One of the things I love being a teacher is the breaks. I get off for holidays, and, depending on the school, I sometimes get the summer off (or I can work it, it's usually my choice...). The week before Christmas, my wife and kids were sick. I felt OK on Sunday, and tried doing what I could for them, but having to go to teach made that difficult. Now, breaks are nice, but one of the bad things about being a teacher is that if one kid (or teacher) comes in sick, it runs through the school like (insert favorite pun here...). I usually do OK, and I rarely get sick since I start taking large amounts of vitamin C just before school starts and do that religiously until the last day of faculty meetings at the end of the school year. That way, if I DO get sick, it isn't very bad.
Well, every year, we get told to get a flu shot. Most schools provide this at little to no cost to their faculty & staff, but in all my time teaching, I have only gotten it two years - that being last year (2011) since it included the H1N1 Swine Flu shot and the year before (2010) when they came out with the swine flu shot. I wasn't going to let the worst flu in years take me out, especially since I have two kids at home. But, I figure that every year, SO many people get the shot that they boost my immunity by just being immune to the flu, so I don't end up getting it. And, so, in all my years of teaching and NOT getting the flu shot, I've never gotten the flu...until now.
This year, the flu season is worse than it has been in years, since they started making flu shots a routine event every fall. It started with a friend of mine. She got really sick just before Thanksgiving, and when she went to the doctor, her test came back positive for the flu. Influenza A, or H2N3, the newest version of the Swine Flu! She gets a flu shot every year since she has asthma and it can be dangerous if she gets the flu since it can affect her breathing. She ended up with bronchitis, and eventually recovered. However, the CDC, when they looked at possible strains of the flu to make the flu shot for this year, did not include H2N3. It was not thought to be a likely strain since they thought it was hard to transmit between individuals. Well, they were wrong, and it turned out to be easier to transfer than they thought.
So, when my wife & kids came down sick, I felt really bad, but thought nothing of it. At that point, it was also running rampant through my school, but I still felt invincible. I was taking vitamin C and hadn't gotten that sick in a long, LONG time. Well, by Tuesday, I had the chills and by Wednesday I was feeling horrible. Thursday, I stayed home, and Friday I felt better, so I went back to work.
Well, I thought it was all over, but it wasn't. The following week, after my wife & kids felt better, I was still feeling a little out of it and had developed a cough. By Wednesday and Thursday, I was feeling worse. Saturday, it snowed, and we went away. I was tired, but was able to drive the 1.5 hours to my in-laws. Sunday, I was out of commission, and I missed the holiday celebration with the family. By the time we got home for New Year's Eve, I was still feeling it, and when I went to the doctor on Thursday, I was so bad that he prescribed an inhaler for me to help my breathing get better.
So, I had 2 weeks off, and was sick for most of it. I go back to work tomorrow (I hope...) and, if I am still upright at the end of the day, I will come home and take a nice, long nap, and hope that I feel better by the end of the week. And, if anyone else feels like I did, may whatever deity you pray to have mercy on your soul! You're going to need it!
