So, last week really sucked. First M got sick (well, this happened on the weekend before last), and on Tuesday I started coughing as well. On Wednesday morning I woke up to a 38 degree fever, which only got worse during the day. The highest temperature I measured was 38,7, and the blasted thing lasted for four and a half days, until yesterday my fever finally broke. (It broke intermittently during nights as well, so that every night I would wake up swimming in my own sweat, but that really doesn’t count. However, massively gross.) The coughing has been pretty much a constant, although my version is much less severe than M’s. There was some sniffling and such as well, but that only really lasted for a few days and is mostly gone now. The fever was the real deal. It drained me of all energy, and most days I spent sleeping or desperately trying to. When I was awake, I was in this weird haze of not really being able to think. My body was so weak I couldn’t sit up for an extended period of time without feeling woozy and having to lie back down again. Obviously doing anything beyond that was a lost cause.

Timing was also important, as E was supposed to visit us this week. The original plan was for her to come on Wednesday evening and stay either until the weekend or Monday. But as the plague hit, we figured it would be best if she stayed in Copenhagen for a few days first to give us a little time to get better (and possibly be less contagious) before her visit, and that’s how it went. She arrived on Saturday instead, and fortunately I was feeling a little better by then, as the fever had gone down to 37-38 degrees instead of 38+. The jolt of suddenly talking quite a bit backfired on Saturday evening when my throat simply decided “no more!” and started feeling like someone stabbed me there, and I’m still recovering from that, but it’s getting better all the time. E taught me to make this vile-tasting ginger/orange drink that really soothes the throat, so that helps, too.

Yesterday afternoon, M and I were finally contemplating getting me to see a doctor because the fever just wouldn’t go down and it didn’t really react to painkillers either, and maybe most worryingly, because I was increasingly lethargic. However, by the time he had looked up the necessary information and I took my temperature one last time to let the nurse know, it had gone down and was only 37. For the first time I also genuinely felt better. The fever stayed that low for the rest of the day, and while I still sweated a bunch during the night, it wasn’t quite as bad as it had been before. My temperature has been normal today, and hopefully that’ll be the end of it. I still called in sick today because my voice isn’t functioning, but I will go in tomorrow and hopefully by then I can do a normal day’s work.

It was a delight to have E visit us, and I’m so glad we didn’t have to cancel altogether. This has been a really hard six days, but at least M and I are both well on our way to recovery by now.