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Me Vs. The Legacy Virus
Which is to say, starting that afternoon I was starting to feel woogly in my brain bits; I attempted to fight this with Thai food, which was not a bad idea, but I did not apply zinc or Vitamin C or any of the other preventatives that have purportedly useful effect; and on Thursday morning I was fevered, had sinuses of DOOM, and was too drained to do more than crawl between the bed and the couch.
I should pause to note that the signifier of being really ill is when it is too tiring for me to sit up at the computer. I don't know why that should be different than being on the couch, but so it is; and conversely, just as when your mom says "If you're well enough to do X, you're well enough to go to school!", if I'm well enough to play Baldur's Gate, I'm generally well enough to go to work. So, Condition Red is called when all I can do is loll on the couch and watch TV.
Friday morning I got up at the usual time, jumped in the shower (ERROR! it makes me feel two steps better temporarily), and felt kinda vaguely okay--and didn't have a fever--so I went into work (MEGA-ERROR!). By midday I felt like utter ass, and I finally slunk home again about 3pm, stopping at the store for a few necessities like cat litter. Friday evening was further complicated by, after taking my temperature to prove that, yes, I did have a fever again, I then (while shaking it down) broke the thermometer on the sink.
The mercury thermometer. Yes, they still exist.
Of all the times to deal with that particular situation, the ideal one is not when you have a fever. After a certain amount of running around in circles flailing madly, and some calming input from![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
sweh, I reached briony530 whose husband works for the NY Department of Horrible Spills, and they reassured me that, no, I was not going to die horribly or go irretrievably mad from the amount of mercury in a home thermometer; that the main deal was to avoid the vapors, so make sure to ventilate the room, and run water down the sink in case some had been washed down and was in the trap. At great labor, I got all the little bits up with Q-Tips and cotton pads, and disposed of them. I went to bed, where I failed to sleep, partially on account of sore throat and too-late application of decongestant, and partially on account of fevered megrims.
Saturday: about the same lethargy and woe, until that night, when, preparing for what I hoped would be a gentle coast into a good night's sleep, I went in to brush my teeth and found a NICE BIG GLOB OF MERCURY HIDING UNDER THE EDGE OF THE SINK DRAIN. aaaaaaaaaaaaaa. Happily, in my paranoia, I had left the bathroom door closed, the window open, and the fan venting on high all day. Still, it was not conducive to restful sleep.
Sunday: Felt a bit better, but not much. I could not, of course, tell if I had a fever, ho ho ho. But I seemed a bit clearer, and had weird spasmodic fits of activity, one of which produced a somewhat-too-sweet cranberry baked thing.
Which brings us to, well, now. I am definitely better this morning, but my head is still full of squirrels; ordinarily I would pump myself full of the fruits of the modern pharmacopia and schlep in; but a), doing this on Friday proved Fucking Stupid, and b) I do have 16 sick days and, unlike at previous employment, don't need to hoard them against future need, so why not be sensibly European? Moreover I have to give a new student orientation tomorrow, and if I can not sound like the rare Screechy Frog for it, that'd just be gosh-darn dandy.
There are several bullet points this experience brings home to me:
* It is inevitable that if I fall off exercising, for whatever reason, for more than a week or so, I will get sick.
* Spending 4 days in winter in close quarters with 50 people you've never met is a great way to culture new viruses.
* Either my healing factor is failing me, or it is possible to have a rhinovirus that is not "Just A Cold". I should not have credited that I would be laid flat for four days with "just a cold". (No, it isn't flu, my fever never broke 100.)
* I need to consult with someone whose brain is intact, or make a standard list to stick somewhere, in re: supplies to double-check when falling ill. I ran out of bread, Kleenex, decaf tea, and honey, and didn't have any medicaments other than Sudafed (The Real Thing); and this in spite of crawling to the store once.
I should pause to note that the signifier of being really ill is when it is too tiring for me to sit up at the computer. I don't know why that should be different than being on the couch, but so it is; and conversely, just as when your mom says "If you're well enough to do X, you're well enough to go to school!", if I'm well enough to play Baldur's Gate, I'm generally well enough to go to work. So, Condition Red is called when all I can do is loll on the couch and watch TV.
Friday morning I got up at the usual time, jumped in the shower (ERROR! it makes me feel two steps better temporarily), and felt kinda vaguely okay--and didn't have a fever--so I went into work (MEGA-ERROR!). By midday I felt like utter ass, and I finally slunk home again about 3pm, stopping at the store for a few necessities like cat litter. Friday evening was further complicated by, after taking my temperature to prove that, yes, I did have a fever again, I then (while shaking it down) broke the thermometer on the sink.
The mercury thermometer. Yes, they still exist.
Of all the times to deal with that particular situation, the ideal one is not when you have a fever. After a certain amount of running around in circles flailing madly, and some calming input from
sweh, I reached briony530 whose husband works for the NY Department of Horrible Spills, and they reassured me that, no, I was not going to die horribly or go irretrievably mad from the amount of mercury in a home thermometer; that the main deal was to avoid the vapors, so make sure to ventilate the room, and run water down the sink in case some had been washed down and was in the trap. At great labor, I got all the little bits up with Q-Tips and cotton pads, and disposed of them. I went to bed, where I failed to sleep, partially on account of sore throat and too-late application of decongestant, and partially on account of fevered megrims.Saturday: about the same lethargy and woe, until that night, when, preparing for what I hoped would be a gentle coast into a good night's sleep, I went in to brush my teeth and found a NICE BIG GLOB OF MERCURY HIDING UNDER THE EDGE OF THE SINK DRAIN. aaaaaaaaaaaaaa. Happily, in my paranoia, I had left the bathroom door closed, the window open, and the fan venting on high all day. Still, it was not conducive to restful sleep.
Sunday: Felt a bit better, but not much. I could not, of course, tell if I had a fever, ho ho ho. But I seemed a bit clearer, and had weird spasmodic fits of activity, one of which produced a somewhat-too-sweet cranberry baked thing.
Which brings us to, well, now. I am definitely better this morning, but my head is still full of squirrels; ordinarily I would pump myself full of the fruits of the modern pharmacopia and schlep in; but a), doing this on Friday proved Fucking Stupid, and b) I do have 16 sick days and, unlike at previous employment, don't need to hoard them against future need, so why not be sensibly European? Moreover I have to give a new student orientation tomorrow, and if I can not sound like the rare Screechy Frog for it, that'd just be gosh-darn dandy.
There are several bullet points this experience brings home to me:
* It is inevitable that if I fall off exercising, for whatever reason, for more than a week or so, I will get sick.
* Spending 4 days in winter in close quarters with 50 people you've never met is a great way to culture new viruses.
* Either my healing factor is failing me, or it is possible to have a rhinovirus that is not "Just A Cold". I should not have credited that I would be laid flat for four days with "just a cold". (No, it isn't flu, my fever never broke 100.)
* I need to consult with someone whose brain is intact, or make a standard list to stick somewhere, in re: supplies to double-check when falling ill. I ran out of bread, Kleenex, decaf tea, and honey, and didn't have any medicaments other than Sudafed (The Real Thing); and this in spite of crawling to the store once.
no subject
FWIW, it is possible to have a flu without a fever. It's unusual, but they were specifically noting in the H1N1 coverage that some people will not get a fever but will have the other symptoms, including the extreme tiredness that's typical of the flu.
There's no real way to know whether you've got it or not without actually doing laboratory tests that they're not going to bother with unless you're bad off, so you're entitled to say that you've got the flu if you feel like it and no one can prove you wrong. :)