I've joined the global epidemic!

I hate my couch. I really hate my couch. Really. I hate my couch. The couch is comfortable, and it provides a great view for my pink 32 inch HDTV. Unfortunately, thanks to that nasty H1N1 virus, aka Swine flu, I have spent a lot of time on the couch, snuggled under my Washington Nationals blankies, with my cell phone and a large glass filled with peach mango juice (replete with a straw to help with sipping because my throat was so sore)since Wednesday. 

The incubation period is less than a day from the time of infection, so the mean germ likely hit me at the gym on Tuesday night. I went to the doctor on Thursday and was given the official test. Let me just say that my flu shot (for the seasonal flu), which I received a few weeks ago, was largely painless in comparison to the giant Q-Tip that the nurse shoved up my right nostril to my eyeballs. That's how they test for H1N1. The snot swab. I know I like to be positive (and my blood type is B Positive), and I hate to fail tests, but this would have been one test I would have preferred to not have passed. 

After my doctor gave me the results and the prescription for Tamiflu, he hurried out the door, saying he was getting married in nine days! I feel a little better right now. Every part of my body hurts from all the coughing. I have been fever-free since last night, but I am told that I have to be fever-free for 48 hours to be considered better -- or able to ESCAPE.

 Friends have been leaving food and juice bottles at my door, knocking at the door, and running down the stairs. Thank you, I mutter, as I close the door, and head back to the hated couch. I get lots of phone calls, even one from my minister. I did get a little concerned today when I noticed an ambulance pull up in front of the house. Turns out my neighbor across the hall had fallen down her stairs and needed to be taken to the hospital. 

 My throat remains a little sore, but this too should pass. I am getting lots of rest, drinking lots of liquids, and reading and watching TV. I have several new royal DVDs that I shall be watching tomorrow. The cats are playing nursemaids. When I am on the couch, one or two or three (never all four) join me for a snuggle. Who needs a blanket. I think they miss having the couch to themselves. 

 After I got my first flu shot, I was put on the list for the H1N1 shot. I am now auto-immuned to H1N1, although I would have preferred the shot (or the jab as the British call shots). It would have cost a lot less than my illness. My health insurance covers the cost of the flu shot, but the flu costs include the co-payment to the doctor, as well as the costs for Tamiflu and the cough medicine. Ah well, back to the couch ... and yes, my TV is pink.