My adventure with the H1N1 flu virus.

Well for those who have read my previous posts you know that I have been down with the H1N1 flu virus. I have underlying health issues so this has been a pretty scary time for me.

I am still not back to par so I am just doing an update to let everyone know how this has gone for me. Maybe it will help someone else get through it. So this is my adventure with the H1N1 flu virus, and if you are interested in learning the symptoms, and how to best get through this flu please visit: http://www.squidoo.com/symptoms-of-h1n1-flu.

So How Am I Feeling? This is my little journal as I have gone along so prepare for a little whining and whimpering in this article.

Like some type of sniffling, sneezing, oozing blob of sludge. My nose is like a tap and I am so congested that I feel almost hollow. Luckily my sore throat departed some time last night probably courtesy of all the salt water that I have gargled throughout the first couple days. The cough has been a dry one since the onset of this, and it remains so, hopefully that is a good thing. The lung issues are of course one of my largest concerns so I am trying to keep my lungs working as much as possible.

I tried a slow walk on the treadmill yesterday, but only made it four minutes before my heart went crazy, and I had to stop. I then cranked the music up louder and decided that I would do a little singing and dancing throughout the day to help keep my lungs clear. Ha! Well that sort of wound up being nothing more than a jig and a shuffle, as I wound my way over to refill my water cup, and then head in the opposite direction to the bathroom.

I think that sludge actually has more energy than I do right now, so if you see one out there dancing around, give it a smack for me. Misery loves company.

Oh well, I am fighting it, and that is what counts.

Please say a little prayer for me, although I have done everything that I can to prepare for this, a little extra help is always appreciated.

October 23 - 2009

Day 5 of the H1N1 and I am still here. Yahoo!

Last night was a rough one because the congestion kept me awake half the night. I guess the body likes to know that it can breathe rather than just hoping that it happens. This afternoon I have more energy than yesterday but the mucous seems to be heading downward now to my upper chest. I think that it will be the next couple days that tell whether it will move downward into my lungs, or take a hike, and leave me alone to recover from this thing.

I'm going to try this afternoon to do a few yoga breathing exercises and see if that will encourage my body to deal with this thing in a rational manner.

October 24 - 2009
Day 6 of the H1N1 and I feel much better. I woke up at 1:30 this morning congested but discovered that I could breath deeply into my lungs again. So I forced myself to get up and have another hot lemon. I guess my singing and dancing around the house yesterday might have helped to clear my lungs.

I still had a lot of head congestion this morning when I woke up, but it disappeared pretty quick, and I sure feel good now. I have one moreTamiflu pill left and then it is gone but I think that I am safe now. Sure hope so! I don't know if it helped but I sure wouldn't have wanted to do this without it.

I think that I am going to try to go out today, just so I can walk around a bit, and I can get some fresh air into my lungs. A friend of my daughters who has asthma has the H1N1 too and she told me that using her inhalers more often has helped her. I am starting to puff on mine a little more too because this flu does seem to sit largely in the bronchial area.

October 25 - 2009

Day 7 of the H1N1 flu, and I woke up with my bronchial congested, and hurting. Scared the heck out of me. Paul and I went out for a little walk around the grocery store, and just getting out into the fresh air, moving around seemed to help. I feel better this evening. I am still having little chest pains but that could also be my illness reacting to the additional stress on my muscles.

October 26 - 2009

Day 8 of the H1N1 and I think that I have it beat! I am still a little congested but I think that I have this pig beat (pardon the pun). I can honestly say that I feel almost normal today.

I can see how this thing would affect people with asthma very badly. If you get this illness, and you have asthma, try to keep moving around a little. Not enough to stress your heart but enough to keep working this thing out of your lung area. Also increase your puffer usage as it does seem to really help. Maybe the H1N1 flu adds inflammation to the bronchial area? I'm not a doctor, so I am just guessing, but keep yourself safe!

October 28 - 2009

Day 10 and I went to the doctor this morning to have my heart checked out just to make sure that everything is okay in there. She said to just take it easy, and let my body heal itself, and that it can take a month or more for the cough to go away. I hate this thing!

On that note I think that I'll sign off for today and I'll post again in about a week when I hopefully feel a little better.

November 01 - 2009

Okay so I am not feeling better! I woke up last night to go to the bathroom and discovered that I was peeing blood. Not a little blood, plain old peeing blood, just like that which would go into a test tube. Scared the heck out of me so off to the emergency ward I went. Diagnosis: a severe bladder infection.

Relieved that I wasn't dying from the H1N1 home I went. The bleeding stopped later that night.

I must have been too sick to feel the bladder infection coming on, or maybe it is a side dish served up with this flu, whatever the case I am now on antibiotics. To add insult to injury the starter on my car is dying rapidly. My car and I are definitely of like mind. Neither of us likes to work in the winter.

Still sniffling and blowing my nose. I also have the cough still but most of the congestion is gone. I am dog tired........