Can I Get an Oink Oink...

Having spent much of the last 48 hours curled up in my bed sleeping, I'm now fairly wide awake and feeling distinctly more human, and so I decided it's about time to share some of my thoughts on my illness. Aches, chills, fever, shortness of breath... I finally went to the doctor today (after being turned away from my 8 hour Marine Corps Planning Process test), and received the joyful diagnosis of a "probable" case of H1N1. I must have looked stunned because the doctor quickly moved to reassure me that there have been a large number of cases in the NoVa area, and most have been mild, and characterized by the respiratory problems I was experiencing, but that Quantico Health Clinic isn't doing the testing to confirm cases unless hospitalization was required.
So, with my likely case of swine flu, I headed home for a mandatory 48 hour bed rest and feeling like I'd stepped into the media frenzy about the illness. Indeed, two different news stories about H1N1 filled the 30 minutes I spent waiting in the pharmacy for the variety of "comfort" medicines prescribed - but no anti-viral flu medicine, again, because I was not a severe case. I particularly identified with one of the stories, which spoke of people who had mild cases and afterwards felt a sense of relief at having been spared the possibility of a future severe case. Have the last few days been painful? Yes. Am I grateful that this likely eliminates the possibility of a hospitalization? A thousand times yes. However, once again, I'm reminded that I'm left with the "probable" which will not be enough to get me out of pondering whether to have the vaccination or not (or more accurately to wonder whether the military will decide that I need it.)
I'm sitting in my apartment, effectively on quarantine, and have been amazed by the large response to my status on Facebook. H1N1/Swine flu is a very hot topic. And I'm forced to see it from a different perspective right now. I've been fairly dismissive of the media coverage of it, because I have seen it as a vastly overblown response. However, the immediacy of my situation did give me pause to reconsider. Not out of concern for myself, but out of concern for those I've come into contact with in the past few days. Fortuitously, we had most of Monday and Tuesday off in order to study for our test, so my exposure to others has been minimal. However, I went into class today, prepared to spend 8 hours crammed in a room with all the other EWS students and faculty. Our culture, and especially the military culture, regards illness as a weakness to be overcome. We are expected to soldier through illness and not allow it to affect our productivity. This new strain of flu is causing us to question that. Indeed, the EWS director's guidance is to send anyone home if they have flu symptoms.
I felt like I was weak when my instructor told me to leave and I could take the test a different day, but the doctor made me realize that it wouldn't have been in my best interest, or the best interest of everyone else, for me to stay. What a completely different response than what I'm used to. I can remember chasing attendance awards for school, and striving not to take any sick days while a cadet. I don't know what the answer is, but I do think this latest health concern is an opportunity for us to look at our perception towards sickness. It looks a lot different when you consider the big picture.
So, if you're starting to feel sick, and you have sick days available to take, I'd just ask everyone to consider why you have those days. Will you lose a day or two of work? Probably, but think how many days will be lost if you make 1 or 2 other people sick...
Okay, time to stop the medicated ramblings and get back to bed. I'm sick, after all. Sleep and hydration are #1 and #2 on my list of things to do.