Outbreak

H1N1 has now entered the vocabulary of everyone over the age of five. What started out as the "swine flu", causing mass slaughters of all the pigs in Egypt, became the more policitically correct H1N1 virus. You can't turn on the radio or television, pick up a paper or log in online without being inundated with information and statistics on the pandemic.
Being "germophobic", I have been watching this develop with much intrepidation. I have a frail immune system and seem to be catching germ du jour every other month. I won't say that it's really bad, but my doctor just called me to see how I am feeling as he is planning a cruise and would like to upgrade to a king-sized suite. Working with children and youth have always been a challenge as kids tend to suffer from twice as many bugs as adults. I do my best to stay healthy by handwashing, getting enough sleep and buying hand sanitizer by the barrel. However, H1N1 has me worried.
This weekend, I was supposed to be road tripping with my youth group to our annual Senior High Conference youth event in lovely Mitchell, South Dakota. With schools closing due to illness and the virus being everywhere, we had to cancel the trip. Offering bowling as a substitute for a weekend of fun, friends and meeting new friends, we were able to make up a small part of the disappointment they felt. However, they themselves have been related stories of classmates out with H1N1 for two or three weeks at a time.
H1N1, in my opinion, combines many symptoms that are merely miserable to make a sickness that is truly terrible. Take all of the aches and respiratory symptoms of the seasonal flu and add the gastrointestinal experiences of the stomache bug and you have a truly brutal virus that can drop any young, toug high school football player and send us all to bed.
All of these things were magnified for me this week as I, too, have been under the weather. Saturday, I came down with some ugly stomache bug that took until Wednesday to truly shake. Add a sinus infection and I was knew that it was time for some real medicine.
Getting a doctor's appointment was much harder than normal. I couldn't get in to my primary caregiver as he was completely full. As a matter of fact, even his add-on appointments were full. The scheduler told me that I could go to the walk-in clinic. While she was speaking, visions of the movie Outbreak were dancing in my head. Especially the scene where the man is coughing in the crowded movie theater and as the droplets flew into the air, you knew that everyone in the theater was toast.
I was finally able to secure an appointment for the next day. As I walked in to the clinic to hand over half my paycheck and register, hand sanitizer bottles and masks greeted me. The ladies sitting at the registration desks on the front line were cheerful. I tried hard not to cough as the masks are not an amazing fashion statement and people treat you like Typhoid Mary. I found if I breathed shallow breathes that I could avoid coughing. I must have been the color of a smurf by the time I got to the waiting room.
It was early and there was only one other patient in the large room. After careful scrutiny, I decided that, although he didn't look terminally ill, I wasn't taking any chances and found a chair on the other side of the room. I once again resumed my shallow breathing to avoid the blue mask of infection and waited for my name to be called. By some divine miracle, the nurse came to rescue me from the waiting room in short order and, after a terrifying layover at the scale, I was put in a room. The nurse actually gave me permission to cough after taking my temperature with that goofy ear thermometer which registered 95 degrees. Not too accurate in my opinion.
The doctor came in mid-cough and stood across the room from me during his entire examination. After confirming that I did indeed have a sinus infection, he asked me which antibiotic I preferred. In only four minutes, I was off to the elevator clutching scripts for expensive drugs to further tax the already overwhelmed health care system.
I have gotten my seasonal flu shot last week and will be in line for an H1N1 vaccination as soon as possible. I will cut down on my trips to places that host large crowds such as the local discount stores and the mall. Call me what you will, but my hope is that I can avoid this viral experience. I pray health for all of you. Get your sleep, wash your hands and stay home from work and church if you do get sick. Prepare for the worst and stock up on soup, soda and toilet paper. My parents said that they bought extra just in case. Good luck, fellow germ carriers!