Oh those sickly days..

Thank God I finally recovered from a nasty flu that lasted 3 weeks!!

It's not a norm that I get ill for so long.. normally my flu/fever never lasted more than 3 days or so.

Caught this pretty nasty viral flu while we went to Shanghai last month for the World Expo. I already had a cough and had not been resting enough. The hectic schedule and the change of temperature didn't help.. By the end of the 3rd day, I was feeling really lousy and needed to see a doctor when I got up on the 4th day - supposedly our `rest' day in between the Expo visit.

The doctor gave me anti-biotic, cough mixture and other flu med. I was told that rest was what I needed. I was thinking maybe if I rested enough I could make it to the Expo the following day.. but that was just wishful thinking.

It was indeed miserable to fall sick while travelling. I spent two whole days sleeping in our hotel room :( And then on Friday afternoon, we needed to fly back. I was afraid I couldn't make it but God gave me just enough strength to make the journey. Though I was like sleeping on the chairs when mom did her last round of shopping in the departure hall.

The 5-hour plus flight was not good.. I slept (or tried to sleep) most of it.. speaking of sleep. I had trouble sleeping when ill - mostly because the cough was so bad that it affected me, and I think the medicine too had some effect. So ya, it was terrible.. :(

I felt like collapsing when I reached home that night.. forced myself to eat a little and just climbed into bed..

Since the med had finished, I went to my trusted GP the next day. I was upset that I had to miss 3 events that I was looking forward to attend - a friend's son's dedication in the morning, an old friend's wedding luncheon and the OKR mid-autumn festival celebration in the evening! Yup, had to just cancel all and just rested at home..

Took this pic of my old (China) medicine and the medicines my GP gave

Normally, my GP's medications are very effective. But not this time. I completed the anti-biotic and everything else (he gave me 5 diff. meds) but I had not recovered. The cough was still very bad and I still felt weak.. I have abstained from lots of stuff - of course cold, icy drinks and food, fried oily stuff, spicy stuff.. and even chicken and egg!! Ya, I know it sounds like old-wife tale but somehow when I took chicken I ended up coughing really badly. So I rather just `believe' on the safe side. I also tried various remedy like Manukka honey, garlic essence and so on... in desperation to get well..

The cough was still unbearable, so I decided to try alternative treatment - ie Chinese traditional medicine since many people have recommended this for treatment of cough. And since the anti-biotics and the many meds that my GP gave me had made me feel quite week, I thot the change would be good.

I went to see a doctor from China practising at the Tung Shin Hospital in KL. He basically just felt my pulse and looked at my tongue.. also took my blood pressure. And then he wrote a long list of `prescription' for us to pick up. The `herbs' included things like tree barks, roots and even rocks!!

Comparing to Western medicine, Chinese medicine is quite a hassle to prepare. The cooking time for the medicine daily is around 1.5 hours.. And this is how it looks like

For the following six days, I faithfully cooked the Chinese herbs (ok, my maid helped) and drank two bowls of it every day. To me, the taste at least was bearable, not too bitter.. but it's not exactly very palatable too..

But sigh.. the Chinese medicine didn't have much effect on my cough. In fact, after a few days, I started having slight fever again... and the cough was still really bad, until I even felt like I wanted to die - and even ranted on my Facebook status..

I was wondering what was wrong.. and deliberating what doctor I should see next. My wise parents suggested I should go see a specialist physician - my parents' doctor actually. I also agreed.

I think it was the most thorough check-up I had - and she was my 4th doctor already! After doing some checking, she declared my lungs to be cleared.. but because I was still having slight fever, she wanted me to do an chest Xray as well as blood-count test. Good thing that the labs and all were just next door. But it took an extra hour or more for the results to be out.

Phew, everything was fine.. but, she has to give me medicine again and it included a different type of anti-biotic too. It's my third round already..

And finally...as if by miracle, the medicines were working! Just a couple of days after, I already felt vast improvement - including my cough. But I was quite tired as I think that was the side effect of the meds.

By the following Tues (this week), I already felt like I've recovered.. at least 95 per cent! I had the energy again to go out and do things.. and even looked forward to sing - having not been able to go for my vocal class for 3 weeks..

And these few days, I feel the energy was coming back. Just now I even went out to see a friend and we went for massage, dinner and shopped a bit. Yey, finally I have recovered.

(ok, I know this post is rather pathetic but like I said, is not usual that I felt this ill and for so long...)

So, yes.. so long, nasty flu. Good riddance once and for all!