In 2014 I contracted the flu. My immune was still down from chemotherapy, and I stupidly, completely forgot to get the flu vaccine. This was probably one of the biggest regrets of my life. You see what most people consider "the flu" is a mere cold. We are prone in Ireland to believe that the flu is quite common, we use the word nearly in every day life to mean we are feeling unwell. We think common colds, when bad, is the flu. Not everyone will even contract the flu in their entire life. Because of this, we have downgraded the virus in our society, the lines are blurred.
I was on a high finishing treatment for Hodgkins lymphoma, ready to get my life back on track with college and work. I wasn’t thinking about the flu, or the flu vaccine, or anything medical at all.
In 2014 I contracted the flu. I thought cancer was bad enough, I thought Ehlers-Danlos syndrome and my comorbid disabilities were bad enough ...but I was about to find out how unwell I could actually get. Weeks of delirious shaking and sweating and sleeping eventually subsided. Eventually I could stand up without falling over, eventually I could speak properly.
