Swine Flu is Dangerous!

[NaomiJameston]

I've read so many stories all over the Internet and newspapers, and heard so many people on the streets saying that H1N1 (hereafter refered to as Swine Flu) is all medica hype or just as bad as the regular flu. While this may be true for most people, I want people to know that it's still very dangerous for some. My husband, for example. He is a very healthy and strong 27-year-old with no major health issues or stress problems. He likes his job, he likes his apartment (though he is saving for a house), and he loves his new wife of two months. Life is wonderful for him, but then he got sick.

This is our story:

My husband had swine flu the week of Oct. 4th. He was slightly feverish and achy and tired, the usual hard cold/light flu symptoms. He stayed home for a day or two and over the weekend, but was otherwise fine. His fever broke that Saturday, Oct. 10th and he was obviously recovering by the 11th. But then he started to get worse.

On Monday, we went out to dinner with his parents, and he was so tired he nearly fell asleep in his food! We left the restaurant early to make sure he made it home all right. He did, and we went to bed.

The next morning, all was not well. His alarm had been going off for nearly 30 minutes (or at least long enough for me to notice it, and Nick is very good about turning it off quickly so I can sleep) but he was still fast asleep. I knew he wanted to go to work since he had missed two days the previous week, so I tried to wake him.

But he wouldn't wake up. He stayed asleep and panting (yes, panting like a dog in summer) until I slapped him across the face. I'm violent and don't have a lot of patience when my sleep has been interrupted, so I admit this didn't take long. Maybe 20 minutes.

When Nick opened his eyes, they were bloodshot and there were deep circles under them. He had obviously not slept well, but I know he had been asleep the whole night! He was also still panting and had spiked a fever again. I thought to myself "screw work, we're going to the doctor" and spent the next hour or so getting him dressed and out the door.

He was so woozy that he couldn't stand straight and kept trying to sleep. He also babbled about unusual things, like car pads and the Dominion War. Something was very wrong.

I got him to my doctor, struggled for ten minutes to get him inside, and went to check him in. But they wouldn't see him. "We don't have the equipment necessary. You'll have to go to Urgent Care or the ER." Thanks. Could you call an ambulance? Nope? Help me get him in the car, then? Not that either? Well, thanks anyway. Jerks.

I dragged him back out and drove to Urgent Care, got him inside again, and as I approached the counter, the receptionist said "don't even bother, ma'am. The doctor's already coming." They pulled Nick into the exam rooms, where they gave him oxygen, a chest x-ray, and an anti-nasuea med after he emptied his stomach on the floor.

They then called him an ambulance and told me he was going to ER. The x-ray showed that his lungs were almost completely filled with fluid and they were astonished he hadn't passed out on me. I couldn't ride with him in the back since he was so unstable that they had four paramedics with him, so I drove behind him in tears.

In the ER, he looked better, but they still decided to admit him to ICU just in case. They also did the swab test to check for Swine Flu, though they were pretty sure he had it. So he was moved up several floors and told he would be there at least overnight, if not a bit longer.

That was more than three weeks ago. Since the 13th of October, I watched my husband nearly die from suffocation when his lungs firmed up too much for any human to move them, watched several surgeries to give him a dialysis catheter when his kidneys failed, and held his hand while he was in a coma and as I prepared to say my final goodbyes.

Today is November 8, and my husband is learning to walk again. He can speak, but only in whispers around his tracheotomy. His kidneys are starting to function again. And his smile has never dimmed. He is coming home, but as a much weaker man.

His swab test came back negative at first, but after another test and two weeks to look at the gentic material of the virus, it was confirmed that he had Swine Flu, not just pneumonia.

Please, ladies, PLEASE keep an eye on your loved ones if they get sick. It's not the Swine Flu that will hurt them, it's the secondary infection that comes in afterward.