warning – possibly boring post about the flu shot. which you should totally get.
so i got my flu shot wednesday morning. the employee clinic has walk-in hours starting at seven in the morning, so d and i were first in line. it was a fun little field trip. although, i swear the nurse stabbed me a little extra-hard, because i insisted she give me the shot in my left, rather than my right, arm. i explained i’m in a phlebotomy training program, and my best vein for the other students is in my right arm. and i’d rather not get stabbed at more than one joint per arm. she was pissy, and took revenge on my left shoulder. which still hurts like crazy.
anyway.
now, i get asked the same questions about the flu shot every damn year, and so i thought i’d share my wealth of knowledge on the subject. i’m a huge fan of the flu shot – i don’t care what you do or who you are. unless you have an allergy to eggs, you should get the shot. before i talk about why, allow me to dispell the big rumors:
you can get the flu from the flu shot – baloney. the shot the nurse or whoever gives you is an inactive vaccine, made from killed virus. this is not a zombie movie; it’s not going to re-animate or make you crave brains (mmmm, brains). it’s like a study session for your white blood cells, to simplify things on a massive level.
there is a new method of vaccination that involves a spray up the snout. they usually only give it to young’uns. the spray is made from live flu virus, but massively weakened. so, it is highly unlikely that a child can get the flu from the spray. the little fact sheet i got at work actually says, and i quote, “the mist is approved for use in healthy people 2-49 years of age who are not pregnant.” it made me laugh the first time i read it, because i thought it said good for ages 2-9. and i was thinking, wow, those floozy 9-year-olds. they’ve got to learn to keep their underroos on.
heh. as i was saying…
you only need the shot if you work with sick people – absolute crappe. if you work in a school, or maybe at some large retail establishment, you should get the shot. if you come into contact with people who may or may not wash their hands, you really should get the flu shot.
when i was in college the first time around, i worked at a bookstore. and i got massively ill because some absolute crazy lady sneezed in my face. i didn’t just get her cold – oh no. i got some kind of bizarre supervirus that turned my innards to liquid. liquid that apparently needed to shoot out of any available portal, like, now. not pretty.
i’m healthy. i don’t need a stinkin’ shot – suck it. seriously. i don’t get the flu shot because i don’t want to be bothered with getting sick. i get it because i don’t want others to get sick. yes, i deal with sick people, and that makes me high risk. i don’t want to pass the virus on from some sneezing freak that can’t cover their mouth and nose, to some little old lady at the yarn store. i don’t want my awesome little grandmother getting the flu from me, even though i don’t have any symptoms.
oh, and don’t cough into your hands, folks. it’s nasty and it spreads disease. cough or sneeze into your arm. i aim for my elbow, personally.
i don’t believe in western medicine. i’ll just load up on vitamin c – okay. getting plenty of vitamins is a grand idea, and not just during cold weather. it helps your immune system, and you feel great in general. it will even help if you’re on a diet. and i love the emergen-c! stuff they sell at the grocer. good stuff. and echinacea, or however you spell it, it really good when you’ve got a cold. but kids, a cold and the flu are two different animals. and, if you load up on too much vitamin c, do you know what happens? you can give yourself diarrhea. it’s one of those things – too much will make your body do questionable things. you may not believe in western medicine, but the bugs it can prevent sure believe in you.
and, as an aside – unbuffered vitamin c, which they don’t sell a lot of, can cause you to spontaneously abort your pregnancy. the acids in vitamin c make the uterus a toxic wasteland for junior. so, if you’re knocked up, make sure any vitamin supplements you take are buffered. just saying, is all.
okay, i’m done. get the vaccine or don’t. it’s a personal choice, and you’re all individuals capable of making said choice. but don’t whine to me when your muscles ache, and even reaching for the remote control hurts.
we now return to our regular schedule of poop jokes and sock knitting. thanks for stopping by.
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