Long title huh? Wondering where I’ve been? Here’s the story:

On October 7th while attending a friend’s baby shower, my husband complained of joint pain while he got out of his car on his return home from work. By the next morning he was totally overtaken by Chikungunya (ChikV) . Keep in mind we had already planned and paid for a vacation which was set to begin on October 10th. He couldn’t move that next day despite putting himself on a strict panadeine regimen, taking it religiously at the prescribed frequency. I took care of him as best I could while ramping up my own prevention campaign by dowsing every inch of myself in repellent, refusing to open windows, using vape, among other things. I suggested to Anthony that maybe we should check out the cancellation policy of the airline, but he insisted that it wasn’t necessary and laboured on like a real champ.

Well, much to my distress, on October 9, the day before our vacation, while having wine with a friend, I began to feel  joint pains in my fingers and collarbone. Had it been my knee I would’ve brushed it off as regular joint pain due to past injuries or something, but finger joints? Collarbone? Those aren’t joints I’m familiar with feeling pain in. All of a sudden it hit me, I have ChikV. I don’t know how to describe the flood of emotions I felt next. I’d been looking forward to the vacation for what felt like eons and I was making such an effort to not be ill on my vacation and BAM! There it was. I was outraged and disappointed.

We both packed and went to bed. Intent on not letting the disease defeat us. In the morning our dear friend and frequent airport transportation,came to take us to the airport. As though it was fate, he happened to have a bottle of Histal with him that he had bought because the ChikV rash was driving him nuts. That morning I had also woken up with the rash all over my body. He graciously allowed me to steal it from him and I took a dose as well as Panadeine for the joint pains. The rash quickly subsided. Off we went.

First stop was Baltimore for a family event. I’m the kind of passenger that falls asleep as soon as she boards the plane. I’m asleep before the seatbelt sign is turned on, before the safety announcements, before the takeoff. I was out like a light. Incidentally my husband hates this because he’s not quite as gifted in the sleep department and ends up being alone for the entire flight. I got quite a bit of rest on the way, between my affinity for sleeping on flights and being drugged up, as you can imagine. So when we got to Baltimore in the late afternoon and my husband decided to call it a night, I went to hang out with my Dad, at my cousin’s house. Well, I paid for being over zealous. That night Anthony woke me worried, I was roasting with fever. He gave me an extra dose of medicine and all I can remember next is waking up completely wet in wet pajamas, wet sheets, wet everything. The fever “broke”.

On Saturday morning I had all these plans. I wanted to check out the farmers market and the aquarium. I even planned to take pictures and blog about it. I convinced Anthony to come along with me. We decided to stop at the CVS one block away first to pick up some supplies. After leaving CVS I said to him, “I feel like I could just turn around and go back to the hotel”. He quickly agreed. We made a quick stop in Whole Foods, across from the CVS, to get some fruit, juice, water and lunch for the day and headed back into bed where we hibernated until it was time to go to the family event that night.

We made it through the event fine. It wasn’t bad at all. Having all that rest. We thought we were getting better. Silly us.

On Sunday we slept right up until it was time to get ready to check out. I asked the woman at the front desk for a restaurant recommendation and she recommended Ten Ten which was deeeeeeelicious and they served brunch until 3pm which was in line with our “sleep as long as possible” state of being. After brunch we headed to the airport to catch our flight to Fort Lauderdale where we planned to spend the next few days and celebrate our second anniversary. After arriving at the hotel in Fort Lauderdale we pretty much went to sleep. Keep in mind that all this time we are popping pills “on time, every time” exactly as prescribed to keep our symptoms at bay.