"It was just like 'Bam!'," said Yancey.

Yancey said she had been feeling a little sore but thought it was nothing -- until the next day.

"It felt like my face was on fire and someone had poured gas up my nose and lit it on fire. It was very intense," she said.

Aside from a fever, she battled chills, a persistent cough and overwhelming fatigue. Yancey thought she was in for a week of sickness.

"The fever came on so fast, but it went away basically as fast as it came -- the fever part," said Yancey.

Yancey said the worst of it lasted about six hours; she said it took about three days to completely heal.

Health experts report 72 hours is not unusual time frame to get over the flu. However, people with pre-existing health conditions may fight the flu for up 10 days -- if no other complications manifest.

There are guidelines signaling when it's okay to resume your daily routine.

"The rule of thumb is not to return to your normal activities until you've been fever-free for 24 hours without any fever medications on board," said Susan Soetaert, CoxHealth's.director of infection prevention.

Until patients meet that criterion, they should follow their doctor's advice. That's what Yancey did; she thought the flu was going to be worse than it was.

"It's just the flu," said Yancey, who is a videographer for KY3 News.