Still Not Dead

I’ve been feeling rotten over the last week. I ended up having to take the day off work on  Friday as I didn’t have the strength to get out of bed. It’s the first time I’ve had to take a day off work for about 10 years. The last time was when I was suffering from influenza: as in the nasty viral disease that lands you in hospital rather than the bad case of the sniffles that most people call the flu.

I’ve put my absence down as “flu-like symptoms” rather than that dreadful phrase “a touch of the flu” although it does appear to have affected my lungs as well. It’s certainly not as bad as 10 years ago when I ended up being treated at the hospital but it’s certainly more serious than the notorious “man-flu”, the combination of blocked nose, headache and grumpiness that affects us poor wee flowers more than women (the female equivalent being bird-flu).

I’m actually wondering if what I’ve been suffering from could have been preventable as I wasn’t given a seasonal flu jab this year. For the last few years I’ve received this via my employer as I was regarded as an essential health worker (at least in terms of supporting health systems). Apparently, I’m now expendable. However, this did make me wonder whether the current stretching of A&E services could be prevented with more effective vaccination programmes. Given the current problems with funding it seems less fashionable to provide a health service than a sickness service.

I think the reason that all this has been weighing on my mind is that as of this Sunday I have actually managed to live longer than my father achieved. As he died from a relatively rare disorder (motor neuron disease) rather than anything known to be hereditary I shouldn’t really have been that bothered. However, as he went from someone active and still taking part in competitive sport to death in under 18 months it does somewhat put things into perspective. At least I can report that as of today, I’m still not dead.