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Last week I had a not so wonderful encounter with the scourge of winter: the flu.  And, now that I am starting to recover, I thought I would share some valuable and some not-so-valuable lessons.  Maybe you will learn something!

1. Listening to your body can save you! 

I will always wait for a very long time before calling my doctor when I feel sick.  This is a terrible habit.  I once had a sinus infection for over 2 months because I kept telling myself it would go away.  And last fall I suffered a pretty severe asthma attack that held me back for months because I wouldn’t listen to my body.  Well, sometimes you learn the most important lessons the hard way!  The pattern started on Sunday, when I noted that my heart rate was about 10 beats per minute higher than normal when I bike.  On Monday I noticed I was more tired during my swim, which I chalked up to the 3.5 hour brick on Sunday.  Then Tuesday I woke up with a sore throat, not game-ending on its own though.  During my run that morning my heart rate was high again.  When I got to work and felt dizzy with a headache (I never get headaches) I knew something had to be off, so I called my doctor and got an appointment that afternoon.  By the time I showed up to the appointment, I was wiped out with a terrible headache and dizziness that would come and go.  When he walked into the room I was literally sleeping on the exam table.  Now, where is the “saving you” part of this tale?  Well, if you take Tamiflu within 12 hours of onset of the symptoms I had that very morning, it works the best.  It will also work well if you get it within 48 hours, but 12 hours is when you will greatly benefit.  I had to pat myself on the back for listening to my body and cutting my illness by days!

2. When sick with the flu, it is a good time to read, but not a good time to make important decisions.

I spent the vast majority of my days off from work either lying on the couch or lounging in my recliner curled up in a blanket.  You can only watch so many episodes of Cupcake Wars before you start to get a little antsy, so I spent some quality time reading the Bible.  This was a unique opportunity for me to read and learn, since I’m usually either working out, working, eating or sleeping.  Not much free time there!  Now to the second part of this lesson… don’t make important decisions.  Luckily I learned this lesson fairly early on and didn’t make any important decisions.  I was lying on the couch watching Cupcake Wars when I noticed the strange clicking sound my stove makes when I leave the burners or the oven on.  Hmmm… I had made grilled cheese and soup earlier, maybe I left a burner on?  I trudged over to the stove and just had to stare for a little bit.  I had left a burner on.  With a pan on the burner.  With a spatula on the pan.  Oops.  Melted spatula is difficult to clean off the stove top.  After that, I decided it was best if I stuck to the microwave for the rest of the week.

3. Don’t go back to work too early, it will just end up being embarrassing. 

I have never been sick like this before because I have never had the flu before!  I have missed maybe one day of work or school because of a cold, but never two days!  After taking one day off I was determined to return to work on Thursday.  I woke up in the morning, pulled on my work clothes and got some breakfast ready (a bagel, don’t worry, I stayed away from the stove).  By the time I had my bagel in the toaster I was winded and needed to sit on the couch for a break.  I should have known right then that I couldn’t go to work!  But I got in the car, drove to a coffee shop (I later noticed my bagel had mold on it) and got myself to work.  About 15 minutes later I was sweating through my shirt and the nurses were getting me a bag of ice.  I had to skip morning report because I was so hot and I just needed to lie down for a minute.   My attending physician (my boss) found me lying on the couch in the television room, where we normally interview patients on the Psychiatric Unit, with a bag of ice around my neck.  Yeah.  I was definitely sent home after that.  Might also have had something to do with every single person telling me “You look terrible!”  I’m sure I did look terrible, but doesn’t really boost the confidence much!

4. Stay Hydrated.

My doctor told me the reason I kept getting dizzy was likely because I was dehydrated.  I was like whatever, I’ll drink some OJ and I’ll be fine.  He recommended that I drink some Pedia-sure or Gatorade at least.  Honestly, I thought he was just being a little over-the-top and Pedia-sure is gross, so no way.  I did grab a couple bottles of Gatorade just because.  I quickly learned why he had recommended hydration with electrolytes.  Even when taking Motrin around the clock, I still had horrible fevers and chills.  I would sweat through a shirt in a few minutes, then be freezing and wrapped in blankets a few minutes later.  When I finally got back to work on Friday, I suffered from just awful leg cramps!  Like, those leg cramps in the hammy when you have to jump out of your chair and try to stretch it out or something just to make it stop!  That is also embarrassing to have to do in the middle of morning report.  So stay hydrated and drink electrolytes!!

5. I crave muffins when I’m sick.

I wouldn’t recommend muffins for the flu.  I mean, I like muffins as much as the next person, but I really don’t eat them very often.  I think I literally ate 5 muffins last week.  On the very few occasions when I left the house, I would always get a muffin.  It was pretty much the only thing I actually felt like eating, so I didn’t fight it much because I wasn’t really eating anything.  But I do feel like some good old chicken noodle soup would be better, a little protein, a little carbohydrate and some liquid is probably a better choice.  Just maybe not grilled cheese, unless you have someone to make it for you and shut off the oven for you.  Of note, when I melted the spatula on the pan that was the third time I had left the burner on.  Apparently I learn very slowly when I have the flu.

6. Lysol and disinfectant spray are your friends if you want to keep your friends!

Now, some of you may know that my husband is in pharmacy school.  He is at the point in his education when he has to be in different cities for rotations and the past week he was in the Grand Rapids area, thus the reason I didn’t have someone to make my grilled cheese and turn off the oven.  He called on Thursday and asked me to please, please, please wipe everything down with Lysol because he really doesn’t want the flu.  Well, I had a little extra energy on Thursday night and didn’t want to get him sick so I wiped down every single surface (including door knobs and light switches!) and then sprayed everything with my disinfectant spray.  I also carried around a giant bottle of hand sanitizer which I used every single time I blew my nose or coughed.  People will be very appreciative of this gesture and allow you to go out to dinner with them, even if they nickname you “Flu-zie.”

Well, those are my lessons!  I hope you learned something, and if not, then I hope you had a few laughs!