The flu for the holidays

Today I write to you from my quarantine headquarters in my parents guestroom. I've been here for 24 hours and literally haven't left... because guess what? I got the flu for Christmas! We were supposed to spend all of Christmas week at my in-laws cabin in park city but once we got there my mother-in-law talked me into going to instacare because I was coughing up some gnarly stuff.

I thought it was bronchitis... when the doctor suggested the flu I thought he was totally off because I hadn't had body aches at all which is so typical of the flu. They ran a quick nose swab and sure enough... the dreaded flu.

I'm the type that will do everything I can to prevent anyone else from getting sick with what I have... so as soon as we got the diagnosis we went back to the cabin and I packed up my stuff. There are 17 people staying in the cabin... no way was I going to risk they get the flu too!

Sam wanted to leave to help me but I convinced him to stay... his brother just got home from a mission and it will be their families first Christmas together in 10 years. Plus I didn't want to get him sick and I'd rather have him take care of Jake up there so I can just focus on recovering.

I was just going to go home but my mom convinced me to come up to their house and they'd just keep me in quarantine and nurse me back to health. Rereading all of this it sounds so dramatic but good heavens... now I know why people die from the flu. It's terrible! The last time I was this sick was in grade school.  I can't breath, I'm coughing up questionable nasties from my lungs, my ears ache, I'm cold, I'm hot, I have a sore throat that rivals all other sore throats, I'm afraid to cough because it hurts so much and makes it so I can't breath until I get all the junk up, if I go into the cold 20 degree air it brings tears to my eyes because it hurts to breath. I'm worried if I don't cough all this gunk up from my lungs I'll end up with pneumonia but it hurts so bad and the cough is so forceful it makes me throw up.

My parents water bill is going to a site for sore eyes because I'm just sitting in the bathroom running the shower to get some steam into my lungs because it's one of the only reliefs.  Did I mention I have three humidifiers going in my bedroom? Water is literally dripping off the walls but it's the only thing that helps!

The doctor prescribed me tamiflu... I talked to my OBGYN about it and he said there would be more risk to the baby by me NOT taking it... last year they did a study that showed a bad case of the flu (untreated) can cause autism. They contributed it to the high maternal fever that it causes. That's reassuring... I guess. :/

So it's Christmas Eve and I'm sitting here in quarantine while everyone else has a blast up at the cabin. Honestly, I'm not even sure why I'm writing this. Boredom? I'm really not asking for sympathy. I don't want you to feel bad for me because that would make me feel awkward lol. It sucks that I'm not going to be up there with my baby for Christmas to watch him open his presents... but I want to be a responsible "flu" owner by not passing it on to everyone else. Ya know? I would expect my friends and family to do the same for me.

I guess I'm writing this to let you know that if you have a cough, sore throat, ear ache, runny nose, chills, fever, body aches... don't go out in public!  Or around family and friends! I'm lucky that I have a healthy body to fight this off but the elderly, infants, and those with weakened immune systems... it hits them A LOT harder. If you get those symptoms go to the doctor... if you can get tamiflu within 48 hours from the start of your symptoms it can lessen the duration and severity of the flu.

In the end, I really don't feel too sorry for myself. I'm grateful that it's only the flu and that I'm healthy enough to fight it off and that I have such good family that's willing to take care of me and my kid while I recover. Hopefully the tamiflu starts kicking in and I can either go back up to the cabin Christmas night or the 26th morning. Though I won't be able to celebrate the more materialistic fun things of Christmas... I keep on reminding myself of the reason for the season. CHRISTmas. I'm grateful for him, that he died for our sins and because of him we can have eternal life with our families. Eternity--that's a whole lot of Christmases to celebrate with my family. :)


Xoxo Britney