Friday, January 11, 2013

Flu Shot

There is a lot of hype going around about the flu bug this year.  Joanne is on my back to get a flu shot, but I haven't had the flu for twenty years or so.  Course I was hospitalized with it in my early twenties, so I know how bad it can get.   Back then, I went on intraveinous feeding in Union Hospital for a week, lost a ton of weight and was really weak.
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So Peeps, I really should get a shot and so should you.
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But we are fortunate that we don't have the diseases of our ancestors.   Our great Sachem Nanepashemet had 3000 warriors in his band in 1616.  By 1619, he had 300 due to the smallpox that was introduced to the Indians by European fishermen landing in New England.
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It was this epidemic that opened up the Indian lands allowing for the Great English Puritan Migration of the 1620's and 30's.
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Smallpox was a scourge in Colonial America as well and would arise every few years to the great panic and despair of the townspeople.  In Marblehead, they would seal off the roads, not let anyone come and go, and send the sick off to a hospital on Cat Island, a 1/2 mile off shore.  But the disease still would sweep though taking a percentage of the population.
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Must have been a terrifying period.   And the psyche of this lives on as we take precautions against the flu strains that exist today.


I too will never get a flu shot.
Back in 1994 I got the flu. The virus teamed up with the antibodies in my system and ate away at my spinal column rendering me paralyzed from the neck down. The disease is known as Gulliane Barre Syndrom. This thing kicked my but and it took six months for me to get back on my feet. The Flu shot is a direct injection of the virus into your system. When diagnosed the doc asked me if I had a flu shot recently. Although the answer was no and I simply had the flu, the chances are increased to get this dreaded disease if you get a flu shot. It is a one in 2-3 million shot this could happen to you. I will take my chances and purchase hand sanitizer and stay away from anyone with flu like symptoms. Go Pats.

1 comment:

TommyO said...

I too will never get a flu shot.
Back in 1994 I got the flu. The virus teamed up with the antibodies in my system and ate away at my spinal column rendering me paralyzed from the neck down. The disease is known as Gulliane Barre Syndrom. This thing kicked my but and it took six months for me to get back on my feet. The Flu shot is a direct injection of the virus into your system. When diagnosed the doc asked me if I had a flu shot recently. Although the answer was no and I simply had the flu, the chances are increased to get this dreaded disease if you get a flu shot. It is a one in 2-3 million shot this could happen to you. I will take my chances and purchase hand sanitizer and stay away from anyone with flu like symptoms. Go Pats.