No, seriously. A stupid virus took me down a couple of days ago, somewhat out of the blue, and my defence was clearly not prepared. Let me take you through the disease history.
On Tuesday afternoon, I joined my Prof in the Lupus Clinic and had a pretty good time. Towards the end, however, I was feeling a bit chilly around the throat, the typical feeling I get when a cold was approaching. I was like, "Aww, no, not again!" But I pulled a jacket over myself and went home to get a hot cup of tea, a homeopathic measure that usually helps in cases of the like.
Except this time, it didn't help much.
By 10 pm that night, I felt pretty worn out and the throat thing was getting worse. So I sent my parents a good night message early and went to bed, already thinking that I probably won't make it to work the next day. Within that same night, a headache worse than any headache I'd ever had in my life became my prime issue. Please note that I don't usually get headaches, and when I do, I can endure them pretty well. I'm quite a tough girl when it comes to pain in my head, and I pretty much never take any medication against them. But the headaches this time nearly killed me, and I seriously considered taking some Ibuprofen. (It's just that I didn't have any when it was the worst, and by the time anyone could help me buy some pills, the headache was not strong enough for me to take painkillers anymore.)
Either way, I struggled through that first night while not even being able to lie down because the elevated pressure was just too much for my head. When I woke up (and assumed it was) the next day (not sure to be honest, because the headache was too crazy), I was beginning to worry if I had not contracted a meningitis. I mean, severe headache with (possible) fever (again, not sure coz I didn't have a thermometer and the thermosensors in my hands were not quite accurate because I felt cold one minute and hot the next), coupled with mild flu-like symptoms but no significant sore throat and/or a running nose? What else could it be?
So I tried one of the meningism exams where I try to put my chin on my chest and see if it hurts. No pain. I tried to recall any incident where I could possibly catch some meningitis-causing bacteria. Well, I did go to the hospital every day. But rheuma patients aren't exactly the cohort of bacteria spreaders. Then again, I did have contact with some other virus-ridden ill people the days before... So my bet was on a viral meningitis, if it was a meningitis at all.
Epidemiologically seen, most viral meningitis are caused by viruses that can't be eliminated by any medication. The only thing to do in those cases is to support your body in finishing the virus off, by resting and resting and maybe having some vitamins, and maybe, just maybe, having some painkillers if the pain is too much. I was doing exactly that. Of course, I couldn't be 100 % sure that it wasn't something bacterial, or a virus one could do something about (in the case of Herpes simplex), so I had to keep observing the disease progression. For the next 24 hours or so, I kept drifting in and out of consciousness, my phone never far away in case I needed to dial "000". I could never keep being awake for too long as the headache would just take over, always only enough time to drink something, to go to the toilet, or at the later stages cut me some watermelon for vitamin C.
Every moment I could think, I remember chanting in my head, "Go T-cells, go. Do your job!" Which is extremely nerdy, lol. I was determined if I didn't improve on Thursday, I would go to a hospital. But luckily, I did. The headaches, while still being pretty bad, were getting slightly better, and I could actually walk around for half an hour before the pain took over again. That was around the time when I finally had the strength to make some food and brief my parents about what was going on. Unsurprisingly, mom immediately scolded me about not taking any meds. Well, I needed to observe the disease progression, didn't I, and how can I do that if I mask the very informative headaches with some painkillers? Anyway, mom informed my aunties, and I received some more calls and some more scolding. 🙊
Now it's Friday, the New Year's Eve of the Lunar New Year, and I am actually so well that I can write this lengthy story. So there you go. I still don't feel like stressing my body to go out yet, so I'm just sitting home while there's probably some big party going on in the city. But my condition is improving every hour, and I'm pretty sure tomorrow I can do some research work again.
I remember the last time I was really sick (bad sinusitis), I was whining to mom and asked her to come visit and cook for me. This time I was too sick to even whine to her. Even though I do wish to have my mom in vicinity during sickness, I know I can survive on my own. I think that's pretty important. It's good to receive help when possible, but you should never entirely rely on other people. Sounds a little bitter with life though, doesn't it?
Anway, another thing is that mom and I always argue when I get sick. I mean, I get that from a carer's point of view, you just want to do anything to see the sick person suffer less, and that might include seeing a doctor in any case, or pumping into them heaps of paracetamol. But it's also just natural for med-educated people to think, "Well, if I go see a doctor, they'll just check this and that (stuff I can do by myself), and most likely they'll just tell me to get home and rest and prescribe some painkillers (also stuff I can do by myself)." Ask any other med student or physician, and you'll now what I mean.
(Also, to be quite honest, I was dreading a possible spinal tap... 🙈)
So, are we not the worst patients in the world, or what? :P
(It's the year of the Rooster this year, that's my zodiac sign! Could only mean good things now, right? Not that I'm superstitious or anything. Anyway, happy lunar new year!)
