The Swine Flu (H1N1)

The H1N1 virus is a form of Influenza type A with much deadlier results. About 150 are diagnosed each week in my state, Utah. I was one of those unlucky few last Friday, October 9, 2009.

The doctor ran a couple of tests on me. The worst being that he had to take mucus directly from my nasal cavity (for those of you reading who don't know where the nasal cavity is, it is not your nose. It is about 1 inch up and 2 inches back from your nostrils...just below your eye-balls). They took a 6-inch Q-tip, and told me to hold still -_-'

After about 5 minutes, my nose stops bleeding. The doctor then had to scrape my tonsils (luckily he had a second Q-tip). He sticks the Popsicle thing in my mouth, tells my to say "Aah!", and walks out of the room.
When he comes back, he tells me about the Swine Test...they stick my boogery Q-tip in a phial and put a few chemical droplets on it. If it is positive, then I have Swine Flu 100%. If it is negative, then there is still a 30% chance I got it.

The tests were negative.

I went to my HomeComing date happier than ever. I got to go with a really cute girl, I got to use a bus and decorate it (Balloons, sofa, chaffeurs, etc), and I just tested negative for H1N1...what is there to worry about?

The date plans were to go pick people up at 1:30 pm. I arrive at 2:15 at my date's house with everybody else in my group. We get to Toad's, a mini-golf/laser tag/go-karts arcade an hour late, but nobody cares...we were gonna have fun and nobody was gonna stop us.

We bought 1 round of mini-golf (we were running late). Me and my date weren't in it for the mini-golf, we were in it to have fun! My date (I'ma call her Natalya now...don't be a creepy stalker over the internet >_<), on the 5th hole swung a Drivers swing and hit the rock in front of us. Small little grains of rock flew around the course, and nobody is watching but me and Natalya...everybody else putts slow.
Then out of the corner of my eye i can see Natalya turning red, shaking with derisive laughter. By this time one of the couples had caught up to us.
Natalya: The ball...l-landed...in...in the...*snigger*
Us: *waiting*
Natalya: in the water...
Sure enough, when we looked over, the ball was slowly sinking. The other couple started to laugh, I tried not to...it's rude to laugh at your date...so i held on to the end of the putter club, reached the head of the club into the water, and pulled Natalya's little orange golf ball out of the water.

The rest of mini-golf went without a hitch

After Mini-Golfing, the group was to go home, so the girls and guys could dress for dinner. But apparently, we get $2 worth of arcade fun on the mini-golf cards. So the whole group seemed to migrate towards the 'Deal or No Deal' arcade game. I must admit they are pretty good; Natalya's friend got 105 out of 200! I was amazed...i never win on them machines, i prefer the shooting games, or whack-a-mole.

Loud bumping brought me back to earth. As i turned around i saw one of those Virtual Reality ride things: where you sit down, look at a screen, surround sound seems like you're really there, seats are on a movement pad so if the screen shows you looking up...the seats lean back, etc.
I asked Natalya if she wanted to try this thing out. She shrugged, smiled, said 'sure', and walked over to it. We read the instructions carefully, grasped the handlebars that we read were there and swiped the card. The card light turned red and a message said Insufficient funds. Play is $3.00.
Me: Uh...I'll...be right back ^_^'
Natalya: *watching me walk away*

So I went over to the kiosk, ready to put another dollar on the card (yes i would rather spend money on her rather than look for another game...but i believe i have mentioned how cute she happens to be?), rushing over at a brisk pace, when a start to cough...a long cough...i was trying to clear my throat, but it didn't sound like anything was shifting. So I went to the drinking fountain, let it run for 4 seconds (public fountain), then took a sip. The coughing stopped, i added my dollar and rode the virtual thingy with Natalya ^_^

We decided to sign-up for Laser Tag: Boys vs. Girls.

I don't remember much:
Me - Highest score (doubled player2's score), Lowest hit Percentage, Continually got Rapid-Fire (5 kills in a row without getting shot)
Natalya - Third highest hit Percentage, 4th or 5th highest score, got rapidfire once i got mine and we shot each other

So we ended laser tag and were checking out our scores, when Natalya whispers in my ear: What time is it? We told my Mom and Dad we would be home by 4:00 remember?

I look down and wanted to cry: My phone said 4:26.

