Laying on the couch,
My body can barely move,
The dreaded Swine ’09 had defeated me.
Pain, misery, exhaustion, and suffering upon me,
but there was no escape.
Why did this have to happen to me?

I was the first.
What a privilege…
First to have a cough keeping me captive
First to have Kleenex kept close constantly.
Aches in my bones, muscles stiff as cardboard.
Heat and cold taking their turns on me.
My eyes are like lead, I’m struggling to keep them open.
I’ve watched more trash television than I can count,
I have new best friends,
Ones on TV.
And I’ve eaten too much Chinese food to fathom.
Eat, sleep, bathroom, and then repeat.
Quarantined from the world,
thinking death was written on my steaming forehead.

I heard the jokes:
my nose resembled a pig.
Whatever.
I took the meds:
Tama Flu becoming my life.
I got the texts:
“hopefully you’ll be alright.”

I’ve slept through the days too,
The backs of my eyelids becoming more familiar to me than light.
I was sweating through clothes, and needing more blankets.
While quaint quakes and quivers erupted through me.
Too hot, too cold, too hot, too cold.
Familiarity was upon me.

Day 4:
the heat finally faded.
I saw more light,
My eyes were no longer weighed down.
I could walk again,
talk again,
and break out of these blankets.
I was in lockdown,
in a prison resembling Hell.
I was weak, but I was fighting.
Stupid swine.
I’m sorry to whine.