Flu-induced ramblings

The last time I went to India, back in 2003, SARS was all over the news. I flew through Hong Kong, and about 90% of the people at the airport were sporting face masks. I laughed at how silly they looked, of course. But soon after I got to India, I got terribly sick, a flu like I'd never had before. It knocked me down for about 2 weeks, and those weeks are a jumbled haze. I remember sleeping, waking up with the chills, ocassionally eating, throwing up, and feeling generally like I'd rather be dead. Soon after I came home, I was sick again, and I would get so cold with fever that I'd crawl into my -20 degree cold weather sleeping bag and wait to sweat it out. Of course it must have been SARS. What else could it have been, right? I flew through Hong Kong both going and coming, and wasn't SARS especially rampant in Asia? Plus it served me right for not wearing a dorky mask (which by the way, I don't get -- a lot of people who wear them don't cover their noses with them - doesn't that defeat the purpose). Years later, I regretted not writing a memoir of my experience, because really who else could say that they'd had SARS twice and lived to tell the story. My stories of being at death's door would surely have been inspirational to many.

For this most recent swine flu epidemic, I've been more prepared. Back in May, I volunteered at a local middle school to teach a couple of classes about the American legal system. The night before I was to go, the group's organizer emailed all volunteers and informed us that a small handful of the students at the school had just been diagnosed with the swine flu. The kids hadn't been in school for days, and it didn't look like anyone else had been affected. But she would completely understand if we chose not to participate, she said. Several of the volunteers did opt out at that point, citing small children at home so they couldn't afford to get sick. Not me. In my mind, I was already preparing my self deprecating remarks, my book deal detailing my battle with the world's newest deadliest disease, the press conference. No way was I about to let another great opportunity pass me up. OK, if nothing else, it would make for a great blog entry. But you of course never heard about this volunteer experience because I survived it, completely unscathed. Not even a sniffle. Sigh.

On our trip to India, swine flu panic seemed widespread, as Asian countries see it as something coming in from the US and Mexico. So when we landed at the Chennai airport, all passengers were asked questions about our health, and a health department official took everyone's temperature before letting us through to customs. People departing at Hong Kong had to go through the same procedure. Somehow though, they must have let some one slip through the cracks, because somebody got me sick. Now. When I wasn't ready for it.

Since coming back, G and I have been both miserable. G started getting sick on Fri, me early Sat morning. Fever, chills, congestion, diarreah for him, vomiting for me. He's a little better now which is good because I'm a terrible sick person and need all the attention I can get. I've been coughing up a lung and have been pretty much bedridden since Sat. My temperature went up to 104 degrees on Sun night too, which might have actually sped up G's recovery a bit just with him being so worried about me. We went to the doctor after that, and I was ready for a quarantine. Maybe a little panic at who I've been in contact with since coming back into the country. Maybe a little write up in our local paper.

Sadly, none of these things happened. In fact the doctor seemed unimpressed. I repeated the 104 degree temperature spike several times even but he just nodded with this little faux sympathetic smile. He even shook my hand even though I had just coughed into it. And then reached for the door handle on his way out. Clearly, he was not at all concerned. Man, what does a girl have to do to get a little attention around here? (Though I will say that G's been giving me plenty, so I guess its not a total waste). And in fact, walking out of the urgent care, I realized that the room was filled with people coughing and looking like they were at death's door. All probably convinced that this was the worst sickness of their lives.

So anyway, I guess there are no book deals in my future. And honestly, I doubt I even have swine flu (shocker, huh?). I've been reading all about it since I slept all day so can't sleep anymore. And do you know that there's really no way to tell the difference between swine flu and anything else? So I don't even get what the big deal is anymore. And anyway, all they seem to care about now are pregnant women and swine flu. So I could be dying from it and still wouldn't make the local papers.

This stinks. And I still feel miserable.