Hockey player knows how it feels to be hit by the bug

By MIKE COMMODORE

When it first started, I had that sick, achy feeling — you know, when you have those momentary chills, your joints hurt, you feel kind of heavy, and you just know something is coming around the corner for you.

Usually, with lesser bugs, it’s like a day or two of that stuff, and then you get hit pretty good for 24 or 48 hours.

With this flu, those bad days went on for about four or five days.

I could tell something bad was coming the first day, but I was still OK for most of it. I could still practice; I had an appetite, etc.

Then I laid down for a nap in the players’ lounge next to the dressing room on Tuesday (Sept. 22) and was out for about an hour. When I woke up, I felt like the blood in my hands and feet wasn’t circulating anymore. I was freezing. I had a sweat suit and a hoodie on, and I was absolutely freezing. I went straight home.

I had a sore throat — so sore I couldn’t swallow. I tried to sleep, but I had the worst chills. Just couldn’t get warm. And then I’d wake up in a full-body sweat, just sweltering hot. My body ached so bad.

That Tuesday was the worst of it.

I finally fell asleep for good at 10 p.m. and didn’t wake up until 4 p.m. on Wednesday. The overnight was rough. I woke up in the middle of the night — I suppose it was around 4 a.m. — and stumbled to the bathroom, towels around my waist and across my shoulders.

I was so out of it that didn’t see that a door to the bathroom was open halfway — like pointing straight toward me. I stubbed it with my toes and then walked right into a corner of it. I was bleeding pretty good, but I didn’t really have the energy to do anything about it. It was the least of my worries. I just went back to bed.

There were three days — Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday — where if somebody would have told me that all I had to do was come to the rink and put my skates on, I don’t think I could have done it.

I wasn’t nauseous or anything like that. But I had no energy, and I was really achy. I was coughing stuff up pretty good, too.

I took Tamiflu, and it really helped. That stuff has to be flying off the shelves right now. And I drank lots of Pedialyte. I bought so much Pedialyte at CVS, the lady asked me if I was opening up a daycare. That and Arnold Palmer’s lemonade and ice tea, and green tea, got me through it. I couldn’t eat anything, but I was hammering those drinks by the case.

They were going to test me for swine flu, but we decided not to. I mean, it’s treated the same way as the regular flu, so what’s the point?

I started feeling a little better on Friday (Sept. 25), and I had a lot more energy on Saturday. I feel fine now, but I’m a little stuffy.

That’s the worst flu I’ve ever had.

I lost eight pounds. I wanted to lose five, so it’s cool. But that’s definitely not how I wanted to lose it.

XMike Commodore is a defenseman for the Columbus Blue Jackets professional hockey team.