Project 365

Man in the IRON surgical mask.

Description: Two nights ago, I had a really bad cough which translated into a bad flu. Downed 2 paracetamol tabs and went to bed. Next morning, felt better... but the malaise is still lingering.

Being a socially responsible citizen, I canceled my appointments and stayed home the whole day. It was a good decision made because the flu came back full blown at night. I didn't know what my exact temperature was but I could feel it's somewhere not near normal body temperature. Thinking about the worst case scenario, I knew I had to isolate myself from Mom and the little ones. If I'm going to get it, I will get it alone and no one else will get it from me. I stayed away from them as much as I could and dragged myself to the polyclinic after I got up from bed this afternoon.

What happened before the pic was taken: I was the 7th person in the line and when it was my turn, I walked up to the entrance where they had this huge screen for monitoring the temperatures. The nurse who asked me a couple of questions like travel history etc stood beside me and looked at the screen before muttering WAH SO HOT AH! I looked at it.

While others before me registered a white silhouette on the monitoring screen, mine was completely different. 75% of my face was marked with red patches. Yes Nurse, it is burning hot, I thought as I walked over to the other line as instructed. Turban.

I got my queue number and walked into the polyclinic and pressed the lift button but I was rudely stopped by the polyclinic personnel asking me to take the stairs instead of the lift. THIS IS NOT ISOLATION, THIS IS PURELY DISCRIMINATION OF MASKED PATIENTS.

What happened after the pic was taken: I went to the 2nd level by stairs, walked to a temperature taking station and it registered 37.0 degrees. How can? I was still burning lor. I then walked into the Doc's room and the convo went on as follows:

Doc: Hi, what happened to you today?
Me: On off flu since Monday night. *proceeds to explain everything I've said in Description*
Doc: Have you traveled to any of the affected countries? / Have you been in any form contact with an infected person? / Is there anyone else in your family who has had flu-like symptoms?
Me: No. No. No.
Doc: Open your mouth. Ahh.
Me: Ahh.
Doc: *throws ice cream stick away and proceeds to check my heartbeat with his stethoscope*
Me: *Breathe in* *Breathe out* *Breathe in* *Breathe out*
Doc: Are you working or schooling?
Me: Actually, I'm schooling but I'm having my holidays right now.
Doc: School? Where?
Me: N/US.
Doc: Oh, so have you participated in any of the orientation camps?
Me: *mutters I'm too old for orientation camps* NOPE.
Doc: Okay. *scribbles ten thousand things onto my prescription*
Me: Hmm... So, don't have ah?
Doc: Huh? Don't have?
Me: It's not the flu right? That flu...
Doc: No. You haven't been in contact with anyone so it's not likely. It's most probably the seasonal flu.
Me: But I got go out on Monday leh.
Doc: Huh? Go out?
Me: Yea. Go out. I went to a lot of crowded places. I was on a crowded train home too.
Doc: Oh you won't be easily infected within a short period of time in the train.
Me: Okay that is good.
Doc: So.... You need MC?
Me: No, I don't need one. I just want to confirm that my flu is not caused by the H1N1 virus.
Doc: That's all then. Take care.
Me: Thanks Doc!

Post note: The nurse outside told me I put on the mask the wrong side up. I was made to change it when I had tied the strings very tightly the first time. Grr. So remember people, it's always BLUE on the outside. Picture above is taken before the change was made. Silly me.