Up Close and Personal with H1N1

There’s been a lot of hype over the Swine Flu lately (also known as H1N1) and I knew I would eventually get the vaccination.

How bizarre it was just a few weeks ago when the majority of the news outlets would interview Joe Schmo and Plain Jane on the street that almost everyone intereviewed said they were not going to get vaccinated.

Fast forward four or five days later when the flu clinics opened their doors and droves of people were lining up in the middle of the night to get their H1N1 flu shot in Toronto.

The first thing I thought of is what did I miss? Was there some apocalyptic event that happened while I was sleeping?

After hearing of a local 13 year old boy who died within 48 hours of contracting the virus, I still didn’t become hysterical with the masses.  I’m in the burbs so decided to wait until Peel Region opened their doors. There’s a clinic quite close to me so when they opened at 9:30 a.m. that Monday morning a few weeks ago, I casually drove up around 9:15 a.m. and within a few seconds, just drove off as I saw people going hog wild in line.

I’m not panicking … I thought I would try again later that day around 4:30 p.m. when I thought most parents are now home with their kids and any babies would be napping.

Great … I get there the same day and the line up has definitely shrunk. When I get to the end of the line, a police officer sends me back packing as I had missed the cut-off by 1 or 2 people.

Peel Region finally gets their act together and puts up the wait times on their web site so I decide to watch that instead of wasting time and gas on trying to get to the clinic.

I finally get to a clinic last Thursday and was in and out within an hour.

My neighbour and her husband that went to the International Centre a few hours earlier called and said there were no line ups there. They were leaving for Florida for 6 months the next day, so there was some urgency for them to get their flu shot. I never did find out if she also got sick …

When I get home, I call her to let her know that I got vaccinated. She wasn’t feeling well and said she was going to call it a night and go to bed early.

A few hours later, I’m not feeling well either. Again, I didn’t want to be hysterical and think that I was having a reaction to the vaccine. By Satuday, almost 48 hours after getting the vaccine, I’m really sick.

I’m trying everything in my medicine cupboard to help with the various symptoms: the worst of them being a really dry cough and a chest that felt like it was on fire. Nothing is relieving any of the symptoms.

By Monday, I’m still quite sick and decide to call Telehealth Ontario to speak with a nurse (free access to a registered nurse 24 hours a day!). She tells me to get to a doctor within 3 or 4 hours as it’s likely the Swine Flu. I knew the vaccine would take approximately 2 weeks to become effective so my guess is that someone at the flu clinic already had symptoms and was infecting everyone … how nice of them!

I call my doctor and decide that it’s probably not a good idea to go into a waiting room full of  people and children with every orifice of my body leaking some kind of fluid … and although some jerk did that to me and others at the flu clinic, I was not going to reciprocate and do unto others …

I’m not a religious person, but I can’t help but think that I must have done some really bad things in a previous life and really hope that this life I’m living on earth today will redeem my soul for future lives.

How much more am I expected to endure …

Oh, I’ve got such a mad crush on my surgeon, Dr. Ewan … but that’s another story.

[The photo is of the real Ewan McGregor -- lucky me that my surgeon has the same twinkle in his eye. The photo was taken at a charity event called "Not Another Burns Night" in London, UK, which has some meaning that I dare not divulge]. Check out a pretty good photo gallery of the actor at WireImage.

I had my final follow-up with him on Friday the 24th and he discharged me from daily nursing. Hallelujah It’s been 2.5 months and it was such a great feeling and rush to know I don’t have to deal with the daily drama also known as nursing homecare.

All is not lost though. Dr. Ewan told me that he’ll be my doctor for the next few years … I think I said woohoo out loud

The next day I woke up feeling fabulous and wanted to head out to get a new bra and find out how all this prosthetic stuff works. I ended up waiting until Monday.

It was quite easy, and fast! Within 2 hours, I was out of the store wearing my custom-fitted new tit.

I was under the impression that lots of measurements would be taken and it would be a few weeks before I got a prosthetic, so I was pleasantly surprised it was so fast.

I was also pleasantly surprised to find out that the Ministry of Health (Ontario) has a Breast Prosthesis Grant: they pay $195 for each new breast. Although I had to pay the entire amount up-front to the retail store, the store owner gave me all this information I never knew before, in an organized presentation folder, along with multiple copies of my receipt so I can apply for the Grant and eventually submit the remainder balance to my insurance company. The new bra was $105 (it has pockets to fit the new tit – it is NOT part of the Grant and is paid 100% by the cancer patient) and the new tit was almost $400.

I found the PDF file for the Breast Prosthesis Grant online [link opens Ministry of Health site directly].

If you’re in the Mississauga, Ontario area, I recommend Susan’s Fine Lingerie: she’s fantastic and incredibly caring and helpful! [link opens her web site]

It’s only been a few days with the new tit and I’m not quite accustomed to it yet: it weighs about 10 pounds and I feel the need to adjust it in public … which would be socially awkward and inappropriate

It’s nice to start feeling like a girl again …