printI’ve been waylaid by the nastiest flu I’ve ever had. I’m still incapacitated and largely voiceless. Not since the 1980s, when there was a deadly influenza outbreak in Johannesburg, have I been this ill with flu.
The thing had me beached in bed for days burning up, shaking, drenched in sweat, forced to change bedclothes twice a night; ribs, throat and upper chest on fire because wracked by a persistent, tubercular cough.
This is the first time I’ve been able to sit upright at my PC, other than to crawl here yesterday to tell my editor at WND I’d not be filing this week.
My husband brought this virulent flu strain back from work. I unequivocally hate whoever passed it on to him since it is often the case of “not washing your hands often, not covering your cough and not staying home when you’re sick.” Come to think of it, he passed it on to me …
He was not affected as severely. It’s not that he was not pretty ill, it’s just that it has affected me way worse.
Posting on the blog as well as the weekly WND column will resume as soon as I’m on the mend.
UPDATE I (2/8): Thanks to Wyatt and all others on Facebook for their encouragement. I need to hear that this too will pass. Currently I still fear going to bed at night b/c of the coughing. My ribs feel broken. My voice is gone. Recovery is still a long way off.
UPDATE II (2/12): I’m into my second week of this debilitating flu. Thanks to those who keep asking. Yes, it’s hard to believe it but I’m still pretty ill. Recovery is glacial. I’m at the end of my tether. I suppose improvement is measured in my changing bedclothes only once a night (because drenched in sweat), and coughing for only 2 hours each night. The days are more bearable than the nights.
I’m exhausted.