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| Post Number: 1
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Roger 
Group: Members
Posts: 1891
Joined: Feb. 2002
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Posted on: Jan. 10 2013, 1:45 pm |
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This year influenza season is off to an early start with an unusually aggressive virus. Vaccination while far from perfect does help prevent influenza. If you have not been vaccinated yet get vaccinated not only to protect yourself get it to help protect those around you.
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“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” -Mark Twain
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| Post Number: 2
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JimInMD
Group: Members
Posts: 3112
Joined: Feb. 2011
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Posted on: Jan. 10 2013, 1:50 pm |
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The "herd immunity" principle as my wife with her Masters in Public Health likes to call it...
Yes, I've had a flu shot as has my wife and daughter.
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Checking out for a while, find me on FB.
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| Post Number: 3
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Ben2World
Group: Members
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Posted on: Jan. 10 2013, 1:57 pm |
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Interestingly, the last time I got the flu was way back in 2003 -- my last year working. Since I retired at the beginning of 2004 -- I haven't ever gotten sick -- not even one cold. And no flu shots either.
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The world is a book and those who do not travel read only a page. -- St. Augustine
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| Post Number: 4
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EastieTrekker
Group: Members
Posts: 1467
Joined: Mar. 2012
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Posted on: Jan. 10 2013, 2:01 pm |
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Well Mayor Menino has declared a Public Health Emergency in Boston, but I'm not getting one. I should knock on wood, I suppose, but I've never had the flu, ever. Nor have I ever had the shot. Sure I'll typically get that one sinus infection every winter, but the debilitating, achy body flu? Count me lucky, I guess.
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I request all the possible consumer protection organizations, and fight with their injustice. 
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| Post Number: 5
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ol-zeke
me in the Tetons
Group: Members
Posts: 10768
Joined: Sep. 2002
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Posted on: Jan. 10 2013, 2:07 pm |
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I figure all of my flying around has exposed me, if not already then soon. I have not yet gotten mine, and do not see me doing so before Feb.
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Everything I know, I learned by doing it wrong at least twice.
The easiest way to ruin a Friday is to realize it is only Tuesday.
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| Post Number: 6
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toejam
the high road is hard to find
Group: Members
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Posted on: Jan. 10 2013, 2:09 pm |
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I quit taking them several years ago. The idea of some annonymous group at a remote location deciding months in advance what kind of immunization I need bothers me. The last time I got the flu I'd had the shot.
I do have a prescription anti-viral my company buys that I can take if I do start coming down with the flu. It hasn't been necessary.
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| Post Number: 7
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Firedancer
Colorado Dreamin'
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Posts: 4215
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Posted on: Jan. 10 2013, 2:18 pm |
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Nope.
Sometimes my company will do free on-site flu shots, but otherwise I don't go out of my way to get it. I'm rarely around kids or old people and am rarely sick, aside from two colds a year that usually start with allergies.
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The future is no place to place your better days.
Dave Matthews
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| Post Number: 8
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WalksWithBlackflies
Resident Eco-Freak Bootlicker
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Posted on: Jan. 10 2013, 2:24 pm |
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My son and daughter... yes. My wife and I... no.
The pediatrician said this season's vaccine is a poor match for the viruses actually circulating. So far, only my son has gotten the flu... which supports his claim.
I've been using echinacea and goldenseal for a few years with excellent results. Start at the first sign of illness. It doesn't always prevent me from getting sick, but when I do, it is much less severe and a shorter duration. The only bad sickness I've had since using these herbs is strep throat. Not sure if that's because strep is bacterial, while colds/flu are viral.
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When I let go of what I am, I become what I might be. - Lao Tzu
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| Post Number: 9
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RumiDude
Group: Members
Posts: 13639
Joined: Feb. 2002
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Posted on: Jan. 10 2013, 2:26 pm |
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I get the flu shot every year now. I used to be hit and miss with getting it but since the last time I got the flu I have not missed. The last time I got the flu, about 2004, I became very sick and it took months to fully recover. Idon't want that to happen again.
Rumi
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“This is my Indian summer ... I'm far more dangerous now, because I don't care at all.”
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| Post Number: 10
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RebeccaD
Double Arch, Arches N.P.
Group: Members
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Posted on: Jan. 10 2013, 2:30 pm |
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I'm with Rumi on this one. The vaccine also means that if you do get the flu, it is apt to be less severe. The few times I have gotten flu I had not been vaccinated, and like Rumi the last time it took a long time to get over--secondary infections, strained ribs from the coughing, etc.
