As an asthma sufferer, I’m always wary of repertory illnesses and have had my fair share.
Growing up, I had pneumonia, and a variety of respiratory infections and have learned to readily identify bronchitis in its early stages based on how my lungs feel.
All that aside, I had never experienced the flu until my spring 2010 semester of college.
Honestly, it was probably one of the worst times I’ve been sick outside of needing hospitalization – like my broken leg incident.
I was utterly miserable and made the eight-hour drive from my dorm in San Angelo back home miraculously.
I say that because it was a miracle – I don’t remember the last leg of my drive home from El Campo at all!
There’s a black spot in my recollection and during the drive where I made a turn off Interstate 10 and have no memory of anything else until I pulled into my parking spot on our driveway and was home finally.
I also spent the entirety of Spring Break sleeping on the couch and wallowing in misery where breathing hurt and coughing made my head spin.
Which, in hindsight, probably gave me enough trauma to be overly cautious when COVID came out and has since motivated me to keep my vaccinations as current as possible.
So, I don’t know how I managedto get the flu this time, but, I’m glad it wasn’t as bad as my first interaction.
I mean, I had all the other symptoms save the congestion and coughing bits.
With a 102 fever and pounding headache with nausea?
That put me out of commission for the majority of the weekend.
Luckily, I did get some prescription relief from my Physician’s Assistant and am on the mend.
However, even on Monday, I notice that when my headache starts to return that fever surely follows and the only relief is through Tylenol and about an hour-long nap.
But, I have a pretty good idea that my overall ordeal means my seasonal flu shot probably kept me from getting a worse strain of the flu virus.
Or, at least that’s how I look at it.
If anything, it also cements my desire to stay up-to-date on my vaccines and maintain some of those pandemic cleanliness procedures.
I mean, somehow I managed to avoid getting COVID myself with both of my parents sick and didn’t get it during the entire pandemic – so I count that as a win!
Still, having the flu made it impossible to cover the ending fair events I needed to attend along with several other organizations’ happenings.
All I can do is apologize for not being able to attend or cover them and move on.
I’ll also just strive to be more vigilant when interacting with folks for the foreseeable future.
So, you’ll have to excuse me if I’m not getting too close for hugs while I’m out and about.
Plus, try not to take any offense if I’m frequently using my antibacterial hand gel with our interactions either.
I just hate getting sick!