It’s not the worst case of the flu I’ve ever had, I’m not completely confined to the bed, but I’m still not happy with it. I missed a day of work that I really couldn’t afford to miss, but I knew there wasn’t a point in my going in, since I’d be spending the entire day bent over, hacking my lungs out. Instead, I’ve spent it on the couch, fending off the attentions of the cat. I know what you’re thinking : Just throw the cat outside. If I do that, and the cat doesn’t want to be outside, she’ll shred the screen until I let her back in. If I lock myself in the bedroom, she’ll sit outside the door and yowl until I let her in (she has seperation anxiety issues), the same if I lock her up somewhere.
It wouldn’t be so bad if the cat would simply curl up near me. Instead, she’s got to walk all over me, then head butt me repeatedly, then she’ll find a tender spot (like my neck) to plunk down and give herself a bath. Once she’s finished with that, the whole process starts all over again. Throwing her off, just gets me a dirty look while she races around to jump back on me. Usually this involves racing around the back of the sofa, and then plunking down on me in the middle of a coughing fit (nothing like having the wind knocked out of you when your gasping for oxygen), or she hops off the monitor on the coffee table in front of the couch.
Of course, if I was in my bed, it’d be worse, since the dresser is higher up than the back of the couch. Remind me again why I wanted a cat?
She’ll get tired eventually and curl up ojn you for a good nap.
This will, of course, be just before you decide to get up for a bathroom and kitchen run.
You will then have the choice of lying there with an ever-nagging bladder and a hunger/thirst exacerbated by your inability to move, or of displacing the comatose cat and earning a dirty look and a resumption of frenzied harassment.
It could be worse. You could have seven cats, like me.
Oh, my, I must have a million stories where my dog, Cherry, jumped on people’s abdomens if they dare to lie on her couch. When I sleep on the couch, Cherry jumps up, lands on my stomach, knocks the wind out of me, proceeds to walk all over my body, bumps into my chin and then sets herself down in the upper torso area. Then, I have to move her, but she persists and keeps coming back. I just give up and roll over to my side. But, then she somehow ends up sleeping on the side of my hip…
Cats (or any pets) can be great when you’re sick–IF they’ll stop walking all around and over you and just settle down. I had a cat, runt of the litter. I don’t think she ever weighed more than about six pounds and she had these little tiny paws so when she would stand on you, especially on the chest, it felt like she was putting about 10,000 PSI per paw on you. Painful enough when well, awful when sick. Of course, when she would actually settle down, it was nice.
Your dog sounds just like my cat. Right now, the cat’s curled up on a pillow, glaring at me because she can’t fit on my lap because of the keyboard. I’m sure she’ll launch an attack on my lap momentarily.
I was similarly ill this week. Once a day, I would drag my sorry ass downstairs to lay on the couch, because there’s a TV down there. My household contains 4 adults, 6 cats, and one dog.
It was raining, the roomies were at work, and I had all seven animals cooped up in the house, going several levels of stir crazy. The cats were swarming on me, and I was too weak to fight them off or relocate them. Playing on me, wrestling, butting me, licking my nose, etc. I’d drift off, and then wake up choking and coughing because one had camped out on my face.
At one point, I woke up and discovered the dog had climbed onto the couch on top of my legs. The cats had joined in and I was trapped on the couch beneath 110 pounds of animal. It was hopeless. The dog, god bless, is trained and disembarked our ark o’ illness upon command. The cats were tenacious, though. They have claws. Unable to reach, I pitched a wad of used tissues toward the pile I had on the ottoman. The cats dove for it, en masse.
And as such, a solution was born. I was an endless factory of crumpled tissues (and/or paper towels). I threw them, the cats hunted and killed them. Ripped up grocery bags work well, too. Just pitch little bits over your shoulder when ever the cat comes back.
(And I do infact nominate my roommates for sainthood for caring for me during my illness. Especially the one who picked up all those tissues.)