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Bits of writerly thoughts and random short fiction found at
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| Post Number: 11
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| Post Number: 12
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tarol
Well I never!
Group: Members
Posts: 10283
Joined: Mar. 2003
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Posted on: Jan. 10 2013, 2:34 pm |
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(EastieTrekker @ Jan. 10 2013, 2:01 pm)
QUOTE I should knock on wood, I suppose, but I've never had the flu, ever. Nor have I ever had the shot. Sure I'll typically get that one sinus infection every winter, but the debilitating, achy body flu? Count me lucky, I guess.
Ditto - just getting over my "annual" winter sinus infection here, a couple of days of mild symptoms
I don't think anyone in my family has ever had the flu, or the flu shot. Course we live in CA, where it usually isn't as bad.
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Got elevation? www.tarol.com
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| Post Number: 13
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buddero
Group: Members
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Posted on: Jan. 10 2013, 3:54 pm |
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(RebeccaD @ Jan. 10 2013, 2:32 pm)
QUOTE
(toejam @ Jan. 10 2013, 11:09 am)
QUOTE I quit taking them several years ago. The idea of some annonymous group at a remote location deciding months in advance what kind of immunization I need bothers me. It would be nice if your own doctor just down the street could concoct the perfect local vaccine this week. But that's not how vaccine creation works, at least not yet (a worthy goal though).
Good one. Not to mention the fact that a number of very smart and well-educated experts in infectious diseases and public health put a lot of study and effort into a serious worldwide public health problem. Nothing local about this one.
Yes, I got mine several months ago.
Good OP.
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Reach out your hand, if your cup be empty
If your cup is full, may it be again
Journal and links to refugees, backpacking, travel in Asia, photos, honky-tonk angels, other beautiful things...
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| Post Number: 14
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Dave Senesac
Group: Members
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Posted on: Jan. 10 2013, 3:55 pm |
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Yes in October free through my health insurance provider and always get the shot. Last time I caught influenza was decades ago during that year it was most virulent. Very scary symptoms. Whether cold or flu, I greatly dislike being sick. I have a suspicion the more respiratory illnesses one catches over one's lifetime the faster one ages and that it shortens one's life.
I hardly ever catch head cold viruses though did come down with a slight head cold in this November. Previously caught colds in 2007 and 2002 so about every 4 or 5 years which has been the case since the 1980's though lots of people around me are often sick.
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...David
http://davidsenesac.com
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| Post Number: 15
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| Post Number: 16
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sarbar
Hiker Trash
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Posted on: Jan. 10 2013, 6:19 pm |
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The problem lies in that what many think of as "The Flu" isn't. Until you truly get your butt kicked by it......
When I was pregnant with Walker and the Swine Flu shots were hard to get, I found one through a program of the County - where you could see real time online of who had gotten shots in. I was able to get mine early on. My husband and oldest son, who was 12 then, didn't. They both got the flu that year. I didn't.
It was horrid. I was pregnant, tired and barfy. And had to take care of them for a week, hauling barf buckets, sterilizing everything, every day. Stripping sheets, running on high. They couldn't keep anything in them. Smelling that much puke and acrid sweat made my all-day gagginess even worse.
I have had a true flu once, when I was a teen. Apparently I was hallucinating from the fevers, I got out of bed and fell into the wall a few times, and then slammed a door on my arm. They dragged me back to bed. I have no memory of it.
To say the least, I take a flu shot every year, as do the kids and Kirk. Kirk NEVER wants to go through that again. And for all of you smug over not getting it....if you have little kids, once they go to school, they bring home EVERYTHING. Hahhah. Which is why I immunize Ford for everything I can. I even had his whooping cough bumped up to ensure he didn't bring it home to his brothers (since the youngest doesn't have all his shots yet). His school was bad earlier this year, with teens getting it like crazy and spreading it.
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Trail Cooking, Recipes, Gear and Beyond:
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| Post Number: 17
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onepaddlejunkie
Group: Members
Posts: 276
Joined: Mar. 2008
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Posted on: Jan. 10 2013, 6:41 pm |
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I work with a bunch of nurses. No way they would let me get away without being stabbed with a needle. I get a flu shot every year and have for a long time. I don't get the flu. That's all I need to know.
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| Post Number: 18
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JimInMD
Group: Members
Posts: 3112
Joined: Feb. 2011
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Posted on: Jan. 10 2013, 6:42 pm |
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According to my dad, influenza wiped out a branch of my family in the early part of the 20th century. My Great grandmother was the only one from her family that survived, killed her parents and siblings.
