Down with the Syndrome and Other Stories

I was downed by diarrheal flu over the weekend.

Yes, you’ve read it right – DIARRHEAL FLU – which is, according to my mother, a hybrid form of flu. It’s a destructive coop between the viral flu (a brain-splitting headache with body and joint pains and accompanied by fever) and diarrhea (the uncontrollable urge to stay put in the toilet).

That also meant that I got sick not because of the KFC chicken meal or the Granny Goose Tortillos I ate last Wednesday but because I got the virus off someone who had been carrying it. Great combination of diseases, don’t you agree. A one-two punch – you get debilitated due to flu plus you get dehydrated and under-nourished due to frequent trips to the bathroom to sit on the throne.

The symptoms started on Wednesday night and by Thursday morning it started to get worse. I had to file for under-time because I not only was the flu full-blown but the diarrhea part was already making its presence felt. That Thursday night and well into Friday were the worst days of my so-called sickness. Good thing the bedroom was adjacent to the bathroom making the trips to the latter “manageable”.

How did I cure myself? No, I didn’t go to the doctor just to pay Php 500 for the doc to tell me that I needed to rest and take some medicines. Based on experience, I just needed to do the following to counter the diarrheal flu:

• Got enough rest. Thursday and Friday were spent on bed (and inside the bathroom when necessary) were I probably slept more hours than my usual week-long sleep hours combined. Friday alone I was asleep for probably 16 hours or so.

• Get more than enough fluids. Re-hydrate. When diarrhea struck and the toilet trips were inevitable, I bombarded my body with various liquids – water and juices, mostly. I also had Hydrite (Re-hydration salts) available so my drinking water was contaminated with it to make sure I re-hydrate and not dehydrate.

• Drug yourself. Yes, take proper medication and based on my experience, a trangkaso is better fought with the likes of Bioflu (paracetamol for flu), Biogesic (normal paracetamol), Alaxan (for body pains), and Sinutab (for the cold that was beginning to brew). Count in the Hydrite as well.

• Make sure to sweat it out. Ever since I was young, I was instructed to make sure to make the fever run by making sure I sweat. The belief is you have to let out the excess heat inside your body (the fever, I presume) via your sweat glands. So, every time I feel a fever coming, expect me to wear a shirt and have a thick blanket which I use to cover my entire body. Within hours, you’ll be sweating and your fever would have run its course. Then you need to change shirts, of course. No use sleeping in drenched clothing anyway.

By Saturday afternoon I was already feeling better and the trips to the bathroom became lesser and lesser. However, I continued my medication and come Sunday, I was well enough to accompany my wife and brother-in-law to Divisoria.

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Last Sunday, my wife and I, along with my bro-in-law, went to Divisoria for the planned shopping of baby stuff for our little daughter. We had to really wait first to find out if our baby was a boy or girl before doing the shopping. Not only does it make shopping easier but it already makes decision-making choices faster (“Which one honey, the blue one or the pink one? How about the fuschia one?”).

Arriving somewhere near 168 Mall at around 8 o clock, we immediately made our way to Ilaya Street reportedly where the baby shops were located. The shops at Ilaya were a logical choice since not only was it the place where baby specialists can be found but their wares were relatively cheaper than those inside 168 Mall or Divisoria Mall.

Unfortunately, not many of the baby stalls were open on a Sunday, we were told but we still managed to get good bargains from some of the open stall. We hit the jackpot in an unnamed stall at the corner of Pasilio A and Z inside one of the buildings at the corner of Ilaya and CM Recto Streets. A bag of baby goodies were the result of the shopping in that stall. We added another bag of baby goodies from a stall outside of the building also selling baby stuff.

Plus, I bought 3 undershirts (which unfortunately did not fit despite being XXLs) and my bro-in-law contented himself with half-a-dozen undershirts and three pants for work. My wife did not buy anything at Ilaya but she was more than satisfied shopping for our little angel.

After Ilaya, we went back to 168 Mall for lunch and some more shopping for items we weren’t able to buy at the baby stalls. At 168 Mall, my wife found a blouse she could use for the office and I splurged on DVDs of Lost Season 1-2, Prison Break Season 1 and CSI: New York Season 1-2.

Before 2pm we were already on our way home. Next week, the baby stuff we shopped gets laundered and take a guess who gets to do the laundering?

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We finally decided to get the Destiny Cable Internet installed in our new apartment.

Since a Globelines Broadband is close to impossible to get because there is no available line in the area, and a PLDT DSL is not possible without also applying for a PLDT phone, that left us with only the Destiny Cable Internet as the remaining option for interconnectivity.

The crew of Destiny Cable managed to physically install the internet line from the post outside the apartment compound to my PC but when they tested the connection they learned that there was something wrong with the main line.

Up to now, the internet is not yet working and I’m still waiting for advice from Destiny as to when they will be able to service my application.

Not off to a good start, I know, but I’m still hoping that Destiny Cable can prove my initial misgivings wrong and actually provide us with a good internet experience. They promise this to be an unlimited broadband after all. I don’t want it to be unlimited frustration though.