The Fever

Who has got The Fever? I've got The Fever! What fever may you ask? The yellow fever. Yes, the yellow fever. How did I get yellow fever you ask? It all started with a lovely visit to the International Travel Clinic last Thursday. About noon on Friday I felt like I got hit by a truck. My energy was just zapped. About an hour or so later my back started to ache. I wasn't worried since both of these, plus a low grade fever, are normal side effects to the vaccine and to be expected. My arm hurt at the injection site as well. All normal. I got home and HAD to lay down. There was no option to skip a nap and push through. I.had.to.sleep. I slept and slept and slept. Saturday I started to run a fever. First low and then not so low. Right about then I start remembering the International Travel Clinic nurse saying something about "if you get a fever over 102 you need to go to the emergency room and be treated for yellow fever. They have to treat you as if you have yellow fever until they can prove you don't." Was I listening very closely? Not really. Who really gets yellow fever from the live vaccine?? Well these words are racing through my mind as my fever spikes over 102. Surely I don't have yellow fever. What does someone do when they find themselves wondering what to do? Call their mom. Mom said go to the ER like the travel clinic said. Boo! I really don't need to go, right? Well I called the 1-800-dial-a-nurse thing on the back on your insurance card (per mom's advice) and they didn't know a lick of nothing about yellow fever. What did they say? Go to the ER. What did mom say? Go to the ER. What did the lovely husband say? ER. Travel nurse guy? ER. Hmmm. Things are stacking up. So off to the ER on a Saturday night. Got to the ER and wrote "yellow fever vaccine, high fever" on the card and the lady behind the counter grabbed a mask. I quickly let her know that it wasn't contagious. Then I went in the little triage thing to answer some questions and for them to take vitals. I was a little surprised by my REALLY high blood pressure and heart rate. I normally have pretty low blood pressure that normally goes lower when I am sick. When I say low, I mean low. Never ever seen my BP even close to that high. So they shuffled me out to the waiting room to wait. And wait. And wait. I ended up going home because I didn't want to lay on the bench in the waiting room any more. Was that the best idea? Maybe not. They didn't take one person back while we were there. There were people in the hall on stretchers. They took people to diagnostics and then wheeled them back to the waiting room. I figured I would rather be sick at home in my bed and would come back if it got worse. Yeah yeah yeah. Maybe not the best. So I slept most of Sunday too. After this kind of weekend what is the normal thing to do? Get up and go to work on Monday morning. The best idea I ever had I think. All I did was sit in a meeting. I am sure I looked pale and sickly. I then went to one of the lovely nurses who I work with to take my BP. Once again it was REALLY high. That would explain the ringing in my ears, feeling light headed and that my feet were kind of tingly. So I bounced out of work and went to the doctor. What did they say? "You have yellow fever." Haha. Really? I got yellow fever in KY. Funny. Maybe I should rock the bee keeper suit while I am in Africa. I may have been a little to quick to laugh at the hubby. So they took some blood to make sure my kidneys and liver are functioning appropriately and that my body is fighting off The Fever. I normally drag myself to work when I am sick. I push through almost anything. If I am not vomiting I am at work. Not this time. I will be at home. In bed. Sleeping. Resting. Being waited on. Doing NOTHING. Yellow fever can be mild for most people, like the flu, but some people (15% or so) can roll over into the toxic phase. This.phase.is.BAD. So I will be resting. And resting. And resting.