Happiness and influenza

My maternal grandmother, Linda, whom we called "Granny" was born in 1904. She died when she was nearly 90 years old.

Back in the mid 1970s, a little kid version of me went on a genealogy binge. (We'll talk more about the wonder of family history at some point.) Besides gathering birth, death, and marriage dates, I also had the presence of mind to ask questions about childhoods. I'm sure Granny didn't give an 11-year old the straight scoop on every topic (like the details on meeting and marrying my grandfather who was 13 years her junior.)

Being 11, I was interested in her take as a young girl on World War I. She mentioned that people followed along in the newspaper. There were no televisions or radios. I could always tell when my grandmother would lose herself in thought. She would look down at her hands or her large round knees (she always wore a house dress) and then she'd raise her head and look you in the eye when she spoke. If she did that, she was being very serious.

She told me about the summer and fall of 1918. She remembered being scared. She remembered people she knew falling ill and dying, including kids her age. She remembered not really caring that the war was over. She was remembering the Spanish Flu outbreak.

The flu usually isn't dangerous, but it is debilitating and it causes problems for the elderly and for the very young. This is where the mortality rates for flu are high. Flu will keep you from working and living well for two to four weeks, but if you are a healthy kid or adult, it is rarely fatal. None of this was true in 1918. Healthy children and adults were the ones dying.

My grandmother remembered vividly. You could tell by listening to her, nearly sixty years later, what a devastating effect it had on her childhood. She didn't know the real impact, but estimates are that 50 million people died during the epidemic in less than 2 years. (Compare to AIDS which resulted in 25 million deaths in its first 25 years.)

Granny got a flu shot every year. I do the same thing.

Jocelyn already took her shot. I'm scheduled for next week after I return from this business trip (I'm in Texas again.) A few years ago, Jocelyn skipped her shot. In mid-January she got the flu. By March she was feeling better. She had a three week period of aches, pains, fever, constant stuffiness and a cough. The cough led to pains in her throat and chest. And you have to watch out for pneumonia symptoms.

It's not very fun. It certainly doesn't make anyone happy.

The shot doesn't make you sick, though your arm can be sore for a day or two. There's a nasal spray version that uses a weakened virus (not a dead virus like in the shot) so you can avoid the needle.

You should ask your doctor. The CDC has some info available about vaccinations.

In the interest of full disclosure, I work for a company that sells and distributes (but does not manufacture) flu vaccines. This fact has absolutely nothing to do with this post.

I feel strongly that avoiding the flu is a key to happiness over the winter months. The flu isn't very likely to kill any of us, but that doesn't mean that I am willing to suffer through an avoidable illness.

What are your thoughts on the flu vaccine? Have you ever had the flu?