My First Battle With The Flu

Body aches, tissues, Advil, and no desire to do anything whatsoever. If you've ever had the flu, you'll know exactly what I'm talking about. I recently just recovered from my first battle with the flu, and let me tell you, it is definitely not a fun experience.

The flu isn't just your average sniffle and cough. On top of those usually annoying symptoms, your body is either burning like hell, or as cold as the North Pole. I recall waking up randomly in the middle of the night, sweating profusely, shaking, and not quite sure where I was. Having mustered all the energy I could find, a voice I hardly recognized as my own squealed, "Mom! Help me! I have no idea what's going on! I'm burning up." These are the moments when even an adolescent such as myself is grateful for the wealth of knowledge and the comforting voice of a mother who reassuringly says, "Everything is going to be okay." Two doses of Advil and Theraflu and fifteen minutes of cold presses on my forehead that felt more like ice buckets, given my 105 degree fever, and I finally began to feel a semblance of relief. Although the fever had subsided, your average cold symptoms did not. I went through what felt like two thousand boxes of tissues, and coughed my guts out; not to mention the missing skin under my nose. What's that all about? As if the body aches were not enough, you also have to feel a burning sensation on your raw nostrils from blowing your nose. You can read more about my terrible symptoms here.

Image Courtesy of The Glow

All this made me start to think, what did people do before the invention of Advil, Theraflu, cough syrup, tissues, and Vicks? How did their aching bodies, runny noses, and congested lungs heal without modern medicine? Did they just sit there and wait to be cured?

Another downside to the flu and being sick in general is that if you're sick enough and that thermometer reads a high temperature, you're going to miss some school. Missing school means mountains and mountains of homework and tests that you have to make up. Usually, the work is overwhelming in quantity, but is pretty simple to do. Unfortunately, I missed three days of school leading up to finals week, so I'm going to have to make up the work as I study and take my finals which make or break my GPA for the quarter.

All in all, when it comes to being sick, the flu was probably one of my worst experiences yet. Now if you'll excuse me, I have ten more assignments to catch up on.