Post Flu

I've been admiring the Tamiflu ads, as they capture exactly how the flu was as I remembered it. Sore throat began at the wee hours of Christmas day.  Christmas day felt as if a cold were coming on. Friday felt that it was a very bad cold.  Saturday the piano fell on my head.  My teeth hurt and my hair hurt. I was in my personal Tamiflu ad.  Only today, Wednesday, a.m. do I feel human again.

I'm rarely so sick that I'm confined to the bed.  And it has been a decade or more since I've had the flu--and that was a flu to remember. I had a few imperatives to do work wise, and doing so was taxing to the point of almost being pointless.  Thankfully I had everything in place so others could provide me the information that I needed. The miasma of mucous was strong, but at least I could fight through it.

I don't get flu shots. I dislike the hit or miss aspect of vaccination.  The one year I got a flu shot was the year that I got the more virulent strain not covered.  Like destructive storms that are oft-remembered in the lore of the old ones, THAT flu was my Camille.   Very high fever (103-104), and every cell in my body a-quiver with pain. Eyes and nose were flowing like Niagara Falls,  I'm hoping never to have a flu like that again.

This was minor league flu, but flu nonetheless.  Thank goodness for teleworking.  I could do what I needed from the insular comfort of home, though my body was not happy with being upright for even few hours.  At least I did not subject any to germs, and I was careful about washing my hands, covering my cough and the body siezing sneezes.  Mark rarely catches anything the kids and I have gotten over the years with the notable exception of chicken pox.  He picked those up as an adult when Reade was infected.  It was July, and chicken pox were making the round at daycare.  Mark asked his Mom if he had chicken pox when he started to feel badly.  Oh yes, he had them. Apparently his case was too mild to build resistance.  He got them again with a vengeance.  He had some work deadlines, so he was directing work from the insular surrounding of his work vehicle.  You do what you have to do.

I keep such transient suffering in perspective.  The flu is generally survivable. There are so many things that cause as much distress to the body with little prospect of a good outcome.  I'm a good patient, then, and I don't complain.  I sequester myself, and roust myself to feed the dogs.