I’m So Glad I Had the Flu
It happened exactly as I’d feared. Despite having gotten a flu shot (apparently not soon enough), I contracted the flu on one of my recent business trips. I felt nauseous throughout the entire flight home on a Friday and 24 hours later I was completely bed-ridden with a high fever and…well, you know the other symptoms so I won’t elaborate!
Fortunately my parents were visiting for the weekend so they helped manage the girls, but I was out of work Monday and Tuesday as well. With the help of some over-the-counter medication I was at least retaining fluids by Monday afternoon, but my routine still went something like this: sleep 2 hours – alert for 1 hour – sick, sick, sick – sleep 2 hours – alert for 1 hour – sick, sick, sick…and so on.
Every time I woke up for an hour, Andy and the girls thought it was the perfect time to pounce on Mommy in the bed and try to “cheer her up”. For those of you who know me well enough, you know I like to be ALONE when I’m sick. Put me in a room, lock the door, leave food and water outside the door, and when I’m well enough I’ll resurface a new woman. But this time it was different. Despite the headache, the muscle aches, the general feeling of “Ick” with a capital “I”, all I could think about was “I am so glad I only have the flu.”
Maybe it was the fever, maybe it was the fact that Christmas season is in full swing, but more than likely it was simply how many heart-wrenching stories I’ve heard lately about friends of friends with serious and even terminal illnesses. A 54-year-old wife and mother of three who found out she had a brain mass and died one month later. A 36-year-old wife and mother of one who thought she’d beaten cancer and now has been told she has 2 months to live. A co-worker who went in for minor surgery and ended up on a respirator and in ICU.
So when my family barged through the door to “cheer me up”, my tears were in fact tears of joy. I was happy to have only the flu.
- Melissa
