Mine was like 107.8 F. I didn’t realize that was so very close to the maximum that your body can handle. Ya know, like, before you actually die from the fever itself. Usually because it literally kills your brain cells. I just didn’t know about that, at the time. I was just like “wow, I’ve never had a fever this high before.”
And yeah, weird perception and semi-dreaming was very much my experience, too. It was horribly unsettling at the time, but MUCH MORE SO LATER, when I heard and/or read about how close I’d come to death, without ever knowing it.
This was a case of influenza, by the way. I got such a bad case of it, around the turn of the Millennium. I never went to the doctor, either. I was just a vigorous young man, in robust health…but I also totally, absolutely could have died. I told someone with actual medical knowledge about it, years later, and they were like “OH MY GOD, YOU COULD HAVE JUST DIED IN YOUR SLEEP, YOU DUMBFUCK,” or words to that effect.
Oh, yeah. I only survived by pure luck. And I mean, I did have the internet. I could have looked up how hot a fever can get, before it’s really dangerous. But really deep ignorance has a cleverness all its own, in terms of making sure you avoid doing anything sensible.
I never actually had the thought of “hey, could the temperature of the fever itself actually endanger my life?” I knew people died of the flu sometimes, but I somehow thought of it in the same context that people die of coronavirus style infections. In other words, I thought the only way a coughing-and-wheezing style virus would kill you would be a lack of oxygen, from inflamed lung tissue, total exhaustion of the breathing muscles, etc. I knew enough about my own condition to be pretty sure I didn’t have fluid in my lungs, and that I was getting plenty of oxygen. And I was still able to walk around and stuff, so I knew I wasn’t on the verge of deadly exhaustion.
So I just sat around the house, taking cough drops for my hacking cough and over-the-counter painkillers for my tremendous muscle aches and headache. Annnnnd I could have just gone off sleep, never to wake up again, never even seeing what the new millennium was like. A little knowledge can be a dangerous thing, indeed.
Mine was like 107.8 F. I didn’t realize that was so very close to the maximum that your body can handle. Ya know, like, before you actually die from the fever itself. Usually because it literally kills your brain cells. I just didn’t know about that, at the time. I was just like “wow, I’ve never had a fever this high before.”
And yeah, weird perception and semi-dreaming was very much my experience, too. It was horribly unsettling at the time, but MUCH MORE SO LATER, when I heard and/or read about how close I’d come to death, without ever knowing it.
This was a case of influenza, by the way. I got such a bad case of it, around the turn of the Millennium. I never went to the doctor, either. I was just a vigorous young man, in robust health…but I also totally, absolutely could have died. I told someone with actual medical knowledge about it, years later, and they were like “OH MY GOD, YOU COULD HAVE JUST DIED IN YOUR SLEEP, YOU DUMBFUCK,” or words to that effect.
Sweet baby Jesus. I thought 106 is the big-time danger zone and you go to the hospital… Nearly 108? Fucking hell.
Oh, yeah. I only survived by pure luck. And I mean, I did have the internet. I could have looked up how hot a fever can get, before it’s really dangerous. But really deep ignorance has a cleverness all its own, in terms of making sure you avoid doing anything sensible.
I never actually had the thought of “hey, could the temperature of the fever itself actually endanger my life?” I knew people died of the flu sometimes, but I somehow thought of it in the same context that people die of coronavirus style infections. In other words, I thought the only way a coughing-and-wheezing style virus would kill you would be a lack of oxygen, from inflamed lung tissue, total exhaustion of the breathing muscles, etc. I knew enough about my own condition to be pretty sure I didn’t have fluid in my lungs, and that I was getting plenty of oxygen. And I was still able to walk around and stuff, so I knew I wasn’t on the verge of deadly exhaustion.
So I just sat around the house, taking cough drops for my hacking cough and over-the-counter painkillers for my tremendous muscle aches and headache. Annnnnd I could have just gone off sleep, never to wake up again, never even seeing what the new millennium was like. A little knowledge can be a dangerous thing, indeed.