So it seems that my darling children have Chikungunya, the latest delightful mosquito borne virus to inflict the embattled citizens of Trinidad (as if Dengue wasn't enough, right?)
It's a miserable ailment, with symptoms ranging from high fever, aching bones, joints and muscles, nausea, rashes, headaches, fatigue right through to the worst from the carer's perspective: extreme irritability!!
The real problem though is it lasts for ages....a whole week later and they're still distinctly off colour and fatigued (and did I mention grumpy?) Appetites are also still poor: my son is only eating pasta with salt and star fruit; whereas my daughter is existing on a diet of cranberries and porridge. Fortunately they're sturdy individuals so no one is wasting away...but still ...it's starting to feel somewhat draining.
Then added to all this is the fact that my father has Dengue. This is particularly concerning as it means on the same compound we have both Dengue and Chikungunya, which means we can all get both!
This is even more concerning to me as I had Dengue three years ago, and it was the absolute worst ailment I've ever suffered. For two full weeks I hobbled around with every muscle, bone and ligament aching. I only ate vegetable soup and was forced by the sensation of an ax hacking into the back of my head, to take Panadol every four hours without fail (as an alternative/holistic health type person...this is a big deal!). At least I was saved the excruciating hand and foot itching which my children suffered (yep ...we all went down that time, except of course my ex-common-law-husband whose iron constitution shows why he was born in the Chinese year of the ox), although all the skin on my feet peeled off about six weeks later. The lingering malaise and fatigue wasn't nice either and as the liver tends to be affected my enjoyment of both sashimi and alcohol was utterly compromised for about a year afterwards - a sorry state of affairs indeed.
But that was then. I'm now boosting my immunity in every way I can think of: vitamins, minerals, yoga, not overtraining in triathlon, fruit, veggies, coconut water....and meditation (new to become a one of my everyday practices, along with blogging :-) ) as I have every intention of remaining well. As for spending an entire week running around after sick people...well it did force me to rest a little more than is my custom, also it's good to repay the debts from both the past and the future when my dear family have and may have to run around after me.
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