I thought I was gonna die....

Well, not quite, but that option might've been a little more pleasant.

Starting late Tuesday night, I had a little bit of a cough. It started while I was digging in some boxes in a slightly musty corner of my basement. I was getting ready for the big garage sale weekend by finding the last of the items that were doing nothing but taking up space. I figured the cough was due to the musty smell or some dust I stirred up.

Wednesday, I woke up with *that feeling* - you know, the feeling that you're coming down with something. I tried to ignore it. That lasted all of about an hour before I was ready to take a nap. I napped for a couple hours and felt a little better, so I worked on carting all my priced items over to my sister's house for the garage sale.

While we were unpacking some boxes into her garage, you wouldn't believe the number of people that kept coming up and looking around like we were having the sale right then and there! We had our cars in the driveway, and things in boxes everywhere. At least some people had the manners to actually ask if we were ready yet. So at least all of humanity isn't dumb as a box of rocks. Just part of it.

Thursday, I got up and had to do one of my least favorite things to do - call in sick to work. Seriously, I'm one of those psycho people who feels uber responsible about things like that. I know. I'm weird. I have a great boss though, and I really like my job.... (And it helps that I don't have to work full-time. I can stay out of the crappy office politics that way.)

Back on subject though - my immenent death. I called in sick Thursday because I spiked a fever of 104 with painful chills and had a terrible cough. My whole body ached. I hoped a day of rest, fluids, and acetaminophen would get me back on track.

Friday, I got up, and I wasn't better at all. I was worse. I was still running the high fever, I was still incredibly achy, and now I couldn't speak without coughing. I called in sick to work again. This time I didn't feel as bad about calling in because I felt like I had been run over by a truck that then backed over me a couple times then parked on my chest and revved it's engine before taking off and dragging me behind it down the interstate.

My hubby worked the night before and was sleeping, so I waited it out for a bit before I made him take me to the doctor. I spent a few hours at the doctor's office getting an IV since a high fever and a bad cough cause one to get dehydrated faster than one can drink orange juice and water. A bag of fluids and a shot of pain reliever later, and I was quite surprised at how much better I felt. I was also surprised that my teeth weren't floating. I really thought I was doing an ok job of keeping myself hydrated. I wasn't. After the IV, I got hooked up with a handful of prescriptions - prednisone, codeine cough syurp and an albuterol inhaler.

Tonight, the second day of taking prednisone, I'm a bit wired and unable to sleep. I guess that's where the codeine will come in? I still cough, but only if I move around. As long as I stay still, I hardly cough. And I can *almost* speak a whole sentence without a cough tonight! I like when things show a progression in the right direction.

This was a pleasant reminder that just because it's nice out doesn't mean influenza isn't still around. (Check out the recent spike on this surveillance graph from the CDC.) And that if I'm ever offered a flu shot in October again, I will definitely be WAITING. Hubby and Frodo got their flu shots in December and skated right through this with minor problems. I had my flu shot in October because an *extra* was lying around the clinic on a Friday afternoon and we didn't want it to go to waste.... From now on, I stick to my Thanksgiving flu shot schedule!

At least now I don't feel like I'm going to die. Now I'm going to see what I can do about getting to sleep while on higher doses of prednisone....