Me: I say we start heading home now *worried*

Everybody finally agrees, and we leave.

We drop off Natalya first, because she was already late and I didn't want to make her parents mad. They might not ever let me take her out on another date.

I finally got home and changed into my Formal Clothes, then had another coughing fit. This was another dry coughing spell, but i had to take a half teaspoon of Hydrocodone (cough syrup prescription that works for more than coughs) to stem the coughing.

A bunch of G.Q. poses for parents with cameras (my parents -_-), grabbed the corsage, and headed out the door.

When we had picked up everybody except Natalya and Sunni (another girl...don't stalk her either), we headed over to pick up Natalya. When we had picked up everybody except Natalya and Sunni (another girl...don't stalk her either), we headed over to pick up Natalya.

We pulled over, i got out of the pimped out bus, and walked to the door with the corsage of yellow roses, goldenrods, and yellow carnations. I rang the door-bell, and Natalya answered the door. She was so stunningly beautiful, i forgot that people were waiting on the bus for our dinner reservations at 6:15 and it was now 5:55. Before i could tell her how beautiful she was, though, her mom came up to us with a camera (-_-'), and took a couple pics of us, the whole group in front of the bus, the bus itself (i think), and we left to get Sunni at 6:05.

I never did get a chance to tell Natalya she was beautiful. *sigh*

I'll find time though...I hope O_o

We picked up Sunni and got back into town at 7:00...our reservations had been screwed over! We were planning where to go for dinner, and fast food was starting to sound okay at this point: the dance starts at 7:30...it was 7:15. We all agreed on Idle Isle, a Brigham City restaraunt that is a popular diner for taking a date. We ordered our food, told some stories, and finally our food arrived. Most everybody got Water...two people got Root Beer...i got Blackberry Lemonade. Too sour...didn't like it...shoulda got a water
We finished dinner at 8:00, and headed out to the van, which had blue-ish white christmas lights set up. The best part was that we didn't know the HomeComing colors this year were blue, white, and gold (anybody else noticed the BYU colors? -_- GO UTES!)

We arrived at the High School at 8:05. About 30 minutes past being fashionably late, but not so late that pictures were done. We pull up to the entrance to the gymnasium the dance was being held in, and the chaperones the were taking money for entrance and talking in the hallway all stopped and stared out of the window at the neon bus coming their way. Some of the students that were dancing even came out to look at us.

We paid our $10 a couple and went straight to the pictures. I put my name down for picture package CF which was pic-pack (clever...lol) C with 2 'F'rames...lol...clever way to organize O_o'

So after taking pictures, we danced...A LOT!!! I loved it: the music, the dancing, the Natalya...it was great.

More people were staring at us as we left...the bus was AWESOME

We dropped one of the other girls off first (it was about 11:00 at this time). Her date walked her to the door, gave her a quick hug, and then came back to the bus.

We dropped off Natalya second. I walked her to her door and when she had her hand on the doorknob she turned and gave me a 'i-had-fun' smile. Of course...all i can say (sarcastically of course) 'What? No hug?'
Natalya: Nope. See ya! ^_^ Mom...I'm home!
Me: Uh...yeah...Monday...see ya....O_o

I, of course, am the idiot who forgets that Natalya's friend, who loves hugs, almost got stabbed by Natalya's pencil when she came up behind Natalya, screamed 'FREE HUGS!', and hugged Natalya. Maybe Natalya was trying to spare my life then...O_o? Anyways, I walked back to the bus, and we drove off.

We dropped off Sunni and the 4th girl, then the Chaffeurs dropped the guys off. They dropped me off first, so i don't know what happened after but i fell asleep once i got to bed so I suppose it was a good thing that they dropped me off first.

Next morning was Sunday Morning. I woke up Sunday Afternoon.

My parents were dressed for church when I came out of my bedroom still wearing my dress pants. My Mom looked at me and (by doctors orders) took my temperature. 101.4°. I just grunted and sat on the couch. They left.

The next morning I left for school with a temperature of 99.0°. I learned more about the Central Processing Unit (CPU) of a computer, The difference between 'assent' and 'ascent', and that most connective tissues in the body are avascular...meaning that they have no blood going to/through them. During 3rd hour (Human Biology), I started to shiver uncontrollably. I didn't care though...ten minutes until lunch...and I wanted my pizza slice.

