My last weblog entry mentioned that I might have the West Nile Virus. I'm even more sure of it today. Here's a recent chronology, since Sunday:

• Today. Got up fairly early, thinking I might go to work. Went for a low-intensity walk with MB and Jake, and felt pretty tired afterwards. Resting after the walk, I noticed that I had a light rash on my right thigh. MB and I decided to check my chest again, and sure enough, I have an obvious (but still light) rash on my chest and sides. Tiny little red dots all over. I seem to be especially light-headed today. Bummer. Decided to stay home again. I called the Dr. to update my case.
• Wednesday. Slept in, and felt really crappy when I got up, and my right eye was just a litle "stiff" feeling for a while. Didn't go to work. Had super-low energy, but felt better after eating. Napped again mid-day. MB thought she could detect a slight rash on my shoulders and chest but I didn't really see it. Felt better toward the end of the day, and really pretty decent by the time I went to bed.
• Tuesday. Slept in late, and felt crappy when I got up. Didn't go to work. Scheduled a Dr's appointment for late afternoon. Took a couple of naps during the day. When I went to the Dr's I felt basically OK. He didn't shed a lot of light on things. He theorized a sinus infection starting, and when I asked about West Nile Virus he didn't rule it out. He just said to let him know about any changes.
• Monday. Felt basically OK in the morning, but by noontime, I was certain I was getting a nasty head cold. Had all the classic symptoms (for me): tired, "thick" throat, eyes burning, etc. Went home at 4:00 and felt really crappy until around 9:00pm, when all of a sudden I felt pretty decent.

History

All this started Saturday morning, August 2nd, when I noticed I was a little light-headed, and my right eye was sore when moved to the extreme left or right. Since then I have had a mild case of light-headedness a good percentage of the time, with varying degrees of tiredness. I didn't ride my bike Sunday, August 3rd, because I just didn't feel up to it and didn't want to put contacts in with my eye feeling odd. I also skipped my Monday commute to work. By Tuesday, my eye felt basically OK. I resumed my normal cycling schedule, with no ill effects, up until last Sunday.

One of the odder things that has been around since all this started a couple of weeks ago is a "flash" that occurs in my right eye when it's dark and/or my eyes are closed, and I move my eyes to the leftmost extreme, say to look at my alarm clock. The flash is located where normally I'd see the circular outline of my optic nerve. This was most obvious when my right eye first became sore a couple of weeks ago - I could recreate it at will (at night, anyway). After the first day or so, though, it seems to only happen if I've been asleep for a while, and then only the first time I move my eyes. After that, I see the normal outline of the optic nerve at the extremes.