My F13 H1N1 … Ennoi in Anhui

My title looks like part of it is written in L337 5p34&{ ( elite speak), but trust me it makes sense (sorta).

So, I arrived at the hotel, soaked in a tub and got on line to check my huge back-log of e-mails. While sitting there I noticed that my throat was feeling a little raw. At first I had attributed that to the fact I had been sitting in a train compartment with two smokers for the past 10 hours, but when my head started to feel that familiar fever tingle I knew something more serious was up.

Let me back up a little bit so that you have the full picture.

I kinda look sick here too ...

From the time I was a little kid (basically as early as I can remember) until I was 12 years old, I would get a monthly run-in with the flu.  Monthly.  As in, at least 12 times a year.  And not just a little flu.  These suckers would be in the 103 – 105 temperature range.  It was soak-your-kid-in-a-tub-of-cold-water-and-ice season in my home.

It turned out that it was due to a problem with my tonsils and when I had them removed in the 4th grade, the problem went away.  However, the one thing that it taught me was to be extremely sensitive to the physical signs of fever.  I get a very specific type of sensation in my head when I have a fever.  I never get it any other time and I’ve never had a fever without having that head tingling.

Its like those years and years of having my my head cooked from the inside out on a monthly basis gave me super powers.

Well, one super power.

The super power to tell when I’m sick with the flu.

Basically a really lame Spidey Sense.

And so, when I felt it come on around midnight as I sat in front of my computer I knew it was time to rest.  I crawled in to bed, but it had already started to work.  This sucker was QUICK.  Within an hour or two I was already in the shivering and sweating stage of sickness.  It laid me OUT.

Over the next 24 hours I would wander in and out of consciousness, trying to get as much sleep as humanly possible.  Whenever I woke up I would drink a bunch of water and swallow some homeopathic flu medicine that I carry with me in my emergency travel pouch (I was born to travel).  I had some melatonin with me which helps promote sleep and I pretty much spent most of the next day in bed.

Ruhi on the other hand was scrambling around our home like a mad woman.  She had e-mails out, travel contingencies worked out, calls to so-and-so, and had even contacted a friend in the town of Hefei, which is about 100 miles south of Fuyang.  He called me to offer his help, but to be honest, I could barely focus on any conversations I was having on the phone.  I could barely keep my dreams and reality straight.

It was a little surreal.

Worst. Surgical. Mask. Ever.

I knew from taking an 15 second online multiple-choice test (which is obiviously MUCH better than seeing an actual doctor) that I probably had the dreaded H1N1 virus.  The other possiblity was that I might have this flu that kids in China get.  When foreigners come and stay in China for a while they end up catching it and it really does a number on them (Ruhi had it a few years back herself), but I had all of the H1N1 symptoms and I knew how contageous it was so I didn’t want to get anyone else sick.

Besides, China can be a bit paranoid.  You can’t go around telling people you have H1N1 unless you want a quick trip to a quaranteen bunker somewhere.

Well, okay.  I’m exaggerating. But I knew from my extensive experience with a variety of flu’s that this wasn’t the worst one I’ve ever had and that, as the day progressed, it was getting slowly better.  Had it not improved at all by the late afternoon I would have asked the hotel to send a doctor up.

Fortunately, that was not the case and by the time the evening rolled around and I was rolling out of bed, I was able to put on a few layers and head across the street to pick up some of those stylish Chinese surgical masks and a bunch of fruit to cleanse out my system.

By the time 24 hours had passed I was feeling much better, although still not nearly 100%.  More like 50%.  But I was down to around 20% earlier so that was an improvement.  I crashed again for the night waking up periodically.

I’ll be honest with you.  Most of Friday and Saturday is a blur to me.  I remember bits and pieces of it, but it is like a dream that you are trying to remember but can’t quite get back to.  I remember talking to the hotel staff about stuff on the phone.  I even remember going go buy the fruit and extending my hotel stay by another day.  But I can’t remember on which day I did which thing.

But either way, by Saturday night I was feeling almost human again.  Unfortunately since I had pretty much slept for most of the previous 48 hours I was not the least bit tired.  So I just stayed up and puttered around, doing a few things online, writing a blog or two, but mainly just trying to keep my sick self relatively immobile.

I'm keeping my hot side hot

I got a few more hours of sleep in the early morning hours, but couldn’t take on much more than that.  I’m going to listen to my body on this one.  When it is tired, I’m going to sleep.  When it wants to move around, I will move around.  When it wants a McDLT I’m going to hop in my flying Delorean and see if I can find the beef.

In the land of the sick, the body is king, and I am its humble servant.

But aside from this battling with the flu, my first time in Anhui has been rather boring.  You don’t get much of a sense of things sitting in a hotel room all day long.  I can’t really be online for toooo long or else my head gets a case o’ the vapors.  So I putter around my room, read a book or two, meditate a bit, study my chinese flash cards, write up plans in my plan-writing notebook, set some wushu videos to upload, and maybe watch some Daily Show when I feel like it.

Due to the snow issues and travel problems I had to figure out a different way to get home.  With Ruhi’s suggestion, I booked a ticket out of Hefei to Xi’an for Monday evening.  I’m going to stay in Fuyang until Monday morning when I will catch a 3 hour train (hard seat, I’m afraid, but I can deal with that for 3 hours) and then pick up my ticket in downtown Hefei.  Then after a 2 hour flight I’m home-sweet-home again.  Yay!

But the real question is, will things actually work out the way they are planned?  So far planning has been the best way to make sure that I have no idea what is going to happen, so there is a good chance weird things might happen again.  You will just have to stay tuned to find out…

One thing is for sure though … This is one Friday the 13th I will not soon forget.

Except … y’know … for the parts I can’t remember ….