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Quarantined flu victim too sick to walk
By MICHAEL FOX - Stuff.co.nz
Last updated 05:00 17/06/2009
A Wellington woman with swine flu says she became so sick she could not walk.
Suzy Daniel, 25, and her fiance Henry Leaana became unwell after returning from a wedding in Melbourne one of the epicentres of the flu outbreak in Australia on June 8.
Tests at Hutt Hospital confirmed the couple had swine flu and they were ordered into quarantine two days later. Ms Daniel is allowed out from today, but says she is still unwell. Her experience of swine flu contradicts many who have described the flu as mainly mild.
"This one just really takes your energy out big time, like a real big difference [to normal flu].
"I lost the energy in my legs I couldn't walk, it got that bad. It wasn't until Saturday night when I could start walking around."
Symptoms included giddiness, and a sore head, neck, throat, ears and lower stomach.
She could not be examined by a doctor because she was in quarantine.
"Because I was getting worse day by day and they said they couldn't treat me, I just was too scared to think that it might be swine flu and something else on top, yet they can't come around and do something."
But if her deterioration had continued this week, health authorities would have found a way to treat her, Ms Daniel said.
Support from medical officials had been good.
They offered food and called every day. They also delivered Tamiflu anti-viral medication to her door.
Ms Daniel said the quarantine was made worse by the isolation.
She stayed with her parents, while Mr Leaana, a 26-year-old courier driver, was at his family home.
Her family delivered food on plastic plates and cutlery to her bedroom door. When she was done they would return, clad in gloves, to collect the rubbish from outside her door and throw it away.
Mr Leanna, whose symptoms were less severe, said it was lucky the infection had been caught before he went back to work.
His case was like a bad bout of seasonal flu with aches, fever, cough and headache.
Quarantined flu victim too sick to walk
By MICHAEL FOX - Stuff.co.nz
Last updated 05:00 17/06/2009
A Wellington woman with swine flu says she became so sick she could not walk.
Suzy Daniel, 25, and her fiance Henry Leaana became unwell after returning from a wedding in Melbourne one of the epicentres of the flu outbreak in Australia on June 8.
Tests at Hutt Hospital confirmed the couple had swine flu and they were ordered into quarantine two days later. Ms Daniel is allowed out from today, but says she is still unwell. Her experience of swine flu contradicts many who have described the flu as mainly mild.
"This one just really takes your energy out big time, like a real big difference [to normal flu].
"I lost the energy in my legs I couldn't walk, it got that bad. It wasn't until Saturday night when I could start walking around."
Symptoms included giddiness, and a sore head, neck, throat, ears and lower stomach.
She could not be examined by a doctor because she was in quarantine.
"Because I was getting worse day by day and they said they couldn't treat me, I just was too scared to think that it might be swine flu and something else on top, yet they can't come around and do something."
But if her deterioration had continued this week, health authorities would have found a way to treat her, Ms Daniel said.
Support from medical officials had been good.
They offered food and called every day. They also delivered Tamiflu anti-viral medication to her door.
Ms Daniel said the quarantine was made worse by the isolation.
She stayed with her parents, while Mr Leaana, a 26-year-old courier driver, was at his family home.
Her family delivered food on plastic plates and cutlery to her bedroom door. When she was done they would return, clad in gloves, to collect the rubbish from outside her door and throw it away.
Mr Leanna, whose symptoms were less severe, said it was lucky the infection had been caught before he went back to work.
His case was like a bad bout of seasonal flu with aches, fever, cough and headache.