Today was flu shot day! Yeah! I was able to get one through my company this year, saving me another KUMed run – actually the team that came to give the shots was from KUMed.
Given my headache, (which is still with me) I’m not sure I was supposed to get one – but the allure of saving me a half day off work and a huge cab fare was too much temptation. When the nurse read the consent form to me, I decided not to go into details.
The form asked if I’d had a fever in the last 48 hours. I looked at the clock and counted back. By 1:30 pm, when I’m getting the shot, it will have been 48 hours since I had a fever. (And it was only 99 then.) I checked off no.
Then the form wanted to know if I was sick. Sick? Well, that’s a relative term. What do you mean by sick? By sick, do you mean am I feeling well? I pondered the question, my head pounding, and then I checked “no.” I guess I’ll be sorry if I get the flu. The thing is I often don’t feel completely well. I don’t necessarily feel hugely sick, just not 100 percent. So, if you look at “sick” as a relative term, I’m feeling relatively okay – not great – but okay enough that I’m at work, thus, I’m not sick.
Those of us with the Hermansky-Pudlak Syndrome type of albinism are supposed to get flu shots every year. Medical wisdom right now holds that keeping us as healthy as possible lessens the chances of developing an illness that could affect our lungs. The fewer insults on our already genetically fragile lungs, the better.
As a result, if you have HPS you should be getting your flu shot. Although I haven’t yet heard of any shortages this year, should there be a shortage, we fall into the high risk category and thus should still be able to obtain flu shots.
Given my headache, (which is still with me) I’m not sure I was supposed to get one – but the allure of saving me a half day off work and a huge cab fare was too much temptation. When the nurse read the consent form to me, I decided not to go into details.
The form asked if I’d had a fever in the last 48 hours. I looked at the clock and counted back. By 1:30 pm, when I’m getting the shot, it will have been 48 hours since I had a fever. (And it was only 99 then.) I checked off no.
Then the form wanted to know if I was sick. Sick? Well, that’s a relative term. What do you mean by sick? By sick, do you mean am I feeling well? I pondered the question, my head pounding, and then I checked “no.” I guess I’ll be sorry if I get the flu. The thing is I often don’t feel completely well. I don’t necessarily feel hugely sick, just not 100 percent. So, if you look at “sick” as a relative term, I’m feeling relatively okay – not great – but okay enough that I’m at work, thus, I’m not sick.
Those of us with the Hermansky-Pudlak Syndrome type of albinism are supposed to get flu shots every year. Medical wisdom right now holds that keeping us as healthy as possible lessens the chances of developing an illness that could affect our lungs. The fewer insults on our already genetically fragile lungs, the better.
As a result, if you have HPS you should be getting your flu shot. Although I haven’t yet heard of any shortages this year, should there be a shortage, we fall into the high risk category and thus should still be able to obtain flu shots.
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