I caught the flu

I suppose it really started last week when my son was still staying with us. By the time he went back he wasn’t coughing so much, just a bit of a cold. He is younger than me, of course, and his immune system is probably stronger.

It started on Monday, I had a strange feeling in my throat as if I had swallowed feathers. Then the cough started. During the day it stayed under control but through the night it didn’t. What fun waking up in the morning with the feeling that you hadn’t actually slept. I dragged myself off to work and managed to serenade everyone with my constant coughing and sneezing. Eventually a colleague said she didn’t feel very well either and stayed at home on Wednesday for the day. I decided that I was most probably, at least I thought most probably, on the way to recovery. During the night of Wednesday I felt very uncomfortable and didn’t really sleep. Being inquisitive I decided to hunt through the home for a thermometer. Now where do we keep it?. Havn’t got a clue. I sort of stumbled out of the bedroom, passing 3 cats on the way in the corridor and opened a drawer where it is usually kept. After searching in the dark, I found the thermometer. There was one small problem, I had forgotton my glasses, which meant that even if I managed to find my temperature I would not be able to read it. I made a second journey to the bedroom and got my glasses and went into the living room to see how much time remained. The Nos. on the thermometer sprang up to 38°C which is known as fever in Switzerland. Anything from 37°C up to 38° is temperature. In my English days it used to be 98.4 F and you had a small thermometer which fitted nicely under the tongue. In European countries the thermometer is about 4 times the size and you put it under your arm. The disadvantage is it takes 10 minutes until you know if you have to call for the doctor or not.

I climbed back into bed with one thought in my head, tomorrow you will not go to work, and if the company collapses when you are not there. At 6 in the morning my other half told me the alarm had gone off, so I told him I am staying home today and tomorrow as well, as I don’t think this will pass off so quickly. Yesterday, Thursday, was a strange day. I just stayed in bed all day, something I don’t often do, and I have very little memory of what went on. Mr. Swiss did mention that I slept through the day. I didn’t even eat anything, which is perhaps an advantage of being ill, as I had put too much weight on over the Christmas/New Year. I think I would have stayed in bed until this morning, but Mr. Swiss said that the East Enders were on the tv yesterday evening, so I thought I would drag myself into the living room to watch. It’s funny how a tv programme can take things off your mind, like you are spending your last day on earth, or on the gravestone will stand “she was a victim of the 2008 flu epidemic”. Needless to say after The Eastenders I went back to bed and remained there until this morning.

Did I feel better today? Well not really, but after cleaning my teeth again (I didn’t even do that yesterday) and having a shower (which I also didn’t do yesterday) I decided that my permanent visit to the cemetery could be postponed for a few decades. Today I even ate food again and climbed onto the computer. My fever has now gone down to light temperature and all being well I will be back at work on Monday. Thank you son for the goodbye present.

Of course I know that what I had is not as bad as a “man cold”