Izzy sends this URL for locating places to get flu shots in the Carolinas: http://www.mrnc.org/fcf/.
G & other DC-based ex-patriates--try the American Lung Ass'n site.
Patient-Friendly Info on Flu Shots
From the CDC: People who should get the flu shot include [lots of high risk people] AND
anyone else who wants to reduce their chance of getting influenza.I don't think I've ever had true influenza, but i watched Izzy's 2-week bout with it and don't think I ever what to have it.
Posts
2 comments:
Growing up, I never knew how people could die of a flu. I had had what were called "24 hour flu" or "a little stomach flu," and while they weren't pleasant, they seemed far from life-threatening. And, it turns out, they weren't the flu. I have now had an honest-to-goodness influenza (while in grad school, no less), and I've never missed a yearly flu shot since.
The first week, with the 105 fevers, the constant shaking, &c, was the easy week. Most of it has been forgotten, lost in a continuous blur of fever dreams. But the second week!
The fevers broke, the sweat-soaked sheets were changed, I was cleaned, and I started to feel pretty good. Oh, sure, I still ached a lot from all that shaking, but otherwise I thought I just might live. In fact, I was hungry again. So I would get up, go to the kitchen, warm up some soup (or, later, make a sandwich)… And then I'd be all tuckered out. I'd have to lie down for a couple of hours before I had the energy to actually eat what I'd prepared.
That second week was demoralizing. I couldn't even hold up a book and read for more than five or ten minutes at a stretch.
kecifx,
Izzy
Influenza is a scary disease. All that talk of "stomach flu" is a distraction ... I had influenza as a kid, it was horrible. (The only time I was sicker was when I had hepatitis and typoid. Together. Oh wait, I also had malaria as a kid. Boy, I guess growing up in India is one of those, "if it doesn't kill you it'll make you stronger" deals :-))
St. Liz: the CSPs have someone come in every year to give the whole house a flu shot. Given the general age of the community, that's probably a wise thing. However, I'm looking foward to contributing to herd immunity as well ... :-)
Post a Comment