Day 9: Epilogue

  Becky revives me (or at least I thought so, she says I never blacked-out).  We limp to baggage-claim and miraculously, not only are all 3 bags there, but the rum (in luggage bag 3) is unbroken and in-tact (though each box opened and rifled-through).  Good enough.
  Our car starts and we get home at 11pm.  The cold air feels pretty good.  We check the house and everything's okay and I crash to sleep.
  Next day (9) I feel really sick so I go to an Urgent-Care clinic.  After an hour I'm seen and they do a test on me.  Turns out I contracted Influenza Type A.  The one that killed 100 million in 1918.  It's a fast-hitting, no-joke virus that evolves very rapidly. H1N1 a few years back was one iteration of it, but it's evolved since then, its fatality varies.  I'm not sure which strain I contracted, as it was an international cruise with a large European influence, but let me tell you it hit me harrrd.  I was put on a surprise anti-viral drug called TamiFlu because I had only had the virus for under 2 days which they said improved my life expectancy greatly.  My fever was 101 (not bad, though I suspect higher the night prior as I was drenched in sweat on those planes).  I feel bad I may have possibly been a carrier for other plane passengers.  My immune system is very strong.  I tried very much not to cough or sneeze on anyone or even near anyone.  Influenza Type A loves to travel by-air.  Whatever strain I had wore me down.  I was also given Mucinex-D.
  Day 10:  My tongue turns white and I suspect a yeast infection due to my immune system hitting the rocks and go back into Urgent Care.  Doc says it's not yeast but pure bacteria.  I had tried rinsing with hydrogen peroxide, and Scope but it wouldn't come off.  I also have now, medium-bronchitis.  I was prescribed Prednisone (steroids) for my failing heart and lungs and oddly the doc gave me anti-fungal for my tongue but told not to use it until certain other conditions existed in my throat or mouth (white spots).  These did not occur later, however.  I notice a scratch I had received on my thigh was getting oddly extremely itchy and starting to come back.  Chancre sores were appearing in my mouth.  Cold and freezing, then very hot.  Very dizzy.  Vomiting.  Congested with a killer headache.  Aches like I ran a marathon twice.  Peeing water out my butt.  Gums were receding.  Barely eating.  No appetite.
  Day 11:  Becky urges me to eat and makes me some Yankee Pot Roast.  The red meat really helps as it's got chocks of protein and the potatoes are good.  I start to gain some consciousness, though my tongue burns like knives.  She recommends rubbing salt on my tongue and after a few days it helps and the white goes away and the next day there's no pain.  I'm starting to be able to breathe again.
 Day 12:  Still coughing pretty good, though nothing's coming up like the evergreen-colored dice (literally) I was hacking up before.  Still feeling bad but at about 50% now.
 Day 13:  Out of the TamiFlu.  Cough lingers.
 Day 14:  Cough seems worse.  I have one more dose of Prednisone to aid with the bronchitis, after that it's over-the-counter stuff.  I buy some Robitussin DM for that and will rely on the Mucinex-D for the rest of it.

  I can only imagine how badly everyone else faired on that ship.  Becky's strain (I suspect she had Influenza Type A as well) was a bit more benign, though she's been suffering at a lesser rate than myself by what seems to be half at least.  I suspect it incubated and evolved while it was in her before it bit me, as we probably share similar antibodies by now (15 years and all).  It's possible, however I contracted it from any of the other 3000 inmates, it's hard to tell.  Towards the end, everyone was seemingly dying with sickness.  The test group of 3000 probably allowed the virus to evolve and mutate easier as we were all trapped in a rather humid, enclosed environment.  Who knows what strains we had?  H15N/A?  One can't help but remember Samual Coolridge's, "Four times 50 living men, with every thump, a lifeless lump, they dropped down one by one."
  I think that any cruise longer than 4 days might be a curse.  I think, therefore it's vital to get immunized from common diseases like the standard flu-shot Influenza Type ABC and maybe a few others like Malaria and what-not, depending on the regions before heading out.  The virii mutate and evolve in different regions and it's foolish of me to assume America has the toughest strains out-there.  Indeed, China probably has hella lot worse strains.  I remember when I was in Japan I got sick for 3 months with something similar, my phlegm in odd, small knots that looked odd close-up.  Really haven't been sick since that 1997 incident.
  It's very likely I'll survive this, now, though I wasn't so sure on Day 8 when it hit me hardest.  I felt so malaise and weak like never before!

  So, would I do it all again?  Yep. 

  Hope you liked reading this.  If you want more pictures of the actual cruise ship, which was pretty neat, or of individual islands, let me know.  I got like hundreds.  Happy Sailing! [cough .. cough*]