The Whine thread.

[Emberchyld]

People showing up sick to work is the norm at my office... sadly, we're almost encouraged not to miss a day. Of course, that makes people like me (who is going through the "Year of Sinus Infections"-- I'm probably heading back to the otholaryngologist next week *sigh*) or my manager (who is allergic to the thought of allergy season) look bad as others avoid us like the plague every time we sniffle or cough, assuming that we came in sick!

Another whine: My tush hurts! At the end of my latest skating lesson, we were working on a new jump when I landed badly and fell backwards directly onto my rump. Nothing more than bruised bottom that we were able to work through, but now that I've cooled down I look like a little old lady when I walk. And moving between sitting and standing? *sniffle* At least the hockey dads had quite a WTF? moment when they looked in on freestyle and saw this one adult skater continuously grabbing or rubbing at her rear end for the last ten minutes or so (every now and again turning to her coach and pointing at said rear end...)

[WarpGirl]

And I would guess money's tight or you could hire somebody. Hmmm. How about a kid from the neighborhood? A ten year old would be more likely to accept five bucks or so, and they're short so they'd put things away within reach. You'd have to teach them the first time, but I'll bet it would work. Just a thought.

I just thought of something else. Catholic confirmation candidates require public service hours to meet their requirements where I'm from. These would be high school juniors. Got any Catholic teenagers in the neighborhood? You might get them to work for free.

And yeah, Aquarius, isn't being a public servant so much fun? At least I get to wear a mask during flu season and nobody looks at me funny. You could keep some at your station and put one on when a customer starts to cough.

Oh Dis I don't even have ten bucks to spare, all my SSI check is gone by the time I pay rent, morgage, house insurence. My parents take care of the rest so they don't have ten bucks either. And you only find Catholic children in the city 30 minutes away. Good thought though. I'd ask some kids from my congregation to help but they're all getting ready to go back to school and have jobs. So they're really busy and can barely have time to breath in their own lives. It is insane how much children have to deal with.

[Asso]

...I agree with the consensus, CX. Please go to the doctor.

Do it.

[Aikiweezie]

Distracted - I should have read your reply before I went to the Air & Water show yesterday! Me and 1 million others.

Actually I felt fine all day - until about 5:00 when my throat began to hurt so bad I was up all night. No coughing or sneezing or anything like that. No more fever. I touched no one.

Does anyone know if H1N1 can behave like this? My friiends and family have been passing this around since June. No kidding. We're all hoping this is it because then we'll be done with it.

[Distracted]

I've been seeing girls from the sororities here on campus test positive for type A flu (which since we're not in flu season I have to assume is novel H1N1 "Swine Flu") and all they have is a scratchy throat, low grade fever, and body aches. This is a generally mild, insanely contagious bug that can cause anything from mild cold symptoms without fever all the way to dead. Fortunately, dead is extremely unlikely unless you're pregnant or otherwise immunosuppressed. From a public health standpoint, anyone who feels bad ought to stay home if their temp is over 99 degrees in the previous 24 hours for any illness, but nobody does that. With this bug, since if it gets into the wrong person's system it can kill them, the CDC is recommending more stringent isolation than usual. We were told to isolate any confirmed type A flu cases for a week after symptom onset, even if the fever goes away sooner. For suspected cases in contacts who aren't confirmed by testing, the 24 hours without fever rule applies. We've been encouraging the girls who call in asking about getting tested NOT to come in, and just to stay home until their fever is gone. It's safer that way, since they have to come through campus, usually on foot, to come and see us, and if they happen to have a really mild case where their fever goes away in less than a week they'll actually be able to return to their activities sooner. We only encourage the ones who don't know of any definite exposure and are still running high fever to come in, mainly because we don't want to miss something else, and we always warn them about post-flu complications like pneumonia.

All that being said, Aikiweezie, the only way to tell if this is flu is to go get tested. If it is type A influenza, it's likely to be the Swine Flu strain if seasonal flu hasn't started yet in your area. In the southern US where I am, we never see seasonal flu before September.

[Aikiweezie]

OMG! Like I said we've been passing this around between friends and family since June. The last case I know of was my husband and he had it two weeks ago. My throat is beet red and really sore, too and my left tonsil is huge. Fever gone for over 24 hours now.

Maybe this IS H1N1.

I'm getting better - is there any reason beyond reporting reasons that I should get tested? My sister works for the Red Cross in the area - maybe I'll pick her brain.

I live in the Chicago area and we've had a lot of cases here over the summer. Interesting.

[Distracted]

With 103 fever and beet red tonsils it sounds more like strep to me. That needs antibiotics or you might get heart problems. I'd go see the doctor and see what he/she says.

[bluetiger]

I decided to chime in. My diabetes and blood pressure are always my early warning system. They have been all over the map for two weeks. My sore throat eased up this morning but I can't speak above a whisper and have that wracking cough that makes your ribs ache. My blood sugar is 168 and I haven't eaten in the last six hours so that concerns me. Anyway, crawling back to bed and wishing good luck to all the triaxian silk passengers in this boat with me.

[Alelou]

Hope you all feel better soon ... and also that none of you or your fellow sickies are on any of the planes I'm taking this week.

Also hope that tropical storms Ana, Bill and Claudette stay the hell away from the planes I'm taking this week.

[Asso]

Add my wishes, please.

[Aikiweezie]

I'm almost fine (just a scratchy throat) but now my son is sick. 103 fever, chills, etc. It's not strep - I just got home from the Dr.
She says it's a virus. And we had so much planned to do this week.

[WarpGirl]

OK all you Tech Gods or Goddesses I need help... Please, please, please help an ignorent girl find a dependable router that will not have any multiple personalites, and will work when I want it to. I don't know the brand of router I have now... It's a little stick of an antena. But it is making my life a nightmare. Please I am at my wits end. And if it could be under 100$ US that would be amazing. SOS...

[Distracted]

I'll bet Elessar would know if such a beast exists. Why don't you pm him?

[dark_rain]

I'm using a Linksys WRT54GL, it's rock solid and very dependable, but I couldn't say if it'd work with your setup. I think mine was pretty expensive, but there are some now on amazon for about $60.

http://www.linksysbycisco.com/US/en/products/WRT54GL

[WarpGirl]

Awe that was so sweet. Thank you. I have to do something, this thing is so finicky one minute I'll be doing just fine, then it quits and I have to wait a long time sometimes more then a week for it to connect to anything. The worst part is it isn't even broken just EVIL!