of water and some pretzels on the nightstand and started a cycle of watch a little TV, sip and crunch, sleep, wash, rinse, repeat. This continued into Wednesday morning. A 102+ fever decided to take up residence in my otherwise normally healthy body Monday. It kept a hold on me till about noon Wednesday afternoon when it teasingly dropped to about 100, then went back up to 101.

Thursday a trip to the doctor's office confirmed what an internet search caused me to suspect, I tested positive for H1N1. Fortunately I was on the downside and the fever was actually stayinig around 100 most of that day. By noon Friday I saw 98.something for the first time in days! And it stayed there. So that meant that I could resume normal daily life again Saturday (today).

We have all been hearing about this virus since last spring, and I am really glad I did not get this last spring. Talk about feeling like the town pariah! When I got to the doctor's office there is a big sign telling you to ask for a face mask if you are coughing or have flu symptoms. Seeing as I had both I did the responsible thing. Everyone who walked into the office after me avoided sitting near me like I was a leper! Technically I was not contagious, but I did not know that. It was a very unsettling feeling to say the least.

So what did I learn about this nasty flu virus? It is nasty. I get a flu shot every year for seasonal flus and if I ever get flu, it is really mild and very managable. This one sucked big time! I ate only pretzels and crackers, drank only ginger ale and water for 2 1/2 days, and after that really could only eat small amounts of really bland things like rice. I lost 6 lbs in 3 days on that diet though! The incubation period for this virus is very short - 2 hours to 48 hours at most. So I was exposed Friday or Saturday. My bet is Saturday since no one at school has reported flu symptoms yet. Gary and Chris both escaped it since neither have shown any syptoms at all.

So get your seasonal flu shots ASAP, and when they get the vaccines for this flu, run to get it if you can. I hear they are doing at risk populations first, but if you can get one, get one! If you are unfortunate enough to be exposed, plan for being down at least 4-5 days, and get a supply of Gatorade and ginger ale!

I missed 4 days of school with this. If it was last spring I would have been banned for at least 2 weeks from campus. Hmmm - maybe that is not such a bad deal after all. ;-)