Emergency visit at the hospital

We have had various rounds of flu running in the family the last months. Against all odds it has hit everyone else except me. That is until a week ago when I came down with a sore throat and running nose, and a pretty bad cough.

On Monday evening this week I got some fever and had to call the hospital to ask for advice. They have instructed me to contact them if I'd get fever higher than 38 degrees. I was told to check in at the hospital immediately.

I went to the hospital's emergency room and the doctors ran lots of different tests and concluded it most likely was a virus infection. I had chest and sinus X-rays and all was fine. I got antibiotics intravenously and had to stay the night over at the cancer ward. It was a rather sleepless night with diarrhea and vomiting. At home my wife had come down with exactly the same stuff. While she had to manage on her own I was surrounded by doctors and nurses running one test after another. Luckily, in-laws stepped in to help with the kids on Tuesday morning.

Tuesday morning my stomach had calmed down but I still had fever. The doctor said they still needed to find out exactly which virus(s) we were fighting against but the intravenous antibiotics treatment seemed to work as the level of infection in my blood was declining. I was told I may get home today (Wednesday).

This morning the doctor popped in to say that test and blood values all looked good, but as I still had over 38 degrees fever I was not allowed home until tomorrow. It seems they take a regular flu pretty seriously here at the cancer ward.

This evening a friend of mine visited me at the hospital and we played a few rounds of backgammon. That was a nice break from the many poor shows that run on TV.