Oink!

[radegund]

Yup. What I was downplaying as a heavy, chesty cold (with fever) at the weekend was this morning diagnosed as ... dun-dun-duuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuun - swine 'flu.

On my BIRTHDAY, and EVERYTHING.

(I say "diagnosed" - the doctor didn't order a test, but she says it's the obvious conclusion.)

More to the point, it's also what the Feaster has had in parallel with me over the past few days, AND it's what the Oyster suddenly came down with yesterday evening. He's currently in the oh-god-wretched phase, while the Feaster and I are definitely over the worst (thank any relevant deities). niallm may or may not have had it the week before last. If he didn't, I suppose he'll get it next...

I've had muscle aches and cold symptoms since last week, with an unshakeable headache since about Saturday. My fever spiked on Sunday night, and had more or less abated by Tuesday morning. I spent Monday completely out of it, and Tuesday maybe half there. Today I am up because I have to be, but if I didn't I wouldn't. Niall and K have been running around looking after everybody, because they are made of solid gold.

The Feaster has been physically attached to an adult damn near constantly since Sunday, including seven- or eight-hour feeding sessions each night.

The Oyster is on Tamiflu, but since the Feaster and I are on the mend we're not.

I thought it was quite amusing the way the doctor danced around the actual moment of diagnosis. She first asked if the Oyster had any ongoing health issues, and then she chatted some more about the symptoms, and then put her head on one side and said something really coy, like "had you any feeling yourself about it, or...?" And it was only when I said I assumed I had 'flu of some sort, whether swine or otherwise, that she nodded and said the likelihood was that it was the OMG HORROR OF TEH TERRIFYING OINK ITSELF. Whereupon a dark cloud covered the face of the sun, and a rain of frogs fell from the ceiling of her consulting room, which I thought was pretty tacky, but there you are.

Anyway. We'll be back up and running in due course. Meanwhile, this headache had better go away, or there'll be trouble.

Comments

[yiskah.livejournal.com]

Oh, poor all of you! And happy birthday.

[radegund.livejournal.com]

Thank you x2 :-)

[yiskah.livejournal.com]

Oh, and there I was feeling all smug about the lack of Swine Flu in Sudan, and then I hear that my university is apparently the epicentre of Sudan's first Swine Flu outbreak. Damn.

[radegund.livejournal.com]

Oops! Hope you escape :-)

[leedy.livejournal.com]

Oh, you poor things! I'm glad to hear you and the Feaster are on the mend, and I hope the Oyster recovers soon.

And belated happy birthday!

Your doctor's attitude is a bit odd, it's not like it's some kind of DIAGNOSIS OF SHAME, is it? She sounds like someone telling a patient they've contracted a Social Disease, perhaps in the 1950s.

I am going to ask my GP about the vaccine when I go for my blood pressure/jar of wee check tomorrow, given that I am very very pregnant and have a tendency to wheezy chest.

[radegund.livejournal.com]

Nothing belated about it, ma'am, for today is THE DAY :-)

I don't know what the coyness was about. It was more ... Antiques Roadshow than gonorrhea, though, if you see what I mean. "So ... what disease would you say you have? Hmm? Well, I can tell you, madam, you'll want to be thinking in terms of ... swine 'flu!"

Honestly, I'd say she was trying not to shock us by telling us straight out we have That Thing Off The Radio Which Is Going To Be The Death Of Us All, or similar. Still weird, mind you!

I want to say ... good luck with getting the vaccine, but that doesn't seem quite right! Hope it all goes entirely smoothly, anyway.

[leedy.livejournal.com]

Happy birthday THIS VERY DAY, then!

[natural20.livejournal.com]

niallm mentioned this earlier, what sucky timing (although really, never a good time to be ill). Glad most of you are feeling better, hopefully O will too soon.

And, of course, Happy Birthday!

[radegund.livejournal.com]

Thank you, thank you! It's not what you'd call pleasant, no, but we'll come through it :-)

[oddcellist.livejournal.com]

Och, I hope you all feel better soon! And happy birthday!

[radegund.livejournal.com]

Thank you!

[ailbhe]

We were diagnosed with "a flu-like illness" and it wasn't ANYbody's birthday. Congratulations on getting some immunity for your birthday? Er...

(I twitter-D'd you something slightly nicer, actually).

[radegund.livejournal.com]

Immunity! Yes, that's the upside, I suppose :-)

(And wow. Coo. I'm all glowy now!)

[socmot.livejournal.com]

You're the first folks I know with Swine flu. Hope you all feel much better soon.

[radegund.livejournal.com]

Thank you. I hope so too! (O and F tend to bounce back from things fairly fast, and once they're better it'll be easier for me, e.g. in terms of sleep.)

[angiv.livejournal.com]

Aww, I was just about to post a "Happy Birthday" message in which I was going to hope that things started looking up, and then this!

So, um, happy birthday! I'm glad to hear you and the Feaster are on the mend, and hope that the Oyster follows suit.

[radegund.livejournal.com]

Aww, thank you!

[pisica.livejournal.com]

FROGS? Man, the NHS does not have frogs.

Happy birthday, and, er, happy swine flu? I don't think Hallmark make a card for this particular holiday....

[radegund.livejournal.com]

These were privately funded frogs: there was a line on our bill and everything.

Hallmark had better get its act together - it's a growing constituency.

[mollydot.livejournal.com]

Argh! Get better soon, all of you. And wishing you as happy a birthday as you can.

[radegund.livejournal.com]

Thank you SO MUCH for the present! My birthday wasn't what you'd call an unalloyed pleasure, but we're definitely on the mend now. I'll celebrate in a bit, when everyone's better.

[mollydot.livejournal.com]

You're welcome!

The Oyster appeared to be in great form when we were there, with impressively straight arrow shooting.

[radegund.livejournal.com]

Thank you! We're on the mend.

[biascut.livejournal.com]

Happy belated birthday, in the sense that you need to celebrate it properly when everyone's back on their feet!

[radegund.livejournal.com]

Thank you - yes, indeed, I'll do something a bit more birthdayish when we're all better.

[radegund.livejournal.com]

Oink! We're getting through it, all right. Don't know what we'd have done without K - she is magic.