The bell rang. Chariots of Fire was playing in my head as I ran out of the classroom to the lunchroom, the scent of cheese and pepperoni guiding me. I got in line and got my tray: pizza, cookie, Juice Box (with a bendy straw ^_^), and BBQ sauce packet for my pizza crust (don't judge me).

I scanned my lunch card (had trouble though...one hand holding my tray of happy...couldn't stop shivering) and sat down next to Tiffany (I swear people...stay away >_<). I couldn't pick up my pizza because I was shivering so badly, so I picked off my pepperoni, split my cookie and ate half, drank my Juice Box, played with the bendy straw (^_^), and threw my pizza away

I walked with Tiffany to 4th hour. We sat down in 2 empty desks (no seating chart). Natalya's friend from the dance (105 tickets) sits down next to Tiffany. A loud rattling is heard and Tiffany looks at me. My knees are vibrating so violently, my desk is shaking against the desks on either side of me. Natalya's other friend (free hugs) sits down next to me crying quietly and puts her head down. I ask her what's wrong and if everything is okay; she just keeps her head down and shakes her head slowly.

I decide not to pursue the matter further, because I happen to know of her reputation of using her high heel as daggers ^_^! That, and I really like the girl. If I irritate her she'll never give me a shot (not that she'll give me a shot anyways...but there's hope ). So I finally stop shivering and take out my paper to start the assignment. But my head started aching a bit, so I put my head down too. Unfortunately, they make chairs much more comfortable nowadays. I fell asleep.

About 40 minutes into the class I woke up. I look at my paper and the paper is soaked. I sit up, and my arms, head, neck, desk, and shirt are also all soaked. I stand up and walk over to Mr. Demonja (go ahead and stalk him...he'll get away ). I ask him if I could use the restroom. He says sure, I say thanks, and I slosh my soggy self towards the restrooms.

The first thing I do, is get a drink from the drinking fountain. I was dripping faster than I could drink, but finally I had my fill. I went into the restroom and looked in the mirror and freaked out: I looked liked I swam a lap in the Natatorium Pool. I started to cry a little

Anyways, I took as many paper towels as were available, and dried myself off. I went back to class, dry and somewhat normal, and sat down. Nobody noticed me walk in except Tiffany, who passed our RP back to me as I sat down.

With 4 minutes left I decide to 'pursue'. This time she says she doen't want to talk about it.
Me: It can't be that bad *thinking about possible rainclouds under my sweat Me: It can't be that bad *thinking about possible rainclouds under my sweat glands*
Her: I said I don't want to talk about it....
Me: You can trust me. ^_^ *very trusting actually...*
Her: No...
Me *joking* No? You can't trust me? Well now I'm offended...
Her *smiles*
Me *happy she smiled*
Her It's not that...I just really don't want to talk about it now.

The bell rings to dismiss class. She leaves, while i put my stuff away and I walk with Tiffany out of the classroom.

I say bye to Tiffany and start walking to my Participation Skills (P.E.) class. After about 15 steps I start to feel sick again. I call my mom to come pick me up. She agrees and I get checked out of school.

She tells me to lie down. I do so without really thinking. It takes a gallon loss of moisture and a soft bed to make you realize how tired you really can be. And I had never appreciated sleep more.

4 hours later I wake up (5:00 in the afternoon). My mom comes in with the thermometer. I realize how sick I was feeling, but I took the thermometer under the tongue. The thing beeped, my mom tooked it and she freaked out (I wouldn't have believed it had I not seen it on the read-out myself): 106.2°!

Doctors say that your body shuts down at 104°...you become delerious at 105° and they will pronounce you dead at 106.5°

My mom started to cry. I jumped (sloth-like) out of bed, ran to the bathroom, and threw up. I was in the bathroom for about 20 minutes before I stopped. I felt fine the rest of the day until I had to go to bed, when I proceeded to jump up (not as sloth-like), run to the bathroom, and throw up for 10 minutes.

So...things that I should not have done:
1. Stayed up until midnight dancing and getting sweaty, then going out into 40° weather when I already had a slight temperature.
2. Ignored the fact that I was having coughing fits on HC Saturday. Dry coughing is a symptom of the H1N1.
3. I ordered a BLT sandwich at Idle Isle. Sodium is a major cause of headaches, and Bacon is very high in Sodium.
4. Later on in the week, I had a bowl of chili. The sodium count is 1200 mg...48% of a daily Sodium intake.
5. I realized this when it was too late: DON'T USE A HEATED BLANKET TO KEEP WARM! A blanket will do just fine, as it will keep your body heat in as well as release some of your body heat through a process call diffusion; a heated blanket adds heated to what you have, and does not use diffusion. Your body temperature will rise.

Things I should do:
1. Recognize the signs and symptoms of Swine Flu. You might think that you are sounding like a hypochondriac, but just remember: 70% of people who have H1N1 die from it or suffer fatally from it. Only 5% of people will get it and get over it. But it is still not good to have. I am one of those in the '5%' category, so I know how bad it is. I've been clear for two days and I still feel miserable.
2. Check with your doctor. The reason I was able to kick H1N1's ass, was because I went to my doctor early. He prescribed Hydrocodone, which is a cough syrup taken every 4 hours as needed...which is good for me: I wake up at 8:00a, eat lunch at 12:30p (wait 30 minutes after taking hydrocodone before eating or drinking), On the Wii-Internet at 4:00p, take my shower for bed at 8:00p, start over. I get up if I have to in the middle of the night...if I have a coughing fit.
3. NO CONTACT! With others, yourself, or objects.
Others: No lip2lip kissing, hand holding, prolonged embracing, etc. H1N1 can spread through the air simply by talking.
Yourself: Try to avoid puting your hand on your face, more commonly, your ears, nose, mouth, eyes, etc. If you have any form of acne, don't touch your face at all. This was hard for me, because my hands practically live on my face, and I have mild acne (worse now that I am sick). If you touch your face, use Hand Sanitizer!
Objects: the worst one yet...people are touching stuff. One has the H1N1. Everybody who touches the object after him will be susceptable to H1N1.

Protect Yourself.

Please feel free to post now. It took me 7 1/2 hours, but I finally got it down.

By the way, I had no sooner passed the H1N1 virus out of my body, than I had developed a serious case of pneumonia. Still have pneumonia to this day (2 days later).

Worst parts about being sick:
1. I now know what Ressa was crying about in US-History, and I haven't been able to go back to school to comfort her, or talk crap about it with her or anything. She probably found somebody else to comfort her -_-'...and i can't do anything about it.
2. I was sick last Thursday. They passed out the Dance pictures in our classes on Thursday. Last chance to pick them up is Monday. I am still sick, so I can't go to school tomorrow (Monday). My mom has to go in to my school and get them.
3. Due to pneumonia, I can't expand my lungs very well. I can only inhale quarter breaths. If I inhale more than a quarter breath, I start coughing uncontrollably. Yawning expands your lungs to 90%. So everytime I yawn, I yawn, gasp, then choke on air.
4. I missed 3 tests, 2 lab book assignments, and a practical test in computer repair all in the three days of school that i have missed so far....

Anyways...I hope this was helpful and an entertaining read. Sort of a look into my life. My life is boring, but when I add the fact that Ressa, Tiffany, and Natalya (my 3 closest friends [and, interestingly enough, all girls]) were there in that story...things seem to be interesting for the first time ^_^

p.s. hooray...34 views...i get my point across! but no posts? everybody healthy?

I still got pneumonia, but i can go to school tomorrow after 2 weeks of being sick and 1 week of missing school.

hey one sweet story i read it for like half an hour xD

lol...

xD

And it's all true too...except i forgot the corsage for Natalya on the way out the door and my parents had to come find me >_<"

hehehehe. xD

I is a klutz...but i had fun *cough cough cough clear throat* even with pneumonia....

over 50 views...cool

By the way I ended up asking out Ressa (a.k.a. Karessa...check my location). She had broken up with her boyfriend, and she was sad. I is a good comforter.

not many posts here now...did you people find this an interesting read?

I god da official swine flu vaccination 3 days ago on da 3rd....now i hab a way bad code *sniffle* da shod gabe me a bad code dat plugged me ub. woah...eben my posts are plugged ub...O.o tribby

holy balls how did u have the time to type this all

haha...holy balls...x]

I was sick at home with the swine flu. I had a whole bunch of time. ^_^