I Have the Flu.

Yesterday, I woke up with a nasty cough. I had been fine when I went to bed the night before, so I thought that was weird. Within a couple of hours, my chest hurt from coughing so hard. By the time I got home from work, I had a fever of 100, along with a little achyness and shortness of breath . So, I took ibuprofen and the fever was gone by the time I went to bed. This morning, I felt pretty good - until I got up and started moving. I was coughing like crazy again. The thermometer said I didn't have a fever, so I went to work with the intention of calling the doctor. She decided she wanted to see me and test me for pertussis (whooping cough) and the flu. My temperature was back up some by the time I left work. For some random reason, my brother's last throat culture grew pertussis...he didn't have any symptoms, but we all had to be treated just in case. Hence the test for it today. For both pertussis and the flu, they have to do a nasal swab. I expected it to be horribly painful (since my sister had been tested and said it was really painful), but it felt weird more than painful. For the flu one, I could feel the swab hitting the back of my throat. Weird feeling. Guess getting poked and prodded so often because of CF has increased my pain tolerance. Fine with me!
Anyway, the doctor felt that I didn't have pertussis or the flu, and that this wasn't a CF issue because my PFTs were the same as they were less than a month ago and my lungs sounded fine. She also said that diagnosing the flu can be tricky in CFers for some reason, so it was possible that she could be wrong and I could indeed have the flu. So, I left clinic armed with Cipro and Tamiflu, just in case. By the time we got back (2 hour drive in lots of snow), my fever was higher and I felt pretty awful. The hospital called this evening to let me know the test results were in, and I do indeed have the flu. At least we know what's wrong. So, my orders are to hydrate, take Tamiflu, and stay away from kids. I'll have to find out tomorrow how long I need to stay out of work, especially since I'm a teacher and I'm around kids all day.
Before you ask, I did, in fact, get a flu shot. I do every year. What I have could be a different strain of the flu than was in the vaccine, or a more mild form. Without the flu shot, I'd probably be in pretty bad shape at the moment.
So, I'm glad to know what I'm sick with, glad the fix for it isn't too major, glad that I have plenty of sick days available at work, glad that I can continue my no-IVs streak, and very very glad that influenza does not involve vomiting!