31 December 2009

This Is What It Sounds Like When Swine Fly

I was in China at the end of SARS. I boldly walked maskless while everybody around me was covered. I have walked the townships of South Africa at the height of HIV. I have been to more than a few places where malaria is carried by mosquitos the size of bowling balls. At least they seem that big sometimes. I was in Indonesia during a dengue fever outbreak. Only I did not know it at the time. None of it ever touched me.

It was a treif flu that finally got me. When the media was blowing it all out of proportion I thought they were blowing it all out of proportion. It was not until all the hype died down and people started to relax about it that it came for me. Would I have got it if people remained paranoid? Probably.

8 comments:

Bill said...

The only thing notable about this strain is that it's a particularly exotic one that people's immune systems have not had the chance to build defences against. Since there is so little immunity, we can be thankful that the strain itself is so relatively mild.

Hope you're better soon.

Alissa Grosso said...

Hope you are feeling better soon. I believe I had the dreaded swine flu earlier this year. I was pretty miserable for a few days, but recovered nicely. I have a feeling when you return to work they will be celebrating your return.

Jo said...

Oddly enough, I felt the same way about H1N1. While everyone was rushing off to get vaccinations against it, I was more concerned about what was in the vaccination than the actual flu. I don't want to be one of those "Oops ... we had no idea ..." statistics.

I hope you're feeling better soon.

Travelingrant said...

Good luck with the recovery. I was working in a tour company customer service department right when everything kicked off with the flu last spring. We got nothing by flu calls for weeks on end. Ugh!

Lady Love said...

Get well soon Mia. Hugs.

Mia said...

I'm getting better all the time. [I could get much worse].

I think I would've had better bragging rights if I caught it back when the TV told us all to be afraid. Now that the hype is gone it's just any other illness.

HAPPY IN NEVADA said...

I did have it back in April; not fun to be sure. I don't ever take any kind of vaccinations - just don't trust them. I'd rather test my own immune system and build up my own immunity myself - at least if I 'kick off', it will be on 'my terms'..........

Sasha said...

You don't have to spend time in bed with a real man. There's the sofa, car, bath, kitchen, sauna....