IT'S THE SWINE.

i know that the lack of updates has rendered me invisible on the blogging scene, there has just been nothing much to blog about, until my trip to manila, which i will, when i get my hands on a proper card reader. if you are on my facebook or if you follow me on twitter, you probably already know that im ill with a bad case of stomach flu. thank god its nothing more serious than that though.

ive had really bad diarrhea since the 3rd day in manila which i blamed on the street food but thought it very normal so didnt pay much attention to it. but when it didnt subside after 3 days, it did become kind of suspicious. especially when i finally drop my bags in a hurry at the side of a road kerb and threw up. still, it just seemed like a normal mild case of food poisoning. i took a day off from work and rested, i needed it. even though i was still not feeling quite up to it the next day, i dragged myself to work. i dont get mc paid leaves, all my absence from work amounts up to pro-rated salary deductions, which is why i try as much as possible to firmly plant my ass on that office chair of mine on weekdays working hours.

2nd day at work, i felt okay in the morning. not peachy and all healthy, but okay. okay enough to be there, okay enough to work. somehow though, after lunch, i began to feel a little hotter than i should feel. temperature-wise. that was when i started to freak out. as the h1n1 flu bug circulates around in the community, even the softest cough or sneeze on the train makes me throw a suspicious glance over to wherever it was coming from and keep my distance. im so terribly afraid of contracting the virus that i wore a mask all the way on my trip back from manila and i wash my hands according to the proper steps of doing it, as published! besides that, my bf and i take pride in bringing a bottle of hand sanitizer wherever we go, sanitizing our hands everytime we come into contact with foreign objects, live or not. so if anyone was going to get it, how could it, why should it be me?

still, youll never know. i immediately took my rising temperature, which was a 37.4 at that time and asked for a mask at the reception. its pretty normal to see people wearing masks these days, you may call it being socially responsible. me wearing one though, i suspect, freaked everyone in the office out a little, given that i just returned from an affected country. as worried as i was, i stayed in my seat and waited for my boyfriend to get here so he could bring me to see a doctor or something. and anyway just him being around would have comforted me a whole lot. and then a small frightened mouse decided to let loose that i just came back from the philippines and that im running a fever.

HOLY MOLY COWWW. thats when everybody freaked out and thats when i realize all along, my judgement when it comes to being nice to a certain character have been terribly wrong. i will credit myself for being dubious all along and certainly, its time to stop being friends with people this shallow. anyway, boss had me leave and i felt it was okay because he actually walked over to tell me and not scream it from 2 bays away because he could be afraid i have the virus. but then again, someone had to do it.

so i left, with well wishes from terry and plenty of malicious accusations of me actually having the virus behind my back. hey, im not stupid, i knew. boyfriend met me somewhere near, he hugged me and wanted to kiss me as usual but i refused to. hes not scared, hes never scared and he doesnt freak out. he must be some kind of saint. so we took a cab to tts hospital because we didnt want to infect anyone in the train should i really have it. should have called the 993 ambulance service though, but i thought it would charge a fee and i was a miserable pauper.

when we arrived, i was told i have to be escorted in and bf couldnt follow. that was when i cried. i cried because i was terribly worried and because i didnt know if i can do it without him by my side. im such a baby. i did okay though. it was an excruciatingly painful wait. there were so. many. people. each one of us was allocated to a seat each with a table, kind of like in an examination hall. which was okay at first, but imagine having to stay in that seat for what they claim to be usually, 6-8 hours. me, i sat there 9 hours. if i wasnt sick, i would have been by the end of it.

i had to wait around 30minutes before someone came to take my blood pressure. a few more minutes later, i had a blood test and they took swab samples from my throat and both my nostrils. it was all okay except for the nose bit, that one was nasty. imagine someone sticking something down your nostril and you feel completely helpless, thats how i felt. about 30minutes later, i was called to do a xray. that was where the most exciting part ended, now came the painful wait. 9 slow, long, hours. the guy sitting in front tried to strike up a conversation and i politely obliged. no one blames these anymore, we were all horribly bored. but i didnt have much strength to carry a conversation. i didnt have much to eat, had no appetitie and felt like if i were to eat or even drink water, i would throw up.

9 freaking hours later, my results came back negative. i simply had a bad bout of food poisoning, stomach flu and its likes. the guy in front of me wasnt so lucky though, he tested positive. it wouldnt have been polite to suddenly fleed so i smiled and wished him good luck. when i left the compounds, my boyfriend ran from somewhere across the roads, behind some bushes, and i ran into his embrace. (: he has been an absolute gem. he is priceless, you know. sometimes i really really think i cant do paris without him, but i shrug away that thought immediately, because i know, i have to do this. but my boyfriend, the way he loves me and the way i love him, its just magical.

2nd day since i left cdc, i think i feel much better today than yesterday where i barely swallowed half a bowl of fish bee hoon soup. i really really hope i have the appetite to eat properly today and actually not feel nauseous afterwards. i totally get it now. its more painful to not be able to eat well than be fat. i promise. still, i cant deny that feeling this unbearably light and skinny these few days feel kind of sinfully good. gahh.

i hope everyone in the office is relieved and not feeling kind of disappointed their favorite (im being sarcastic) colleague is tested negative.

so this is my personal dose of experience from this episode of pandemic.