The Challenge of Being a Teacher Today or My Experience with Swine Flu/H1N1

I don't know if being in an air conditioned classroom is part of the problem or the solution, or if it has anything to do with it, but I hadn't been so sick so fast in a long time. On Thursday, while at school, I got a stomach ache, then a mild fever and a sore throat. Then I survived the day and went home. I used a generic throat spray to alleviate the pain and went to sleep. At about 4 in the morning I woke up to the sound of my lungs, falling and rising like an accordion. Oops. This is not right. I got up, did the best I could to find some comfort, request a sub, write some simple lesson plans and then went back to bed. By mid morning, I was restless, fatigued, and knew if I didn't take steps to get to a doctor right away, I would not make it. So I drove to a Centra Care not more than a mile away from my house. Good thing I did, I had bronchitis complicated with asthma. This little bug going around school, not the H1N1*, I don't think it was, but just as deadly. I required a steroid shot (Prednisone), which I debated taking, and it also required an oxygen treatment. Though I don't like to fuss about me, I am grateful they did. Perhaps, I am able to write about this today, because they did. I don't know if being in an air conditioned classroom had anything to do with it or not, but I hadn't been so sick, so fast in a long time.

* I am pretty sure now that what I had was the H1N1 or Swine Flu, since a student in my class got sick around the same time and he had the same symptoms and he was tested and it turned out to be Swine Flu. My little illness didn't end there. A week later I was diagnosed with Pneumonia. So see a doctor immediately if you get any flu like symptoms. This is no laughing matter.