For many years, I strongly opposed getting an annual flu shot. The first year our health unit strongly promoted them in our region, Mark and I went to the local high school to get our shot. I felt that it was my civic duty. Mark was driving a taxi and was exposed regularly to all kinds of gross germs, we lived with a little old guy (Mark's dad Joe) at the time. It was the right thing to do.That winter, I experienced what I can only describe as a creeping malaise. I constantly felt like I was on the verge of being sick but never actually got good and sick to get beyond that. It was a huge bummer, feeling tired and run down, all the time. I had never experienced this before and blamed the flu shot.
In subsequent years I refused to get a shot. I hadn't had the flu since the year that the Brady Bunch movie came out (I remember this because the flu hit me like a tonne of bricks while I sat in the theatre) so I felt okay not getting it. Fast forward a few years and I get hit with a bad dose of the flu. Horrible, I thought I would die. As I lay in bed dying (ha!), I thought that for sure, this was why old folks and little kids get flu shots. Whatever I had would surely kill someone who was not as strong and otherwise healthy as I was.
Every year since, I get a flu shot. Mark and I go to our local health unit for it. There are several things I like about getting our shot at the KFL&A Health Unit - you can book an appointment online, they have great parking and, more importantly, the staff and volunteers are friendly and very professional. It's a very easy way to protect yourself against the flu and, this year, they had fun band aids (I got a Snoopy one and Mark had a Taz band aid).
It was quick and easy and painless. Everyone should do it, to protect yourself and the folks you love. Have you been shot yet?
