Wednesday, March 23, 2011

Who's Bugging Me? The dreaded flu, that's who

For all six of my readers who may have wondered if I abandoned my blog:

I have the flu. Or I should say, the flu has me.

I woke up Monday morning feeling fine, and by 10:00am I was down for the count. That is how quickly the lovely body aches, chills, headache, fever, malaise (I love that word) and other assorted gastrointestinal symptoms hit me. I will spare everyone the finer details, as I'm sure no one wants to know them, nor do I want to relive them.


And of course, I am one of those lucky victims who received a flu shot and still got the flu!
Now, being in the medical world as a professional (I can say that now, registered nurse and all), I am fully aware of the many strains of flu viruses lurking out there each and every year. It must be a daunting task to choose the ones likely to attack, and I use the word attack because that is exactly what they do. But how do scientists really choose which viruses to include in the vaccination? As I'm too tired and weak to research that right now, I will instead stick with my layman's version:

They write down each known virus on a small sheet of paper, tape it to a board, and then our research dollars are used to equip blindfolded research scientists with darts. The viruses with the most "hits" are included in that year's vaccination.

It would appear they missed "my" virus completely.

More exciting blogs to follow, plus an update on the job search, nursing school reflections and much, much more, so stay tuned. (What can I say, I watched a lot of TV growing up).

Have a wonderful day, and I hope you escape the evil clutches of The Flu Monster.

1 comment:

  1. Oh Laura, I just caught up on your blog. Didn't know you were sick. I'm sorry. Knock on wood only Maxx got it so far on the Whaley front. He came home for Spring Break, expecting to take off for a week to Tenn., and started spiking a fever. Super bummer for him, but lucky in a way. I got to baby him for the 3 continuous days he spiked a 103 fever. He was pathetic. I never get flu shots, but with babies in the house again I might rethink next year. Hope the job hunting brings something fruitful soon. In the mean time, try to enjoy your freedom from studying. After reading your "Steakhouse Blog" (from the future :) I'm glad you are feeling better. Love you . . .

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