Take shot at avoiding 'Aught-Two Flu'ONCE MORE My flu shot didn't happen this year. My doctor was stomping the floor telling me to get the flu shot and I finally said I would. But it was too late. I came down with flu before the needle arrived. This is the third-worst case of flu I've ever had. Twice before I was slugged by mean cases of flu but the one that hit me in 1957 turned out not to be flu at all. I name my bad flu bouts and I'd dubbed the one that turned out not to be flu the "1957 Flu." It came during a worldwide epidemic that kept gravediggers busy. The "1969 Flu" was miserable, too, and it really was the flu. I'd taken the vaccine the day before it hit me. I blamed the vaccine in 1969, but medical people don't like for me to say that. To the medical folks, it was destiny that brought on the 1969 flu. Well now I have a new case of flu and I've named it the "Aught-Two Flu." Who knows what strain it is. I couldn't care less at this point. It's the Aught-Two to me and it produces the most violent coughing fits I've ever had. I don't want to overlook the achy joints, throbbing headaches, fiery sore throat and malaise. I've had this one 10 days now. KID ME ON THIS? When I was hit by what I thought was flu in 1957, I was sure my bones were headed to the cemetery. A friend and I walked to a store that night in November 1957. I felt great heading up Pico Boulevard in Santa Monica to buy sodas and chips. Casey and I walked out of the store with our purchases and before I walked 50 feet, I felt a sore throat coming on. A block later, I broke out in a cold sweat and began shivering. By midnight, Casey wanted to call an ambulance as my fever soared and I could not even get out of bed. The news was full of stories about the flu epidemic laying so many people low. I told my friend this was the 1957 flu. Two weeks later I was in St. Johns Hospital diagnosed with mononucleosis. My weight had plunged from 135 to 115 pounds in that time. That was the 1957 flu. Casey laughed and said I'd named it as if it were a new car. Oh, it was a rattletrap. Or I was. It put me in the garage for four months but it also resulted in cancellation of a television program that week. THANKSGIVING SHOW Television drama was performed live in 1957 and I had the main supporting role in a Playhouse 90 production scheduled for Thanksgiving night, two days after I went down with the 1957 flu. CBS postponed the show and replaced me when I was hospitalized two weeks later. I was in college at the time and had to withdraw and postpone my graduation a year. Even though I became aware the illness was mono, it remained forever in my mind as the 1957 flu. I still take a ribbing when I describe it that way. But in 1969, I came down with another variety, this time after a flu shot. I called this one the 1969 flu since it was easily the second worst case of flu I'd ever had. Three weeks in bed convinced me flu shots would give me flu, so I didn't take another one. Not ever. My doctor urged me this year to get a flu shot anyway. He argued all the scientific studies show the shot doesn't give flu. GET A SHOT Folks, if you haven't had a flu shot yet, run as fast as you can to get one. You ought to get that shot before Aught-Two gets you. There is nothing in the drugstore to allay these symptoms and there's nothing behind the prescription counter to rid you of the Aught-Two Flu either. You can make your cough more productive by swallowing the foul-tasting red syrup and you can make your head drain like a ruptured dam with a little red pill, but only time will wear out this flu. Aspirin and other analgesics do nothing for the headaches and joint aches. They just have to ease their way out of you and into somebody else, I suppose. About the time you think the Aught-Two is letting up on you, look out. It's about to ambush you all over again. I'm on day 10 as I write this column. Retired journalist Bill Hill's column appears weekly at News-Journal Online. His e-mail address is shanobill@virtual-mail.com.
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