Quarantine and Isolation

Swine flu sucks. Just so you know. I made fun of it when it first hit...I'm really not sure why, looking back.

It all started on Monday. I woke up feeling fantastic, went to work, did the morning exercises, and had a great morning. My associate next door wasn't feeling too good, but I felt great.

And then that afternoon I started sneezing. And then I started feeling tired. And then I started coughing.

On Tuesday I felt so bad that I laid down down on the couch in the staff lounge during most of my lunch break. I felt better that afternoon, which I attributed to a dose of Tylenol Cold/Cough that I'd taken in the morning.

Wednesday proved to be even harder, and I literally had to stand against the wall and try not to fall asleep. I felt extremely tired, achy, and just couldn't seem to muster up much energy. I went into the nurse's office after laying on the couch for another lunch break. She took my temp and I had a low grade fever. There were only two hours left of school by the time she took it, so I decided just to struggle it out. My afternoon classes were nice to me, and then I came home. My fever stuck around and I spent the night in bed. I realized that I probably shouldn't go in the next day, but was a little torn since both that day (Thursday) and the next day (Friday) were state inservice days and the DO had already asked that no one else take those days off since we were over our sub limit.

So I called my administrator that night and let her know that I had a fever. She told me that I was definitely to stay home the next day if I still had it. So I called my librarian friend to see if my classes could just go to her, and she was great about it. So Thursday was taken care of.

Thursday came and I did not improve...in fact, I felt much worse. The aches from the previous days had turned into all out pain and my fever kept me in a constant state of being either extremely hot or extremely cold. My kids knew that I was home and didn't understand why I couldn't hang out with them. After lunch, I went out into the living room to hang out with them, although I barely had the strength to walk from my bedroom to the couch.

Thursday night, I had the decision to make of whether or not I would go back to work the next day. My fever was still present, and I still felt horrible, but I didn't want my school to have to do all the inconvenient changes my absence would cause. So I decided to go to the doctor (Quick Care) right before the office closed just to see what they thought.

My fever had dropped, but apparently my other symptoms were concerning enough for them to do the HORRIBLE Influenza swab they have to do to see if you actually have it. Ten minutes later, the doctor came back in. Positive for Influenza A...and 99.9% of all those positive for Influenza A actually have H1N1...swine flu. I was not to go back to work (or out in public) until I had been fever free for 24 hours (without the aid of a fever reducer). And I was to be quarantined in my bedroom, and restrict any interaction with my family. They were also not to leave the house (as much as possible).

Well, that explained a lot. So I called my administrator who obviously told me that I was to follow the doctor's orders. My friend once again was very gracious in taking my classes, and my colleagues at school covered my other duties. The next morning I received a phone call from our school nurse who asked permission to let the rest of the staff know what I had and what symptoms they were to look for, and that everyone who ends up with it is to report it to her. I became the first official H1N1 case at our school. Yippee! The thing that nags at me is that I'm sure I had it while I was feeling so ill at school. I am hoping against hope that no one else gets it...

I have been in Isolation/under Quarantine for 24 hours (at home for 48 hours) and it is not nearly as fun as you might think. Number one, I feel horrible. I can easily see how H1N1 could really destroy someone with a low immune system. It just sucks the life out of you, and sleep helps little because you just wake up drenched in sweat and can't breathe because of the respiratory part of the virus. The only good I can see out of it is that I don't have the vomiting part of it. That would be horrible, horrible, horrible.

Number two, every once in a while I'll hear a quiet little knock on a door followed by a heart-wrenching "Mommy? Mommy?!" My kids know I'm in here, but the younger two obviously have no idea why they can't be in here. Andrew keeps trying to sneak in to come and snuggle. If anything, the actual diagnosis has helped to silence that little voice in the back of my head that asks "Could it really hurt if I was with them for just a little bit?" And while Kadee Joy understands that I'm sick, she doesn't really get the seriousness of what would happen if she or her brothers got it.

Jeffrey has already had auto-immune stuff...he's just not a strong guy. I worry about him getting it. I worry about my whole family getting it, but him especially. So if you could, please pray for the protection of my family. They can't leave to get away from it, so it's kind of chancy either way.

Chris has had an enormously difficult task in caring for me, the kids, and disinfecting the house as best he can. He has been so good about it, but I can tell he's running low on energy. And he has to be the bad guy who keeps the kids away from Mommy. And he can't leave the house either. Supposedly by Sunday afternoon, we'll be okay, as long as the kids don't show symptoms, although the virus can rear it's ugly head anywhere from 7-24 days after infecting someone.

I made the mistake of posting my question of whether or not I had H1N1 on Facebook. Not that anyone was rude or anything, but it's probably not something that all 200 of my "friends" need to know about. Of course, now I'm blogging about it, so my ethics are all mixed up:) So I took it off, and decided to take a break from Facebook, which is kind of tough because there are so many people joking about Swine Flu on it and others wondering if they should get the vaccine. I understand why people joke (obviously I did), but it really is pretty horrible, and would be much worse if it infected a large portion of a family, church, or school. I'm really hoping that my own quarantine proves to be somewhat effective...not that I would be able to go anywhere right now anyway, but I really don't want others to get this. As far as the vaccine goes, if it were able to actually keep people from getting it without having really horribly adverse side effects, I'd be for it. I just don't know if anyone knows enough about it right now to actually be able to promise that.

So there it stands. Every once in a while I get a call, which is nice (as long as I'm awake), but generally I'm just shut up in my room, watching the Office, sleeping, or trying to eat something. I also listen to my kids, and wish that I could step in and comfort them when they cry, or try to relieve Chris when more than one them needs something at the same time.

I know I probably sound like a whiner, but really I'm just kind of dumbfounded by the irony of being infected by something I found so funny. And of course, it's really, really not funny. Not even a little bit.