Grandma Henke

Okay, here’s the scoop, straight from my doctor to you.    When you get a flu shot you do NOT get the flu.      

Flu shots or any kind of immunizations always make me sick.   I can count on it.   When I talked to my doctor yesterday (right before he gave me my flu shot) he explained that I don’t get the flu.   I get serum sickness.  That’s because I have an almost inactive immunization system to begin with, so when I get the shots my body works so hard trying to build antibodies that it wipes me out.    I feel like I have the flu but I don’t have the fever and although I ache, I don’t have near the aches I would have should I catch the real flu.

It made sense to me because two years ago I decided NOT to get the shot since I always get sick with them … I figured I’d take the chance of getting the flu.  Who knows … maybe I could just avoid it.    So … I had an ongoing lung infection all year … and then on top of that I got the flu.  I ended up in the hospital with it.    I actually thought I was going to die I was so weak and couldn’t breathe for so long.     

I have a new doctor this year and when he explained it to me and said, “So you have a choice … feel crappy for 2 weeks for sure … or take a chance of getting it and being deathly ill for even longer.”    I chose the feel crappy for 2 weeks.