Satoko Inagaki

March 12, 2013

Essay #1, Draft #2

How Terrible Influenza was!

 

I would like to explain how terrible and also weird influenza was. It was a pretty cold day in a winter five years ago. When I woke up in the morning, I felt that I had a sore throat. This is the most obvious symptom in the beginning when I have a cold. But I did not care, because I always had a sore throat very easily. I thought I just had a cold as usual.

When I arrived at my shoe store, I realized I was trembling. I felt that trembling was like my shadow. It always follows me. Sometimes my teeth were shivering. It took ten minutes to just take off my coat! I really did not want to do that. I felt like I wore only a swimsuit. I was sure my cold was not just a cold.

After my tiny lunch, I went to see a doctor. The doctor asked me to take my temperature first. I had a temperature of almost 104 degrees! As soon as I told my fever to the doctor, he gave the flu test to me. A few minutes later, the doctor told me that I had influenza. He looked very surprised, because this test usually takes more than ten minutes to get a result. There was another reason why he told me that my case was unusual. Because, I visited a medical clinic for flu shot one month ago. He said, “I cannot believe your case. Your result of flu test shows me very quickly and clearly, even though you already had a Flu shot.” I could not respond to his conversation anymore, because I felt exhausted. I started to get sweat with trembling. I really hated this combination!

The doctor gave me special medicine, and I was told to take enough rest, even after my fever went down. On the way to go home, I felt a weakness. I hardly walked straightly. When I got home and was washing my hands, I was very surprised. My face looked pale and horrible.

After I had medicines, all of a sudden, my fever went down. It was like a magic. I felt much better. I was pulling through and recovering from my sickness. I could start to enjoy tasting little by little. It took one week to recover from influenza completely. I decided not to take flu shot anymore!