A Vaccine Lesson Learned the Hard Way
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Life is hectic. There are schedules, jobs, meetings, and appointments to juggle every single week, if not day! And sometimes things got lost in the shuffle. At least that’s the case for me. I’ve been guilty of letting things fall by the wayside, and there have been times when I thought to myself, is it really necessary that I take the time to schedule a doctor’s visit to get my flu shot? Well, after my experience in the winter of 2018-2019, I’ll never question the need for a flu shot again!
I’ve always been a believer that vaccinations are important. I have made sure to get my son all his vaccines on schedule. After experiencing his compromised immune system and two hospitals stays for him, when he was born premature, I have always been very careful when it comes to his health and avoiding illnesses if possible. But I will admit that I have let flu shots for myself slide in the past. Most of the time when I avoided it, I also ended up lucking out and avoiding contracting the flu.
In December of 2018, I still hadn’t gotten my fall/winter flu shot as I headed out for a trip to Spain and Morocco with two friends. I rarely got sick at the time (ah, the days before motherhood) and wasn’t really concerned about my lack of flu shot. The trip was a wonderful experience, aside from one small incident. While in Morocco, I woke up one morning covered in red bumps. They went up my neck, down my arms and my legs. It was concerning for me and my friends. We weren’t sure if the “riad” or Moroccan hotel, had bed bugs or if I was bitten by some sort of bug in the desert the previous day. We decided to monitor me for any signs of fever or illness as we continued our trip in Madrid, Spain.
When I returned to Colorado, I wasn’t sick, but I followed up with my doctor about the bumps. They did some tests just to make sure they weren’t anything serious and were unable to figure out what had caused them, but thought they were likely a bug bite. While I was there, we talked about my flu shot, but the doctor was hesitant to give me one that day. She reasoned that if the bumps did end up being some sort of illness, it would be hard to know if the shot had given me a low-grade fever or soreness, or if it was the bites. She advised me to return in a few weeks for my shot. So, again I left without my flu shot. After that, the bumps went away without any other symptoms. By this point it was almost Christmas and once again, I let the vaccine fall off my radar.
I came to regret this in February of 2019, when I went to work feeling very under the weather. My boss sent me home and told me to make a doctor appointment immediately because I might have the flu. I did not think that I did but went anyway on her orders. I was shocked to find out at the doctor’s office that I had a fever and tested positive for the flu! What followed was a very rough period of sickness that entailed lots of mucus, a sore throat, fever, runny nose, and a cough that would not quit for what seemed like forever, but more likely was several weeks. I was forced to take my paid time off because I was contagious and didn’t feel well enough to work. I felt very bad for so long that it felt like I would never get better.
This experience, while very unpleasant, has stuck with me. Every year since I have made the time to get my flu shot, no matter how busy I get. And whenever someone says they don’t get one, I remind them how horrible a case of the flu can be. My advice to others is always that, while taking the time to get your flu shot can be annoying or inconvenient, having the flu is so much worse and so much more inconvenient.
If you aren’t sure where to begin, you can always talk to your doctor. If you need some suggestions, these places give out flu shots, either as walk-ins or appointments and have a lot of locations:
