I'd never had the flu until last week. It's awful. I won't describe it to you, cos that would be pretty icky and you probably already know what it's like anyway. What has surprised me, apart from the awfulness and just how really really sick you feel, is how I've had to explain, frequently, no it's not a cold it is actually the flu. People seem to hear "flu" and translate to "cold." Colds are very different, and although I kind of knew that before, I definitely know it now. Even with a bad cold I tend to maintain some low level of functionality, like reading or watching television. Flu is not like that at all.
My great triumph with this flu is that I appear to have not given it to a single other person. Neither my partner nor Wriggly have caught it, which is just as well as I'm still a bit too poorly to look after them if they do go down with it. I've hardly left the house for over a week, which would normally mean lots of blogging, so I guess my blog absence is a clear sign of the virulence of this illness. And this post is hopefully a sign of the beginning of the end.
To anyone out there thinking about getting the flu jab, especially if you have a compromised immune system in some way e.g. existing medical condition, pregnancy, elderly, etc, it seems to me, in hindsight, that it's probably worth it. I was going to get it this year, for the first time ever, but got a cold and then was too busy. Instead I got the flu for the first time ever. I know which one I would rather have had!
4 comments:
I'm sorry to hear that you have the flu. I have a cold right now, but having had the flu know which one is far worse.
I hope you get better soon!
Yes, get better soon.
I had flu only once; it was horrible. For the first time in my life, I was truly incapacitated. It made all previous bouts of sick leave seem petty: I felt both unwell and ashamed of myself.
I've just returned to work after 8 days off. That flu was the worst flu I've ever had in my whole life. I can't even explain it.
I'm sorry to hear you've been sick Julie. I feel your pain! And I too managed to not pass it on my quarantining myself in my bedroom while Mr Boganette slept in the spare room. We didn't allow anybody over while I was sick either. And yes I'm totally going to get the flu jab next year!
Every winter I find myself telling people who have a cold that no, they don't have the flu, they have a cold. If they had the flu, they wouldn't be at work giving it to me. They wouldn't be taking one day off work then coming back the next day because they're "mostly better".
Hope your real flu gets better soon.
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