Flu Season is the Worst Season

By now, many are aware that it's currently the peak of flu season, and it's getting so bad that people all over the nation, young and old, are dying of certain strains of the flu, including the H1N1 strain, otherwise known as "swine flu."

Here in Gainesville, it's no different. Children and the elderly have passed, doctor's offices and pharmacies have been experiencing shortages of vaccines, and students here at UF have been holed up in their rooms coughing and loading up on medicine.

Students such as myself.

I was fortunate enough to receive my flu vaccine before the initial onset of the disease hit town during my annual physical. Being a UF student, I was able to receive it for free, a blessing to students here on campus. Faculty and staff members may have to pay upwards of $30 just to protect themselves from getting the bug.

However, this was in October, and although I didn't have a full-on flu and wasn't miserable for days, it was enough to hinder my work ability in the newsroom and to land me in bed for a good three days.

It. Was. Miserable.

I had to work my 10-hour TV2 shift with a sore throat and a slight headache, and by the time the day ended, all I wanted to do was lay in my bed covered in blankets and warm clothing. I had gone out to dinner with a couple of friends after the shift, still feeling feverish as I ate my California flatbread at Chili's (although I did savor the avocado on top. I was not going to let a fever stop me from enjoying one of my favorite foods).

By 10:00 that night I was done. I was in bed by 11:30, shivering and freezing cold. My thermometer said that I didn't have a temperature, but when I woke up on Saturday morning, it read 99.9 degrees and climbing.

Wonderful.

Unfortunately, I was unable to spend my entire day resting and relaxing. I had to work a four-hour shift at my job, only to come back later that evening and work another three-hour shift, feeling downright awful and risking infecting everyone around me. I was absolutely exhausted by the end of Saturday, that when my little sister in my sorority came by with two giant boxes of assorted Midnight Cookies and a TV Guide, I was delirious in my feverish stupor.

I was out like a light by 11:30, and apparently so was she. I awoke in the middle of the night to find that Law and Order: SVU was still on and we had both fallen asleep surrounded by cookies.

Good news: my fever had broken. Bad news: I was still exhausted and surrounded by cookies that were cold and probably inedible by that point since they'd been laying around in my bed for about two and a half hours.

So, as a note of precaution to anyone out there who's reading this: GET YOUR FLU SHOT. Fevers are the worst, even if they only last about 24 hours.