By Monica Arkin, Staff Writer

I remember standing on top of a hill, unable to get any oxygen into my lungs. I dropped my metal water bottle onto the ground and hit my friend to get her attention. I remember a counselor grabbing my arms and holding them above my head, ordering me to throw up. I remember becoming lightheaded and seeing my friend crying with her back turned to me because she didn’t want to watch. Then I remember my camp director and division leader running towards me, yelling “code blue” into walkie-talkies, and the camp nurse speeding towards me in a golf cart, also yelling something urgently into a walkie-talkie.

When I think of H1N1, my mind immediately flashes back to this moment from summer camp: the moment I realized what I had was more than a cold. After I began to breathe again the nurse raced me to the camp health center on her golf cart. Upon arrival, I was told that I was being admitted into quarantine for seven days, and if possible I should leave camp temporarily because there were limited beds in the health center. Almost one half of Beber Camp came down with swine this summer, including 10 of the 39 campers my age. This unfamiliar virus also hit many other summer camps in the country. As we move into the flu season, it has been increasingly common at BHS as well.

However, the attitude toward H1N1 at BHS is very different from the one I experienced at camp. Junior
Ben Ducoff also spent his summer at Beber Camp and was one of many to catch the virus and spend a week
in strict quarantine. He stressed that the only people at camp reacting stressfully or fearfully toward the flu were the camp nurses. “They were really freaked out. They wore surgical masks when they gave us our medicine, and they wouldn’t let us leave our rooms to get water. They were really scared about the whole
camp getting sick,” said Ducoff.

Other than this reasonable feeling of fear from the nurses, the rest of camp treated the topic very casually. It became a running joke that it wasn’t kosher for “swine” flu to affect a Jewish camp. People (including me) wore stickers after being released from quarantine that had a cartoon image of a pig and said, “I feel swine,” and my friend even wore a shirt that said “Swine Flu: 2009 World Tour.” It was this relaxed view that allowed many campers to continue their day-to-day activities without being especially worried or paranoid. Campers and staff would joke that they were jealous of kids in the health center because we got to eat bagels and Gatorade for every meal and play the popular Wii game, Rock Band.

When I returned to Beachwood after being away for seven weeks, I was shocked when the first thing
all of my friends asked about was swine, and people from our school I had never spoken to before approached me and asked what it was like. My mom told me that rumor had spread so quickly that seven of
my friends’ mothers had called her with concern, asking if I was all right. Many people asked if I still had it.

Ducoff had a similar experience with overreactions from friends at home. “They got really freaked out. I sent letters home to friends and they wrote back in disbelief, some even called my parents to make sure that I was okay,” he said.

But what is the difference between H1N1 and the regular flu? Well, regarding symptoms, I felt that each symptom was about three timesworse than it would’ve been with the regular flu. The sore throat and stuffy nose were not so bad, it was the cough and the body aches. While the flu gives you mild tenderness in your muscles, swine flu made me feel like I had just finished a month’s worth of two-adays.

In addition to having trouble breathing, each time I coughed I felt as if my back and abdominal muscles
were ripping. Ducoff also said that the worst part of swine flu was the body aches. “They were the worst I ever had and they would just not go away, not even with Tylenol,” he said. “I couldn’t sleep, eat, or get out of bed to use the bathroom.”

To any BHS students or faculty who come down with the infamous H1N1, I offer advice. If you have any pre-existing conditions, especially asthma, DON’T WAIT to see a doctor. For those without such
conditions, if you believe you have H1N1 and your symptoms don’t go away after a few days, please stay
home for your sake and the sake of those around you. If you have severe congestion, I recommend sleeping in a more upright position using many pillows because you do not want any drainage or fluids to settle in your chest; it won’t be fun the next morning. Also, carry around a water bottle with you everywhere. Sleep with it next to you and always make sure it is filled.

Nurse Debeljak adds that everyone should get both the regular flu shot and the H1N1 shot to try to prevent
this, but if they are diagnosed they should remember that they must stay home. “The attendance policy
should not be the determining factor for families when deciding whether or not a student should stay home,” said Debeljak.

Ducoff stresses that if you begin to experience any symptoms at all, drink lots of fluids and “stay in bed.”
Both Ducoff and myself were cured without taking any medication other than Tylenol, and we know
from experience that sleeping it off and allowing your body to regain its strength is the most important
thing. Finally, please do not get frustrated with the persistence of the symptoms. They will probably
last for over a week and you will become impatient. But please, do a favor to the students and faculty of
BHS, along with yourself, and stay home.