GET YOUR DAMN FLU SHOT!
UNLESS YOU WANT 10 DAYS OFF WORK…..
Last Friday should have been the start to a wonderful long weekend (Thanksgiving in Canada), but instead, it was the eve before a week of hell. I got off work Friday, went home, did my workout, had a bite to eat with my mister and enjoyed a glass of wine before heading to bed at a modestly early 10:30 PM.
Then Saturday morning…..I opened my eyes while laying in bed. The room still dark with the closed blinds and the sound of my love quietly snoring beside me. EVERY PART OF MY BODY HURT! I lay there quietly pondering whether I had worked out too hard the day before, or maybe I “slept wrong” on every muscle or nerve. That’s when my guy rolled over to cuddle up to me, and jumped back like he had just touched a monster! “Honey! You are burning up!!” That’s when I knew…..I was sick.
As I stood up to go to the washroom, I felt like every hair on my body was aching. It hurt to touch my own skin. I was freezing and burning at the same time, and had some kind of deep chest cough that started as a tickle in the back of my throat. Happy Thanksgiving.
The first day, I stayed home by myself while my man went and entertained himself on a motor bike trip. I begrudgingly finished a few loads of laundry and contemplated what to start for supper. I napped on the couch watching reruns on and off throughout the day, and the later it got in the day, the worse and more tired I felt.
I finally gave up and sprawled out in bed and fell into a deep sleep until my partner returned home. He curled up in bed with me and had a nap, while his body warmed up from his day long bike trip. We slept until 7:30 pm and I was hoping to be over it. I felt worse!
As the days went by, I would wake up hopeful that I was on the mend, but to my disappointment, I started every day feeling utterly exhausted. It was a chore to go to the bathroom, to have a shower, to eat, to change channels and pretty much any other task that was put before me. I felt as though a steam roller had run over me and left my body in aching pieces. Nothing helped! I tried Advil and other pain medications, cold remedies, Vicks rub on my chest and feet, hot showers, sleeping for hours and hours at a time, and NOTHING would make me feel better. All of my friends had “the advice” (Vitamin C, oil of Oregano, plenty of fluids). NOTHING CHANGED MY SYMPTOMS
On Tuesday I finally went to the Doctor and he told me that he was seeing “minimum” 10 patients a day over the past 2 weeks who had the same symptoms and sickness that I was reporting. This is 1 doctor in 1 clinic and I live in a town with many clinics and many doctors. I cannot begin to imagine how many of the residents of our city have been hit by “Germageddon”. The waiting room was full of people coughing and sneezing relentlessly and I didn’t know whether to feel relief that I wasn’t alone in this illness, or to cover myself in the hand sanitizing gel that sat on the coffee table that all of the waiting room patients surrounded. It sounded like everyone in the room was dying! I actually didn’t sound nearly as bad as some of them.
Sent home with the words of wisdom “you have the flu” was my cue to call in to work and let them know I would not be returning for a couple days. So I spent the next two days enjoying peace and quiet and sleeping whenever I felt like it. Until the two days passed, and I actually WASN’T better! Due for work, on Thursday morning, I slid out of bed, had a shower, packed my lunch , put my coat on, and proceeded to sit back on my bed and cry. I exhausted myself JUST by showering! Back the doctor I went.
I was greeted with “Oh you’re still not better? You cannot go to work like this. You have fever of 102. Go home and go to bed”. He wrote me a second note for work and sent me on my way. I crawled back into bed and slept another day away.
Since that day, another weekend has come and gone. I STILL have not recovered, and no one wants to come anywhere near me! The flu shot isn’t even available until October 23, which is another week away! How did this happen? I woke up this morning determined to go to work, and I did. But my whole day has been fantasies of when I return home and crawl under the covers for the night again. Exhausted, coughing and feel like I have another fever brewing!
This flu is NO JOKE! If I was an elderly lady or a small child, I can see this sickness being much harder to handle. Its debilitating enough to someone who works out 6 days a week and watches her food and caloric intake. I couldn’t imagine how brutal it would be for someone who doesn’t. Even as I sit her clicking away on my keyboard, I can feel myself drifting off and wanting to have a nap. I am normally a VERY healthy person who typically will work through a cold, or stomach ailment and brush it off like it’s nothing.
My advice to everyone this year? GET YOUR DAMN FLU SHOT! You do NOT want to feel this way! I had every intention to go this year for the needle, however, now it seems almost pointless as I have endured the beast and am coming out alive (eventually).
I know that the doctor also said that Australia has been hit very hard with the flu this year, and Canada usually follows suit in the strength of the strain and the length of the sickness.
ALL I can say, and will reiterate to all of you is GO GET YOUR DAMN FLU SHOT! You may not be excited to do it or you may fear getting it done, but trust me when I say, if you can avoid this flu bug, by all means, PLEASE DO.
You’re welcome
