Sickness

Monday after Thanksgiving, I awoke at 4am.... freezing.  I put on socks, added an extra blanket and tried go back to sleep, but no luck. 

I dropped S to school and came home to drink some hot tea. The chills continued even after a hot shower. Soon, my legs started to feel stiff and sore, and I could see my heartrate was elevated on my FitBit.

I tried to ignore my symptoms but I could clearly see it was not looking good.  At 10am I decided to bite the bullet and took my temperature which was 102!

Ugh!

I tested for COVID - negative but decided to go to Urgent Care since my upper shoulder was aching. I had done a lot of back breaking work on Sunday, getting the XMas decorations up. I was not sure if I was sore because of that.  However, in December 2017, I had had similar symptoms - sudden onset fever, achy legs, elevated heartrate, shoulder pain - and it was pnumonia, so I did not want to take a chance.

I called my Mom so she was aware of the siutaion, then drove myself  to Urgent Care. They ran tests for flu, strep, did a chest x-ray and tested for UTI. All negative, They told me its just some virus and go home and come back in 4 days if fever does not go away.  

We had no food at home since we had just returned from our trip.  I asked for some Tylenol at Urgnet Care, slapped on an N95 and went to the grocery shop to get provisons for the week. 

Next 3 days I had fever, chills, headache.....I stayed masked in the house while cooking, driing S to school, and stayed holed up in the guest bedroom to keep germs at bay from S. 

I continued to work since I had been out the previous week and there were many urgent projects that I could not ignore. I rested in between my fever spikes and did not take too many calls.

On Thursday I still had a fever of about 100.5 in the early hours, so I went to my doctor. I had them retest for flu -- and sure enough it was Infuenza A.  I think the test was taken too early at Urgent Care.  The symptoms were classic flu which is why I was confused as to what I had. I felt better knowing what it was....and the symptoms were begiining to subside.

By Thirdsay evening my temerature was only 99 degrees and finally Friday it was normal.

In the meantime, on Wed my Mom woke up with a fever. Luckily,  her Dr had her come in on Thursday afternoon, by which time I had tested for flu. So, my Mom got tested too. She too was postive, and got on Tamiflu since she was within the 48 hr window. Thankfully, her symptoms were very mild with no fever. 

We all had the flu shot in early Oct. But this year, my arm did not ache at all as it usually does. In fact I did not even feel like I had the shot, which makes me wonder if the lack of achy arm signified that I did not build up any immunity.  

I am considering getting the COVID shot since I dont want to go through this type of sickness again. As a single parent, its my worst nightmare being sick with no help.  And stressful too hoping that your kid stays well enough until you recover.

Thankfully S has been well so far, but she had 10 kids in her class out this week. There is a LOT of flu going around these partns.

Stay healthy!