for the past 4 days i’ve been banned from entering any public space. i’ve been forced to stay in my room and have my meals delivered. i’ve had to occupy myself with Zelda: Phantom Hourglass, 30 Rock, State of Fear, knitting, listening to music, taking pictures of the “sunset”, and sleeping.
the first 2 days of said quarantine were a result of what looked like strep throat. the doctor did a swab for strep throat, which came back negative, but he said that can happen with “those kinds of tests.” so, i was treated for strep throat with antibiotics and told to come back wednesday morning if things weren’t markedly better.
on wednesday morning things certainly were not markedly better; in fact, they were markedly worse. overall i was feeling better, in the sense that i didn’t have that full-body icky feeling that i had on monday, but my throat was much worse and it hurt quite a lot just to swallow. the doctor was sorta surprised that things weren’t looking better, so they decided to do a flu test.
i’ve never had flu test done before. the doctor prepared me by saying, “a really nice lady is going to come in here and do something horrible to you.” the flu test is sorta like the strep test in that they swab your throat (and you might gag a little bit), but the flu test includes one more swabbing: the nose. the nice lady told me that my eyes “might water a little bit.” what she didn’t say was that she was going to tickle my freaking brain with a swab, and in the process i would lose functional control of my body, i would yelp like a girl, my arms would flail about like a crazy person, and fluid would pour from every hole in my face.
i don’t think i’ve ever experienced something quite like a nose swabbing. it hurts and tickles in ways i didn’t know were possible. i instinctively slapped my leg really hard let out a whoop that i’m sure the entire medical facility heard. she had to do BOTH nostrils and by the time it was over tears were flowing from eyes and snot from my nose. i was, however, laughing through the whole ordeal.
mora, one of the friends that we’ve made down here, had to have the flu test done as well, and she said that she instinctively reacted as if someone were trying to stab her, and she reached up and grabbed the nurses arm.
anyhoo, it turned out that i actually had Influenza A, not strep throat. so i was given Tamiflu and told to stay in my room for another 2 days. it is now friday afternoon and i’m finally emerging from my cave after 4 days of solitude (this all started on monday morning). my throat is feeling much better today and i hope to start work (and LIFE) tomorrow.
Filed under: general
i took the flu test, and although i think i suffered through it with a bit more stoicism than you and Moira, i did have nightmares about it for three days. just thinking about it makes me squirm. my nose bled, my brain bled, and i will never let anyone do that to me ever, ever again.
also, i have determined, based on my one individual experience, that the flu test is designed to come out positive and render you incarcerated and abominable for 4 to 5 days even you have no symptoms of the flu whatsoever. all the more reason to AVOID.
Woah. Hope you get better soon! See you in like a week!
Your pain is my pain. BTW, what is it like outside?
Eli-
I felt sad when I read that you were feeling sick, however your description of the nose ordeal brought a movie to my internal movie screen and I laughed out loud.
I am glad to hear that you have good medical care.
The description of your work day brought another private screen because of of detailed description.
Are you sharing a room? Who is your roommate?
Is there anything you would like me to send you?
A loving member of your fan club,
Ellen
Oh dear That sounds awful but I must say I got quite a laugh reading about your swabbing.