Fifth Disease - Review... ;)

...been pretty ill the last few days, managed to work for a while on Monday and most of today, but the rest of the time has been pretty serious, went to bed feeling a bit zoned out on Friday last, woke up on Saturday with a splitting headache and was absolutely ready to die by about 4pm but somehow struggled through the day, then Sunday woke up with these horrible joint pains, even worse headache and fever (with sweat and shivery goodness), plus what Flyingpops was putting down as "sun burn" (but actually turned out to be a rash)...

Ended up sleeping for about 17 hours that day, then again for over half of Monday and most of Tuesday...feeling a lot better now though (managed my first proper food since Friday last night), doc diagnosed me with a virus that has no cure other than rest, paracetamol and plenty of water (and that is normally reserved for school kids!) like measles or chicken pox, you get it once and are then immune, and most tend to get it early on, which means I must have got away with it as a little 'un somehow...bit annoying...like if you got chicken pox now, I mean, I know viruses are indescriminate and will have their fun wherever they can, but it just seems a little...embarrassing, somehow...like I forgot to turn up for my Maths GCSE or something... ;)

Anyway, almost better now I think, head is still fuzzy, but I reckon I should be back in town tomorrow...the doc did warn me that the nasty symptoms could occur/recur at any time from up to 7-20 days after infection though (and I have no idea when that was or who it was from, from what I have read there has been at least one other confirmed case in the office where I work, so that's the most likely source, although it's equally possible that I caught it elsewhere and I spread the infection there...it's transmitted via the air, so there's just no way to tell), oh and the doc also said that I could feel fine one day and bad the next until it's out of my system), but at least I shouldn't be able to infect anyone else now...we'll just have to see how we get on... :(

Caused a bit of a stir when we found out what it was I had, stories of causing problems for pregnant women and their babies (and me having just been in a maternity ward, and commuting beside goodness only knows how many pregnant people, same goes for being in the office for that matter), but the story goes (and it is very serious, just (thank God) not dangerous to anyone I have knowingly come into contact with since I either became symptomatic or were made aware of the issue), is that if a woman who is between 5 and 20 weeks pregnant gets infected (and it is rated as *highly* infectious) then there is a 15% chance of miscarriage *and* (if that wasn't bad enough) there is then a 3% chance of that baby developing a fatal heart condition while still in the womb...(and that would be all thanks to me)...

When you are carrying that kind of shit in your blood stream, you stay at home...embarrassing or not...