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Flu in July, Now I'm a Statistic
It is July first, and I have influenza. Swine flu has been all over the media, but I have no idea which flu I have. It's just the flu. Knocked flat in the span of a few hours by a fever and aches and a bad, deep cough. I was feeling off but well enough to go to choir rehearsal last night. By midday today I was running a 101.5° F fever and choking up a lung.
Now I'm not an alarmist, and I tend to see these flu scares as just that—scares. But the last time I got the flu, (in January, in the winter, when you're supposed to get the flu, if you're gonna get it) I tried to tough it out and ended up in the ER. So this time I called the doctor right away. Of course my pulmonologist is out of town until July eighth. Of course.
Lucky for me my endocrinologist is familiar enough with me and my special immune system that I could go see her instead. $117 later—and that's with prescription insurance, and not counting the $125 for the doctor visit—I have a new antibiotic and five days of Tamiflu, that antiviral you're supposed to start within 30 hours of getting the flu. So now I'm a statistic, one of those weird, sad people who gets the flu in summer.
Let me just say that fever plus hot weather sucks.
Also I didn't get to go out for sushi with my friend Anet, and I won't get to spend tomorrow afternoon hanging out with my friend Catherine, because obviously I don't want to expose either of them to the flu. I think I am perfectly justified in feeling sorry for myself over this.
Now I'm not an alarmist, and I tend to see these flu scares as just that—scares. But the last time I got the flu, (in January, in the winter, when you're supposed to get the flu, if you're gonna get it) I tried to tough it out and ended up in the ER. So this time I called the doctor right away. Of course my pulmonologist is out of town until July eighth. Of course.
Lucky for me my endocrinologist is familiar enough with me and my special immune system that I could go see her instead. $117 later—and that's with prescription insurance, and not counting the $125 for the doctor visit—I have a new antibiotic and five days of Tamiflu, that antiviral you're supposed to start within 30 hours of getting the flu. So now I'm a statistic, one of those weird, sad people who gets the flu in summer.
Let me just say that fever plus hot weather sucks.
Also I didn't get to go out for sushi with my friend Anet, and I won't get to spend tomorrow afternoon hanging out with my friend Catherine, because obviously I don't want to expose either of them to the flu. I think I am perfectly justified in feeling sorry for myself over this.