The Chicken Wing Bird Flu

The end of winter has left us in pretty bad shape, healthwise, at home.

A few weeks ago, Marcos started coughing a little bit. I noticed a few days after that Kristi was coughing a little bit too. 2 weeks ago, I woke up one morning feeling tired and sore. As the morning rolled on, I could tell that I had a fever and the pain all over my body was becoming worse. This was on a day where I had left K with my car, since her van was in the shop for maintenance work. My brother had given me a ride. So, by noon, K had the kids piled into my car and picked me up. I spent the afternoon and night in horrible pain and sweating out the fever.

Next morning, the fever was gone and the coughing started. My body was really sore and any piece of food I would eat would make me feel sick. I spent the rest of the week like this and by Saturday, under control with some Robitussin, I even when on a Mountain Bike ride with my friends.

I rode about 25 miles on the most beautiful day. I could tell that my lung capacity was diminished and I didn't have as much energy, but I just reduced my pace and really concentrated on my technical climbing. I felt very accomplished in what I was able to do, while not feeling so great. It made me feel that I am truly achieving my fitness goals as well as my technical improvement goals as related to this wonderful sport.

On my way home, I talked to K on the phone and get the news. She was in terrible pain, with fever, etc. Oh no!! The worst part is that, being pregnant, she won't risk taking any kind of medicine. I hate having her suffer through what I know is incredibly horrible. She got very congested and could not breathe, which meant she could not sleep. On top of this, she still has "morning sickness". A perfect storm...

By Monday morning, K is asking me to take her to the clinic and also get myself checked there, since I was still coughing a ton. This is a woman that WILL NOT see a doctor for anything. I've seen her visit a Dr for herself maybe 3 times in 8 years. So, you know things were bad. We go to the clinic and wait until they open. We get checked. The verdict: K has sinus infection, so she gets antibiotics.I have bronchitis, so I get an inhaler, steroids and cough medicine. By the time we get home from the pharmacy across the street from the clinic, my fever is back.

My medicine has helped me a lot. As long as I'm between dosage, I'm not coughing and feel fine. Kristi has been miserable. She can't breathe, the antibiotics seem to not be strong enough for the infection. I finally convinced her (after much, much research by both of us) to take some Sudafed (which did nothing, so she didn't take again) and some nasal spray decongestant. This seemed to work to let her breathe enough to sleep some. The next order of business was to get her some nutrition. Her body is growing a baby, so she needs extra food to supply for that and also to supply for her own energy. This was hard, since the thought of food would trigger the sickness. Plus, the cold/sinusitis/whatever you call this (chicken-wing bird flu?) just takes your appetite away and messes with your tummy. I've lost 10 pounds in as many days!

Through the magic of some Steak n' Shake milkshakes and some Wendy's baked potatoes, K has had some nutrition and the energy has helped her feel like at least she won't die or at the minimum, we won't have to go running to the hospital for IV's and whatever crazy stuff the people there might deem "necessary".

I've still tried to ride my bike because I feel that the exercise helps clear the lungs and the endorphins give some boost. Even though I've kept a slower pace and the few times I've pushed, I immediately can tell that my lungs are not up to par, I feel unusually strong. Maybe this being forced to slow things down a little bit is helping me as well. Anyway, I enjoy riding no matter what, so I'll take whatever I can get right now, especially between the periods of extended rain we seem to be getting lately.

So, what has the rest of the week brought us? Well, Marcos has still been coughing, but less and less, except he started coughing hard again yesterday and had some fever. Lula has also started coughing, the last remaining bastion of health. She also had some fever and tummy aches. They both were feeling miserable this morning, but Marcos seems to be doing OK tonight and Lula seems better. For all I know, tomorrow they will be in perfect health (and two days later be back coughing and with fever). This is the craziest "sickness" we've seen. We were supposed to go to Florida this weekend, but there's no way we could make the trip in this condition. Even worse, we would not want anyone else to be exposed to this. As bad as I've felt at times, I feel just as terrible seeing my family in pain and not being able to do anything about it.

The more I talk to people, the more I know of others with the same or similar symptoms, so this might hold no special meaning or interest to you. I guess I'm just reporting on my family as I tend to do on this blog for those that care to know a little more about the comings and goings of my mind. Still, as far as this household is concerned, we've never experience something like this that has affected all of us so strongly, coming and going like this for weeks. We hope you and your family are spared.

We look brightly into spring at least knowing that, once we are out of the woods, our immune system will be stronger and hopefully we will enjoy a great spring and summer, getting to know the growing baby inside K as it develops and gets ready to meet us in September.

I think my immune system got weak because I ran out of the Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee. I should have ordered more ahead of time. I learned my lesson and have now replenished my stockpile. For the health of the household and the nation, I will be better prepared.

More on Spring soon...