Yes, I, she of the "unless it's lopped off, spurting or blue" mentality, has called in sick. Of course, that was after I worked an 3 extra hours yesterday to make sure that everything that needed to be done was done. Sigh... But my head and back are still sore, so I thought a day of rest was in order. It's still just the flu or a nasty cold, by the way. No new symptoms to report.
It was interesting reading some blogs out there about H1N1 and the impact on them and their families. Got my back up a bit, I admit, and after posting a comment (which I hope was neutral), I sat later on the couch thinking about the full impact of this pandemic. We found out at a work meeting yesterday morning that a fellow employee died last week as a result. Very sad and very sobering. Yes, I know people die from other flu's every day, but this is new and therefore a little more scary, and it also seems to be very, very fast. Also heard that there are no ICU beds in my city right now, as they all have people with H1N1 in them. Where do the major car accident (heard a highway was closed this morning because of one...) or shooting or heart attack patients get to go then?? Or my father, with COPD, for that matter?? And then what about blood supply?? Who's donating blood, and what happens when that runs out? While all this was reeling around in my head, the US news station I had on (which by the way, had NOTHING about H1N1 in the whole time I watched it) mentioned that the REGULAR.FLU.SEASON.HAD.BEGUN. D-oh!!! In our panic, we all forgot about good old Influenza B and it's buddies. My question to those people who queued up for hours at a time (and who told all the polls that "they absolutely would not get a shot they knew nothing about") is did they even bother to get the seasonal flu shot?? I'm going to guess not, since when I went to the clinic for that I walked in, got the shot and walked out. No panic, no line-up...well, there were still screaming children, but those are just hard to avoid!
So do I believe we all have to turn into fist knocking, mask wearing, gun-toting, cabin-in-the-woods living hermits? Absolutely not! I like it outside...I like people...I like social interaction, and I don't mean on a computer! But I do think we're buying into the movie plot lines a little too much - we are not going to turn into a bunch of flesh-eating zombies, or all become blind or what have you. The government is not secretly injecting us with GPS devices to track our movements...they're doing their best to stave off a major incident. This, like all other things, will pass. I just hope that all my friends and family are doing all they can to protect themselves, and take care of themselves.
Positive side note of the flu?? Down 6 pounds since Saturday morning! Oh, if only that would last!!!!
Stay safe,
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