Hijack of sorts…You don’t have the flu then. Just a particular peeve of mine, that when people get a bit of a sniffle and a cough and feel like death warmed up, they complain that they have The Flu.
The influenza virus is a rather nasty one, that renders it’s victims incapable of posting stuff on messageboards. When you’ve got the real dinky-di flu, you are seriously ill, not just feeling a bit shitful.
You’ve just got a boring old rhinovirus Tuckerfan, sorry to disappoint you.
Wow! You’re amazing! You’re on the other side of the planet, have only the sketchiest description of my symptoms, and yet you’re able accurately diagnose what’s wrong with me! :rolleyes:
By your logic, since this outbreak of the flu hasn’t killed as many as the outbreak of 1918, it can’t possibly be the flu.
Well kambuckta doesn’t have to be wrong, but there are of course people who do not typically get high or even any fevers. They’re still physically ill, but their brain isn’t fried. So I would say that the conclusion is a bit hasty.
As for the cats, my cats tend to cuddle up with me. If I don’t want them near my head, I just shove them off. If I don’t want them around in particular, or do something in particular, I sometimes used a plant-sprayer. They hate that thing, especially the cloud of water mode, though the long distance one can be useful to spray them off the sink from, say, the couch.
These days though, I like hissing at them. That really, really impresses them. If it already impresses them if another cat does this, you can imagine how they react to a 6’4" human.
As a consequence, I don’t have to do it a lot, which is almost a shame.
A person can have the flu and still post on a message board. I did when I had it a few weeks ago. Basically the difference between a flu and a cold is that you get fevers with the flu, and achiness and tiredness. One doesn’t have to be prostrate in front of the toilet for days to have a “real” flu.
And here I thought I’d never had the flu, because I never get any stomach symptoms. I just had this the week before last, the fever was so bad, I was joking at work that I felt like it was a cheap high. (that was after I’d returned to work after having spent 3 days sleeping and nothing else). Thanks for the info, I guess maybe next year I should try the flu shot?
I haven’t had one since the early 80s, and the damn thing made me so sick that I never had one again.
Anyway, back to the topic, I feel so lucky now. My normally psyhotically energetic aussie was an absolute angel while I was sick. The poor thing only caused one problem, during one 15 hour period in which I didn’t even move in the bed I don’t think, she did pee in the entryway. As soon as I woke up, she just looked so guilty and upset, and sure enough, I found it. She’s so well trained, I normally can’t even get her to pee on concrete or hardpacked dirt, so she must have REALLY had to go poor girl.
This is the dog who cannot stand to be idle, she MUST be shoving a frisbee, or a ball, or one of her toys at me in a demand to play. So for her to just curl up beside me and let me sleep while I was sick…wow, I feel lucky she wasn’t driving me bonkers like she normally does.
Well, Tuck? Do you have a fever or not? We’re on the edges of our seats here, ya know.
I recall getting THE FLU one Boxing Day. I felt okay at my house, and I could barely walk by the time I got to the mall a half hour away. I managed to get home somehow, and spent the next three days on the couch. I have no doubt that was THE FLU. I barely remember those three days. I may have had flues since then, but I’m not willing to call it THE FLU unless it flattens me, and that’s not an easy thing to do.
Well, I haven’t stuck a thermometer in me, but I’m burning up, got body aches, and today, I dragged myself to work (we don’t get paid sick days, so if I don’t work, I don’t get paid) stood in front of a 2000 F furnance trying to get warm, until my clothes started smoking. As a rough guess, I’d have to say that I spent almost 60 of the past 72 hours asleep. Oh, yeah, I’m whiter than a sheet, too. I recall having some failry vivid dreams, but damned if I can remember anything about them. Normally I can’t remember if I dreamed or not.
Oh, yeah, as I peck this out, the damned cat’s curled up in my arms, giving herself a bath. I’ve tried chucking her away, but she just runs back. I’ve given up trying to get her to go any where else for right now, since whenever I go to move her, she digs her claws into me and not my clothing.
:eek: