Ballard residents Laura Hornung and her boyfriend Joshua Slagle had just returned from a trip to Denver and San Antonio Nov. 1. By Nov. 4, H1N1, or swine flu, struck Slagle. Two days later Hornung caught it. Their roommate got it the following week.

It took Hornung and her boyfriend 10 days to recover, and their roommate, who has asthma, is still fighting it.

"I think we caught it on one of those flights," said Hornung. a planning purchaser at K2Sports in Seattle. "We had aches, pains, a sore throat and couldn’t get out of bed. I felt like I couldn’t handle the pain. Our skin hurt to the touch. I was sleeping 12 to 15 hours a day. I didn’t eat a whole lot, maybe broth, crackers and pho. I couldn't move for seven days. It took energy just to get up to walk to the bathroom."

Hornung went to her doctor at Virginia Mason.

"The doctor looked at me, felt my face, and said, 'Don’t cough on me,'" Hornung said. "He then had me see an urgent care doctor. My temperature was 104 for a day and a half."

She was given Tylenol and Advil and said Tamiflu, the antiviral drug, is only effective if you start within two days of being diagnosed.

"When we first got sick, we were kind of freaked out about how we were feeling," she said. "But, my boyfriend's dad is a pharmacist and told us it was most likely H1N1."