Flu

It’s been among the top news stories for weeks. Thousands of people are sick, and flooding emergency rooms. Children are dying from severe cases. It’s one of the worst seasons in the last ten years. Doctors are repeatedly advising people to get the flu vaccine, even though the latest CDC study says the vaccine is only 36% per cent effective against the most common strain called H3N2. It sounds like a robot character out of Star Wars. I got vaccinated, as I have for the last several years, and hoped for the best. Three years ago, hope wasn’t good enough. I got the flu. Okay, one year of bad luck. Won’t happen again. No so fast.

I started with that ominous tickle in my throat three days after attending a family event, and the day before leaving on a week’s vacation in Florida at my best friend’s house. I pushed ahead, hoping it was just a cold, and not H3N2 sneaking around that protective vaccine barrier. We got on the plane the next day which is the worst place to be. A flying germ factory. It really didn’t hit me until the second day in Florida, the day before my friend and his wife were due to join us. The fatigue and the runny nose started. They were very understanding, and I managed to push through. Although, it felt like I went through hundreds of tissues. I took cold pills. I was at my worst at night. Just when I thought I might be getting better, H3N2 manifested itself at the other end of my body. It was time to go home.

We had an early morning flight, so we stayed at a hotel near the airport the night before. It was awful. Couldn’t sleep. Finally got on the plane. Headache. Fatigue. Got home, and went to bed for most of the afternoon. Back in bed that night where I stayed for 12 hours. My wife got me out of bed because I was dehydrating and needed nourishment. I slowly felt better, but it took another day or two to start to feel normal again.

I don’t know if I officially had the flu. I didn’t go to the doctor. But I had all the symptoms.  Medicine has been fighting influenza for centuries. It has killed millions of people. It’s so hard to fight because it keeps mutating. That’s why there are new vaccines every year. It’s never the same, and the vaccines can’t kill all the strains every year. Like most disease, you can’t see it or feel it when it invades your body. You can catch it anywhere. A handshake. A cough or sneeze. Touching a doorknob. Once it’s inside your body, the fight is on. The human body has an amazing ability to fight infection, especially with the help of a vaccine.

In a few weeks the flu season will start to subside. The sunshine of Spring will slowly replace the early darkness of Winter. Scientists will start to work on the flu vaccine for next season, hoping they can outsmart the virus that disguises itself in the coat of various strains to make us miserable. I’m hoping my luck will change now that I’ve had a visit from my nasty friend twice in the last three years. But, there are no guarantees.