This Flu Is Nasty!

[PrimeTimer]

  Merry Christmas, everyone! Hope Santa was good to all of you!

I don't mean for this to be a sob story or to vent but rather, a warning. Despite getting flu shots hubby and I both got the flu. Both had fevers of 102, aches, pain, nausea, terrible fatigue, digestive "issues", coughing...the "whole 9 yards" as they say. It seems to have hit our entire system. A nurse at hubby's clinic said she heard that this years flu vaccine was made too weak (screw up) and well, I believe that. So, my warning is to be extra careful. I'm sure you know the drill...wash hands, use hand sanitizer, avoid touching your eyes, face and mouth if you can help it. We had to skip Christmas again but we had put up our tree early so are at least enjoying that. This flu has really knocked us on our butts. After not eating these last couple days we finally have an appetite. I tried to post sooner but with a fever I forgot my password. So please, please take extra precautions when out and about or around people. Enjoy the holidays but very carefully!   

[iolaire]

Thanks for the warning. I’m glad the recovery has started. Merry Christmas 🎁

[MooseMom]

Oh, PT, I am so sorry to hear that you've both been so ill.  I've had the flu only once, when I was 17.  It was a Saturday, and a friend and I had gone shopping at the mall for some dancewear.  I was trying on a leotard and I found I could hardly move; every muscle in my body hurt so much.  We left the store, and I had the worst time trying to get back into her car.  She had a Mustang with bucket seats, and I had to place my butt up toward the top of the headrest and slide into the seat.  By the time I got home, I couldn't even make it upstairs, so I spent the next week downstairs in my parents' bed.  I have no idea, to this day, where they slept.  Oh, it was awful, I'll never forget it, so I always get the flu shot.  I am horrified that this year's vaccine isn't very effective, so thanks for the warning!

You take care of yourselves, OK?  I hope you both complete recover very quickly.  I hope your New Year's celebrations are better! 

[kristina]

Hello PrimeTimer and many thanks for this very important warning!!! I also had my flu-jab and I do hope you and your husband are feeling better soon and make your recovery a.s.a.p. 

Could it be a good idea to get some protective medical face-masks for you and your husband to use whenever you go outside?

To protect myself as much as is possible I bought some cheap paper-layered face-masks at the chemist and each one is fastened from one ear to the other and covers my nose and mouth and I have noticed that most people in the train/bus/underground etc. make a great effort to avoid coming near me, as soon as they notice my face-mask, because, after all, they don't know if it is me who suffers from something contagious ... or not ...

I am not sure whether or not such a paper-layered face-mask really protects me medically or not, but it certainly protects me from people coming near me with their coughing and sneezing...

I was also told to avoid coming near smokers at all times because when they exhale, lots of their germs-whatever are "included" in their exhaling smoke and I was told not to breath-in if I pass-by a smoker ... I was quite astonished to hear this because I would never have thought of it ...

I do hope you both feel much better soon and make a quick recovery and take great care of yourselves and I send you my good-luck-wishes also for the New Year from Kristina.

[PrimeTimer]

Thanks for your well wishes, everyone. What makes this so hard for us is that we are both sick so can't be of much help to each other. Right now our focus is to just rest. My fever is still hovering around 100, hubby's has broken but he's got a nasty cough and a lot neck pain and fatigue. I'm hungry but learned the hard way to "starve a fever/feed a cold". I hope to get out and bring home some old fashioned chicken noodle and vegetable soups with some croutons or saltines. To hell with low sodium right now. I need to eat light and have it stay in my body. Hubby does too. And I think once I am better I plan to prepare an "emergency cupboard for the future  soups, broths, crackers, ramen noodles, rice and croutons. An of course some good apple juice. Orange Sherbet sounds good too! My mouth is watering right now and that's actually a good sign.


Well, off to sleep I go. I hope. Haven't been able to bathe so feel miserable about that but sleep comes over me and every time does I don't fight it -I sleep as much as I can. Just woke up a little bit ago and was shocked that if was 1:40 am. I had laid down at 815P. Guess I put in a few good hours. Hubby is out in his reclining chair. I hope by the time the sun rises we will both feel a bit better to go to the store. And take baths of course! I have never sweated so much with a fever before nor shivered as much either. It's crazy. That's why I hope all of you take care and be careful.

Kristina, we do have some paper masks and it sounds like a very good idea to use them! 

[Cupcake]

I would love to make you some homemade chicken soup. Mine is pretty good, if I say so myself. Known to cure whatever ails the body or soul.

Watch out for post influenza pneumonia, so if your fever persists you should get checked out.

Best wishes for a speedy and full recovery to you and your hubby.

[PrimeTimer]

I would love to make you some homemade chicken soup. Mine is pretty good, if I say so myself. Known to cure whatever ails the body or soul.

Watch out for post influenza pneumonia, so if your fever persists you should get checked out.

Best wishes for a speedy and full recovery to you and your hubby.

Thank you, Cupcake! Your soup sounds wonderful and I bet it is. I haven't had canned soup in a long time and it tasted so strange to me but I know I can't eat anything too solid yet. A homemade soup would be so much better. As for the pneumonia, I will be watching out. I'm on home oxygen and also use a nebulizer and inhaler. Fever has come down to 98 now so keeping my fingers crossed.

[Michael Murphy]

The only time I get chicken soup is in the hospital.  My doctors group will send me to one of three local hospitals and the all serve a good low salt chicken soup, always order side of noodles or rice and dump it  into the soup. It makes being in hospital almost worth while.

[PrimeTimer]

I have NO DOUBT in my mind that what we had was Covid. I just read that there may have been a few cases in the US as early as Christmas 2019. That is exactly when my husband and I were ill. But there is even more reason to think we had Covid. After Covid began to be talked about and had arrived in the US, my husband confided something in me. At the time he didn't think anything of it but as Covid began to spread he realized that we may have had it. He had been at the home of a client to do an inspection. It was a rental home. When he arrived he was met by the tenants. He remembered the house very well because they were Chinese and only one of them spoke English and they were cooking something very foul-smelling in the kitchen (foreign food). The one who spoke English had told him that they had just returned from a trip from....wait for it....China.

My doctor's nurse said we probably did get Covid but will never know for sure because she said the antibodies wear off after a few months. Well, our smell and taste have been off all year and given the other symptoms we had, I have no doubt it was Covid. I want to get the vaccine. Please continue practicing safe-distancing and wear a mask if you are going to be around groups.

[MooseMom]

Oh, wow!  I bet you're right!  That's pretty spooky.

[SooMK]

Wow !!!!