(HOST) What surprised commentator Deborah Luskin about the H1N1 virus was not how sick it made her, but how fast it spread. Here’s her tail about surviving swine flu.
(LUSKIN) I gave my husband the swine flu. I don’t know who gave it to me. I could have caught it from my students or from my kids and their friends. Or I could have caught it at the grocery store, the gas pump or the Post Office. I’ll never know.
I’ll also never know who else I may have infected. At first, I didn’t even know I was sick. One of our kids had been home from college with friends over the weekend. They helped us slaughter chickens, fence the orchard and pick apples. Come Monday, I thought I was just tired. Then I started to cough.
Tuesday, I taught two classes. I avoided shaking hands, was careful to cough into my elbow, and kept my distance. But it was probably already too late. According to the CDC, people infected with either the seasonal flu or the H1N1 virus can infect others before having symptoms, so without realizing it, I was probably already infectious.
By the time I returned home Tuesday night, I felt it. I pulled on my expedition weight long underwear, a fleece hat, wool socks, climbed into bed, and shivered.
"You might have H1N1," my physician husband said with clinical interest. I certainly didn’t have the ordinary, seasonal, flu, because I’d been vaccinated against it ever since my last bout, fifteen years ago.
That was back in 1995, when I had three young children and was too sick to take care of them. Once I recovered I vowed, "Never again," and I’ve been lining up for a seasonal flu shot ever since.
This year was no different, except for the threat of swine flu. Frankly, from all I read, I was more concerned for my children’s sake than my own. Healthy, middle aged people were not considered high risk.
I don’t remember much of Wednesday or Thursday, except for the cat purring by my pillow. By Friday, my fever was gone, but my husband had started to cough.
Meanwhile, my eldest child was home, packing for a three-month trip to Rwanda. I didn’t want to add to this global pandemic so I stayed in my room. There wasn’t much else I could do.
There’s not much any of us can do. I’m a diligent hand-washer. I’ve taught myself to cough into my sleeve. Rude as it may seem, I no longer shake hands. Even with these precautions, I lost three days of work, and I infected my family. I probably infected others, just as someone else infected me. What’s remarkable about the H1N1 virus is how effectively it spreads. Prevention is certainly the best medicine, and the only sure way to avoid swine flu is to have the vaccine.
I would have if I could have, but the illness caught me first. Now, having weathered H1N1, I should be immune.