Virus Attack!

~ beetleypete

No, not a computer virus.

Well, they finally wore me down.

For two weeks, Julie has had a bad cold, and persistent cough. Despite having a flu vaccination, no doubt her job at the Doctor’s exposes her to many people with their fair share of infections to pass around. Then there is our grandson. Just started at school last September, he seems to have a permanent wheezy cough, runny nose, and occasional high temperatures.

Last weekend, he came to stay for two nights. Naturally, he had a bad cough and cold, and so did Julie, at the same time. Whatever he passed on made her even worse, but I skillfully managed to avoid too much close contact, and thought I had escaped.

Pleased with my good fortune, I continued my usual routine. Shopping, walking Ollie, everyday tasks, and finally getting to the Post Office in town. Then yesterday, I woke up with my eyes watering, and a heavy sensation in my head. I felt colder than usual, and once up and about, I was soon sneezing constantly and powerfully too. In the back of my mind, I told myself ‘You’ve got it’. But I clung on to the hope that it would pass. It didn’t, of course.

By late afternoon, my nose was streaming, competing with my eyes. A dry throat that could not be assuaged by copious amounts of fluids, then sniffles, snuffles, and the start of an annoying cough. Not long after, my eyes started to heat up, as if tiny people were lighting fires behind them inside my skull. Some Paracetamol kept the headache at bay, but the familiar symptoms continued to combine. By dinnertime, I felt like I had been run over by a bus, and had little or no enthusiasm to eat, just shovelling it down in the hope of warming my chilled body.

I was considering going to bed very early, but managed to hang on until 10:30 pm, before collapsing into the welcome softness of my bed, and the oblivion of sleep. Of course, it’s just a cold. Even though I get them rarely, I know enough to realise that it is nothing to go on about like this.

But I’m a man, and any lady might tell you, it is always much worse for us.

57 thoughts on “Virus Attack!”

    1. Thanks very much, Michele. It actually got a lot worse after this post, with a high temperature and fever. But that has gone now, so I just need to unblock my head, and I will be on the way to recovery. 🙂
      Best wishes, Pete.

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    1. Sorry to say I am a lot worse, Kim. I have been in bed since 3 pm, after taking Ollie for a walk. I am supposed to be attending a family funeral on Friday, but I very much doubt I will make it. The prospect of a 3-hour drive in awful weather, feeling like this? Maybe not…
      Best wishes, Pete.

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    1. Undeniably! 🙂 That said, I have actually got a lot worse since this post, and now have real ‘Flu. Something akin to delivering a nine-pounder, I’m sure. 🙂
      Best wishes, Pete.

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  6. Hope it soon passes Pete. OH passed the bug on to me when he came back from Shropshire last month. I held out for several days before succumbing to a sore throat which turned into a horrid head cold and chesty cough. Felt terrible for over a week, but on the mend now, though I still have coughing fits! Couldn’t have come at a worse time as we had to go back to Shropshire and sort out his mother’s house and funeral. I am very glad to be home I can tell you, though the weather leaves much to be desired 😦 (wet and windy). Covonia Mucus cough mixture works well as do Boots Headache and Blocked Nose tablets (only 99p) Helped me get some sleep anyway.

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    1. Thanks, Jude. Corvonia is a regular buy here if I get a cough. At the moment the main problem is streaming eyes. I have to keep wiping them to be able to see, and they are now very sore. At least I have been able to get to sleep. 🙂
      Best wishes, Pete. x

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  8. Sorry to hear Pete! I must have missed this one and only saw that Ollie was on the mend. It never seems like ‘just a cold’ when you’re in the middle of of those nasty symptoms. Hope you all are feeling much better soon!

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  9. Me too. Caught it off my daughter’s twins (one of them, anyway) in spite of squirting that First Defence stuff up my nose several times a day (well, sometimes it works). Now My husband has it, two weeks after coming out of Papworth after a triple bypass. He wouldn’t use the squirter because he doesn’t like the taste. ‘I won’t get it,’ he said confidently. I make it a rule never to say ‘I told you so’ but he does try my resolve at times.

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    1. Not the best time for your husband to get that of course. Hopefully he will shake it off.
      Children are such ‘carriers’. I call our grandson ‘Infecto Boy’. I wanted to get him a T-shirt with that on it, but my wife said he might not understand. (I knew he wouldn’t. 🙂 )
      Best wishes, Pete.

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  12. I think the cold viruses are worse now than they used to be. If I get a cold, it flattens me whereas, in the past, I could still function and go to work. Now I have to work from home and feel rotten the whole time. Get better soon, Pete.

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  16. Now all you can do is medicate to keep the symptoms at bay as much as possible and let it run its nasty course, Pete…try to put on a few good movies that have piled up on your shelf and get SOMETHING good out of it!

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      1. Pete,it was his first time nominated, and they inducted three people/groups with far fewer fans votes…it’s a weird, shall we say “corrupt” group, but they will nominate him again over the next two years and he’ll get in on one of them – he had almost 400,000 fan votes!

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    1. Thanks, Mary. I do eat a fair bit of garlic. (And onions) To be honest, I get far fewer colds than I ever did in London. I think the dog-walking has made me more resistant. This time, I was overwhelmed by the ‘infected’ around me. 🙂
      Best wishes, Pete.

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  20. My recent cold lasted a week and I used it as an excuse not to have the flu jab. I had read about possible side effects of the over 65’s jab and didn’t want to risk them. Then hubby went for his jab and seemed to suffer no ill effects. Was I being a wimp? I trotted off to the surgery and asked about an appointment. They couldn’t fit me in until after Christmas. As all our socialising is pre-Christmas I didn’t want to wait. By then I would have believed it was too late. So I went to the pharmacy in the chemist’s shop and asked if it was still free, there? “Yes” said the pharmacist, ” Would you like it , now?” I had to say yes, didn’t I? So I had my jab, had a sore arm for a few hours and felt very pleased with myself – so pleased that I treated myself to a new lipstick. Silly, or what?
    Now to find out if it works.(the jab, not the lipstick!)

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    1. I have always declined the flu jab, Julie. When it first became popular, they gave it to my Mum, and she ended up in Intensive Care over that Christmas. I know such bad reactions are rare, but I am not going to chance it. My wife had to have one because of her job, but she has been ill for almost three weeks anyway. 🙂
      Best wishes, Pete.

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