A few days after blogging about cleaning up my act and getting back on the #RoadTo42k, what should happen to me but Dengue!
I felt cheated because I didn’t even feel the mosquito bite. I just exhibited the following symptoms:
- Extremely high fever (mine was a personal-record of 39.9 °C)
- Loss of appetite (I took one bite from a burger and felt like throwing up)
- Excessive sweating
- Delirium (probably from my brain overheating)
And I was taken straight to the ER of a nearby medical center. They hooked me up to an IV drip and after gathering a blood sample, I was officially diagnosed with dengue for the first time in my life.
This really bummed me out. Not only did I get Dengue after vowing to increase my run mileage, but I got Dengue the week before a long weekend! I was livid! There were so many things planned out for the weekend.
- My papa was coming over the weekend from the province, so we were going out for a bonding-session
- I just bought a hiking bag and was gonna use it to climb with my mama and brother for the first time
- I was going to climb another mountain with my officemates
- Most of all, I was going to run!
And all of those plans got cancelled with a single bite from an insensitive mosquito.
Little did I know that when one is infected with Dengue, there’s really not much you can do but wait and pray you don’t die before the virus goes away. So I spent the next 9 days in bed, paralyzed by the high fever and insane headaches. Every single day, I went to the hospital to get my blood checked and I watched as my platelets and white blood cell levels decreased.
Thankfully (or not), I’ve had tons of friends who’ve experienced dengue before and once I posted on social media that I had contracted the virus, they were very supportive. They told me to get lots of rest and drink lots and lots of water. I followed their advice and did spend the rest of my days lying in bed, drinking water, and peeing (a vicious cycle).
What my friends didn’t advise me, but I went and did anyway was eat lots and lots of bavarian-filled donuts. The doctor forbade me from eating any dark-colored food so Choco Wacko was out of my choices. So I settled for the next best thing. I really missed my bavarian-filled donuts and I figured that I was already off the program anyway, I might as well enjoy my off-days (actually not a good idea, but I have weak willpower when I’m sick).
Thankfully, I didn’t exhibit the symptoms of severe Dengue like bleeding from my eyes or pooping the color black. After some days of feeling like dying, the fever just went away and my platelets started going up again! Hurray!
I don’t know if I should thank my immune system for holding up, or for the mosquito for not giving me a more lethal strain of the virus. But I am thanking everyone who has given me support in this trying time, especially my mama and brother, who drove me to the hospital because I couldn’t get on my bike.
So here I am, struggling to get back on track. I haven’t moved in almost two weeks, so we’ll see how my fitness returns to me. My officemates have already declared my weight loss and even I was appalled at how fast I looked malnourished. Thankfully, this is a problem that can be solved by overeating and I am looking forward to that solution.
On the bright side, falling down means that there’s nowhere to go but back up. I’ve still got my runs to do, and I’m almost out of time, but the #RoadTo42k is still there. Time to get back to the grind, but this time, I’ve got my mosquito repellent with me.
-jgzn
p.s. I just finished my first recovery run with a total of 6km for 00:50:00. Not my ideal pace but at least I can prove to myself that I can still jog. Now to slowly get to peak condition. Here’s to a healthy future!
Jai Online 