Once...
I was in a terrible way. It would seem that the Ebola and Aids viruses had mated and their bastard love child was making extortionate demands on my immune system. I was sweating profusely while simultaneously feeling as though I was being blasted with air from the arctic tundra. I was hot and cold with little solace from my thick duvet or a cold shower. As the day drew to a close on the first day of my personal hell I slide further into the abyss of despair. There seemed no end in sight and death seemed like a realistic option. This was only day one and it was that bad already.

I completely lost track of time. I slid into a cycle of paranoia that was only broken by brief hallucinations. I recall stumbling around my flat in an aimless state trying to maintain sanity by performing the most mundane tasks. I made vague attempts at making my bed, washing the dishes and changing my clothes, but it was so difficult - I had no strength.

My phone would ring, but to me it sounded like the most foreign noise in the world. I remember picking it up and just staring at it for ages as it bleeped at me. Nothing seemed to make sense anymore. Things were really bad now. Luckily my lack of contact with the outside world was finally noticed and my friend Dave came round to see why I wasn't answering his calls. What he found truly shocked him. He said he's never seen someone looking so close to death. My face was white and gaunt. I could barely walk unassisted and I had lost a lot of weight. The acrid smell of sweat and other bodily fluids hung in the air with weighty presence.

I was rushed to see a doctor and had the only lucid moment I had had in days. It was the moment the Doctor saw my face. This was a man who had seen death a thousand times and yet when he looked at me there was a genuine look of terror in his eyes. It felt like the Doctor had opened the door to my imminent death and all I needed to do was step through. I sat there like a vegetable as the incoherent mumblings of Dave and the doctor resonated around the room.

The recovery from my illness was slow and painful, but with the support of my friends I was fit again in a few weeks.It wasn't something I would wish on even my worst enemies. The memory of that fateful time will live with me forever. I smelt death and it wasn't a pleasant smell. Not unlike sick mixed with dirty washing and sweat is how I think Dave so eloquently described it.

So anyway, that is how I had a narrow escape from death. Man Flu. It's a killer, but I survived....just....
(The Archduke of South London I'm in your Girlfriend eating her organs, Tue 24 Aug 2010, 18:10, 1 reply)

Man Flu.... oh the horror!!!!

Women are so lucky the only get the weaker 'Woman Flu' strand. They know not our pain.....
(Roddimus_Prime Should be revising, Wed 25 Aug 2010, 8:36, closed)