Bogus Gold

Allow me to crawl back into my blogging seat after getting over the hump of Influenza type A. And may I say, after my first experience with Tamiflu, thank God for anti-virals. The doctor warned me that they wouldn't make the flu go away, but it should shorten the amount of time I had it. If yesterday (especially last night) is anything to go by, that is a HUGE relief.

I've decided my least favorite flu symptom is the all-over muscle aches. Fever isn't fun. Nausea and loss of appetite, I could certainly do without. The feeling that an NFL lineman is sitting on my chest won't earn any rave reviews. But those overall aches that just do not stop and cover every inch of my body making comfort, let alone sleep, impossible top them all in my opinion.

And the only thing worse than having the flu is having a houseful of flu. The boy came down with it first, and was already on the rebound when I started having symptoms. The wife was next, tested negative for flu, then went back two days later considerably worse and tested positive. It was the following evening that the two younger girls came down with symptoms, and only the morning of their doctor appointment that I did.

The folks at the nearby clinic were pretty accomodating, allowing me and the two girls to all share a single appointment. But oy! We are definitely in the middle of flu season. The office was packed. The wait was long. And all three of us were rapidly getting worse the entire time.

Then came the medication follies. Our local pharmacy was out of the childrens' Tamiflu prescribed for the girls. So, after a looooong negotiation with a pharmacy worker who was obviously very new, I found out how to get the prescription transferred to another pharmacy. After driving across town again - still getting worse - I discovered the other pharmacy could only fill one of the two prescriptions. They were also out, other than the one bottle. Thankfully, the girls were prescribed the same amount of the same stuff, so we could make it work until the resupply arrived the next afternoon.

Yesterday was particularly sucky in that the wife was still really sick yesterday morning, and I was getting worse and worse all day. At some point, the pity-party moved from her to me, and she took over primary care of the kids while I assumed the crash position on the couch.

Anyway, none of us is quite back to normal yet. But we all seem to be over the worst of it and coming back to normal. Moral of the story: Tamiflu good. Aches and Pains bad.