We're just sick!

A mysterious illness has been propagating throughout our family for what seems like the entire month of May. No one could figure out what exactly it was…cold? Flu?

Today my grandmother just happened to turn on the news this afternoon just when they did a segment on this high school girl’s strange coughing symptoms…it took 3 doctors to uncover what she had…turns she had the exact same mysterious illness my family has – pertussis, otherwise known as “whooping cough.” My brother and I were both vaccinated against it when we were babies, but the vaccination can wear off in your teens. You can catch the bacteria that causes it if you’re exposed to unsanitary environments.

According to my mother, my brother probably cought it at school, in the dorms. It’s highly contagious as well, so everyone in the family has gotten it. My grandfather finally got it as well, and my uncle out in LA has it, and my brother’s friend has it as well. According to the sites we read, this illness can linger 7 weeks on average, some people go 3 months. Sigh. My case is getting better. I still wake up with coughing fits during the night and sometimes I feel so tired I can’t even get out of bed, and I’m always feeling congested and have a hard time breathing. But otherwise, I’m loads better than I was last week. So is everyone else. The coughing will linger and gradually fade away in time. Too bad we didn’t find out what we had earlier, then we could’ve gotten antibiotics. Oh well.

Unfortunately I could have passed it on to the people I stood next to during the final choir rehearsals and concert. I sincerely hope I haven’t done so…I mean, this could turn into a mass epidemic! 😮