I’m way down under the weather

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Wherever did that term come from? So I looked it up: The phrase “under the weather” came from British sailing ships. When a sailor became ill he was confined below deck out of the weather, so it was said that he was under the weather.

Me, I’ve been down in the ship’s hold – #7.

 

I contracted a Norovirus. And believe me, this nasty little piece of work is no fun. It’s mainly a GI symptom virus with chills, fever, and aches everywhere which kept me confined to bed and the bathroom for three days. I slept a lot, ate nothing, and had wild dreams. 

                                                Mine were not this cute!

My lovely cat Garfield kept me company every step of the way. More from him later this week. He’s cranky.

I am up and about again, but we are in the midst of washing/disinfecting everything in sight – clothes, bedding blankets, and all surfaces. HUBS kept me out of the kitchen and disinfected that constantly. So far he’s healthy. I stayed in the back of the house and only ventured out to sit in a chair in the living room (also now disinfected).

I’ve learned a lot about this virus. It’s super-contagious by air and touch, symptoms appear within 48 hours, and you can shed the virus for two weeks after you are better. No wonder the virus runs rampant in cruise ships! An infected passenger feels better and decides to get out and about and enjoy his or her trip, shedding virus particles like rose petals. So I’m quarantining myself for two weeks, especially because I live in an over 55 community.

Still, some symptoms persist – virus brain fog, achy muscles, and exhaustion that sends me for a nap morning and afternoon.

My advice: If you are over 60, as I am and waaaay beyond, be careful when visiting friends who have small children in school or daycare, cesspools of germs and viruses. I caught everything my kids brought home with them over the years – but never Norovirus!

An electron micrograph of the Norovirus, with 27-32nm-sized viral particles. (from CDC)

Be careful and well!

38 thoughts on “I’m way down under the weather”

  1. Noelle, I hesitated to click the “like” button on this post. You poor thing!
    I had that nasty virus a number of years ago and I still remember it as being one of the sickest times in my life. It was AWFUL!
    I’m glad you’ve turned the corner and are on the road to recovery, also that you had Garfield to keep you company.
    I never knew about where the term “under the weather” came from. That was interesting, too!
    Take care of yourself and get plenty of rest as you recover!

    Liked by 1 person

  8. I am so sorry to hear you had to go through such an ordeal, and very glad to hear you are feeling better. Thank you for always being so thoughtful of others and for the reminder that “it’s not just about us.” Take care and wishing you a full recovery.

    Liked by 1 person

  12. Sorry to hear you been under the weather, though I’m glad to hear you are on the mend.

    I guess an interesting side effect of the CoVid pandemic is we are more knowledgable about viruses in general, and therefore more aware that we could be shedding virus particles long after we are feeling better. Knowledge is power and so is Strawberries and Ice Cream! 🙂
    Best Wishes
    Kevin

    Liked by 1 person

  13. Oh, Noelle, I am just seeing this. I hope you are feeling all better now. How nice that you got some TLC from your husband and Garfield. When one of my sons was in college, they had a norovirus outbreak and closed the school for about a week. Super contagious. Take care of yourself!

    Liked by 1 person

  14. That sounds awful, Noelle. I used to work in children’s mental health and spend a lot of time in daycare centers. I even caught “childhood” illnesses during that time. UGH! I’m glad you’re feeling better. I think paying attention to virus prevention is just going to be part of our future.

    Liked by 1 person

  15. Well “every day is a school day” as a work colleague often says.
    Hope you feel better soon. This time last year my wife and I both caught Covid and although we didn’t have the worst of the symptoms, other than sheer exhaustion we had the most bizarre dreams. I evenremembered things I had long forgotten, it was really weird.

    Liked by 1 person

  16. I hope you are fully recovered now, I say I’m feeling under the weather but never knew the meaning behind it, these are the posts I love the most from you, a sharing of your knowledge and research, I amaze people sometimes with some of the stuff I know and its mainly reading my friends blogs like yours! Novovirus is very nasty I had a bout of it when I first started at the Conservatoire in London, my Mum said I looked green around the gills (don’t know why we use that expression either), I took myself off to an acupuncturist, when the medical GP didn’t want to give me anything, and I was still feeling rough after a week, I was busy and needed to get back to health quickly, then I saw the Chinese Doctor (they gave me this awful tea that certainly cleaned my bowels out!!), then a Chinese cup person, I had circles on my back for two weeks lol. Then like magic it cleared up.

    I hadn’t thought my ear infection could have passed from the children I teach I just thought it was from a long weekend in Romania when I went to visit George’s family but when I think about it I was only away for four days and the ear infection hit on day 5 and floored me. Someone said you can’t catch ear infections but it was bacterial.

    Liked by 1 person

    • I got an ear infection from my infant son, so yes, it can be passed on. It was horrible and took several months to clear. My husband saw an acupuncturist for his back pain, which really helped, but as the man said, he could only treat the symptoms and not cure the underlying pathology. My husband, the MD, recommends ToT for a lot of the viral infections – Tincture of Time! Lovely to hear from you!

      Liked by 1 person

      • Time is always something I don’t have just when I get the worst infection 😂 . This week it wouldn’t matter but that week I had three important auditions and a competition that I flunked after preparing for it for two months, one of the auditions would have been me a years work. But I’m back in much better health now so the time is the best tincture after all.

        Like

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