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Monday
11:37 a.m.
I slept through the night, and woke late, feeling cool-headed and clear-eyed. My voice is husky, but most of the syllables are now audible. More important, I feel alive again. This flu packs a wallop.

I spent yesterday in a twilight state, watching football on TV while obsessively cruising eBay for affordable flatware. In our house, the forks and spoons run away with the single socks.

I learned that the nickel in 18/10 stainless steel (18% chromium, 10% nickel) keeps it from rusting in the dishwasher, a common complaint about new sets in my (low) price range at Amazon, all made in China of 18/0 steel; that most stainless is now made in China and only one stainless-steel flatware pattern is still made in America.

eBay isn't full of little bargains any more; small sellers cleaning out attics are rare there now after an ill-considered corporate tilt toward resellers. Many of the same items now show up on Amazon for less, but I may have found a gem.

This morning I bought an 18/10 23-piece set for 6, missing one knife, in "fine hardly used condition" for $24.99, described as "Nifty quality flatware - pattern unknown to us." The clincher was "Brand: EDELSTAHL ROSTFREI." That's "stainless steel" in German.

My souvenir of the 2009 flu was probably not made in China.

Joe is determined to rebuild my strength, and has headed for the market for the ingredients for Melt-In-Your-Mouth Beef Shin/Shank Stew. By tonight, I expect to be famished.

I'm cautiously declaring the flu over.

Sunday
8:39 p.m.
No sardines. I ate last night's leftover steak and some chocolate ice cream.

"Oh, good, you're up to ice cream," Joe said. I didn't know that was a wellness threshold, but I got there anyway.

He's eating for two, lobster bisque earlier (too heavy for me), now he's making beans and eggs, which sounds awful. Water is about my speed, a soft bed and, for a while, a paperback.

A colleague emailed that he has had the same symptoms for the last three days. (Our only physical connection is that we have touched the same doorknob.) That's not good news for the newsroom staffing level this upcoming week, if we're in the first wave of this thing.

2:16 p.m.
I'm sipping Gingerbread Spice tea with honey, far sweeter than my usual taste, but therapeutic.

My food preferences during this flu have been odd: Protein, no dairy, nothing thick. Alertness and hunger have coincided twice a day. Joe brought me chicken soup for Friday lunch, but it wasn't magical. By dinner I just wanted a BLT with well-done crispy bacon and the last of our garden tomatoes.

Saturday, another BLT and, for dinner, steak and a perfunctory couple of bites of asparagus.

Today, a banana at 4 a.m.; midmorning, toast and more bacon and a cup of orange juice. For dinner tonight, I'm thinking of nibbling at a can of sardines.

I have no interest in sickroom staples such as eggs, custard or ice cream. Under pressure, my body wants bacon. Geesh.

8:22 a.m.
Joe woke up, and when I spoke, I croaked. I hadn't spoken earlier, so I didn't know I now have sexy laryngitis. This flu has it all.

7:20 a.m.
Fever's gone, a few sniffles, sneezes remain, still a little sore where everything previously ached.
Not a lot of energy, but I'm at least thinking about taking a shower. We're canceling the weekly Patriots game party to limit the family's exposure to me.

My brain is still mush. I found what one MetaFilter user posted as The worst TV program ever made? rather charming -- a countdown of the top 10 favorite foods in the Northern Ireland province of Ulster.

Saturday
5: 05 p.m.
This is working, so far. I want a steak for dinner.

2:36 p.m.
I am tired of resting. I want to live. I'm instituting feel-good measures. Brandy is first, on the couch with college football and my husband. Ignoring symptoms.

7:36 a.m.
I have one of the season's flus, and sleeping through it seems the best strategy. My symptoms and progression sound a lot like Sanjay Gupta's visit from H1N1: A sharp cough Thursday; waking up at 3 a.m. Friday, nauseous, with weakness, fever and hit-by-a-truck aches all day. Not a head cold, not stuffed up. Between sleeps, diet ginger ale, water, Sudafed and enteric aspirin. I awakened today -- after fevered dreams that involved posting to Facebook -- cooler and wrung out.

Another day in bed with a thriller novel seems about all I can muster.

I'm glad that's mostly out of the way.

 Tags  flu

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2 Comments

pat said:

I hope you'll fully recover and regain your strength and normal voice - although Joe might prefer the sexy, raspy one.

I find the herbal immune support which is similar to wellness formula but much less expensive helps me when I have the beginning of cold symptoms and also any of the ricola cough drops. Rest and more rest, plus fluid and patience..and this too shall pass.

Link | October 11, 2009 2:20 PM
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Sheila Lennon said:

Thanks, Doctor Pat!

Link | October 11, 2009 9:30 PM
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