Friday, April 20, 2007

Type A Influenza

I don't get it. I floss. How many people actually floss? I eat vegetables, I drink a vegetable juice for breakfast every morning, I eat fruit and salads, and I shower regularly. I was my hands often and don't do very bad things to my body. Why do I have Type A Influenza? I wish I had an answer, but this happens all the time. Though it's been years since I've gotten the actual flu, why did it have to find me NOW. One more week of school is left, all my finals and papers are due this week except I was instructed by the doctor (which I'll get to in a minute) that I have to wait a week to go back to school.

I woke up this morning with 102 degree temperature. Yesterday the temperature was almost completely gone but today, for some reason, it was super strong. I was light headed, not hungry, and my whole body hurt. I wasn't upset, I was just kind of annoyed. My host mom insisted that I go to the doctor. I agreed and we went. First I get there and they make me wear a mask, I could understand this, they don't want me to get everyone sick incase I have flu. They take my temperature, and I just lay on a bed for a while. They tell me to go into the doctors office and we talk. He asked me questions in broken english and I responded in broken Japanese. My host mom could hear this in the waiting room and told me that everyone was laughing. Oh well, I tried.

He lay me down on another table and said " Influenza Examination. close your eyes and squeeze this tissue." I watched him pull out the worlds longest q-tip and I wished I had closed my eyes before I saw it because I knew it was going in my face. He put it up my nose. I felt it go into my nose but it just kept going deeper and deeper to the point where my eyes were watering and I could feel the q-tip cleaning off the back of my skull. I checked for chuncks of brain when he pulled it out but my eyes were watering so bad that I couldn't see. The tested it and it came back as "Type A Influenza" and he told me I couldn't go to school for a week and that I'd be feeling better by monday of next week, not the monday coming up...the following one. Oh well, I've had worse things happen in my life, although sometimes I wonder if this is actually worse than the time I vomited on my grandma's bed from jumping on it and eating popcorn at the same time when I was 6.

4 comments:

Dad said...

When little kids get sick their parents always say " It must be the excitement!" Just do what the Dr. says and take it easy. Now is the time for you to relax and get better.You have a big birthday coming up. I had the flu a few years ago and didn't take care and got much sicker. You'll be fine if you just rest and enjoy your time in Japan... even as a sick kid. I hope you feel better soon. Do they have chicken soup? Do you want me to send some? I could Fedex it.

maroney said...

Hope you're feeling better really quick, Mike!!

Unknown said...

This is just another great japan experience to tell about. Moseley said they gave you more medicine then any American doc would have which suprises me. I figured they would have give you all the holistic stuff you like (and we know how Moseley feels about that).

kate said...

reading about you puking on grandma's bed made me laugh out loud. not as much as remembering you barfing oatmeal at the dentist and then you bawling because you were so embarassed. it's ok though, one time at passover at betty epstein's i ate so much noodle kugel that i threw up in the volvo on the way home.