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Checking out for a while, find me on FB.
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| Post Number: 19
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bad knees
Group: Members
Posts: 2381
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Posted on: Jan. 10 2013, 6:52 pm |
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We have a 9 day old baby, so yeah, we got it. Let's hope it works.
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There's a story behind that!
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| Post Number: 20
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no_granola
minor deity
Group: Members
Posts: 12546
Joined: Dec. 2004
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Posted on: Jan. 10 2013, 6:56 pm |
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No. If it takes me out then it takes me out.
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The difference between people who think for themselves and those that follow the herd is that thinking people aren't afraid of reality.
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| Post Number: 21
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buddero
Group: Members
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Joined: Jan. 2009
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Posted on: Jan. 10 2013, 7:00 pm |
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Oink. My last intersection with influenza: http://ckjournal.blogspot.com/2009....ss.html
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Reach out your hand, if your cup be empty
If your cup is full, may it be again
Journal and links to refugees, backpacking, travel in Asia, photos, honky-tonk angels, other beautiful things...
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| Post Number: 22
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| Post Number: 23
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WBrim
Group: Members
Posts: 240
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Posted on: Jan. 10 2013, 8:00 pm |
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Years ago I got the flu shot at the behest of my Mom. First and last time I had one because it was the first time since I was a little kid that year I got the flu. I hadn't had the flu in years and knock on wood and not since have I had it.
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| Post Number: 24
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big_load
Group: Members
Posts: 21810
Joined: Jun. 2004
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Posted on: Jan. 10 2013, 8:15 pm |
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I get vaccinated every year at the first opportunity. My grandfather lost a few siblings in the 1918 epidemic.
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| Post Number: 25
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VAN
Group: Members
Posts: 3175
Joined: Nov. 2006
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Posted on: Jan. 10 2013, 8:24 pm |
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Yes. I have a 2 month old and a 3 year old. Both my husband and I got ours while I was pregnant. My 3 year old just got hers last month.
I worked in health care for 5 years and started getting the flu shot then. I have been very healthy, other then the pneumonia I got this year while pregnant (I don't recommend it... but hey, they don't make a vaccine for pneumonia!).
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"Long you live and high you fly. And smiles you'll give and tears you'll cry. And all you touch and all you see, is all your life will ever be." -Pink Floyd
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| Post Number: 26
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wildlifenate
Group: Members
Posts: 5830
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Posted on: Jan. 10 2013, 8:25 pm |
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last time I got the flu, I wound up with cancer.
getting the flu shot is not an option for me anymore. I will always be immunocompromised. I even got the swine flu vaccine while I was undergoing treatment. I got it when only the most at-risk people were able to get them.
I got my flu shot this year back in October or something. My dad got the flu just before Christmas and I managed to avoid it even though I was in the same house the whole time. I did wind up getting a damn cold that I'm still fighting 2 weeks later, though. Stupid lingering coughs.
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The GPS Geek
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| Post Number: 27
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Echo
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Posted on: Jan. 10 2013, 8:49 pm |
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I meant to, but didn't, since Dec 1st when I gave a mom and a 19 month old a ride to the emergency room, someone in my family has had the flu, which ran the same course for all 7 of the ones I consider family here in town, me and the husband, the two sons, both girlfriends and the toddler. But there was enough delay in between each onset that one would be nearly recovered before the next would get sick. Baby on the first, 5 days later her mom, then my oldest son on the 11th, and my husband around the 14, which was when the two college kids came home, then me and then them. everyone had a fever and aches for about a day first then vomited a couple times, then had intestinal issues for about a day, and then were just really weak for about a week, then as you thought it was over, each got a deep chest cough and head congestion and two of us got ear infections and I am still wondering about getting the flu shot even now.
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If Light is in your heart, you will find your way Home. (Rumi)
The miracle is not to fly in the air, or to walk on the water, but to walk on the earth. Chinese proverb
http://echo-echosvoice.blogspot.com/
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| Post Number: 28
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Roger
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Posted on: Jan. 10 2013, 9:36 pm |
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Echo - Those symptoms and the period of time between cases does not sound like flu. There are a lot of different bugs out their. GI problems/vomiting is not a common symptom of influenza. What is called stomach flu is not influenza.
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“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” -Mark Twain
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| Post Number: 29
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| Post Number: 30
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RebeccaD
Double Arch, Arches N.P.
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Posted on: Jan. 10 2013, 9:51 pm |
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What Roger said. If you are vomiting, other than as a reaction to a very high fever(more common in kids than adults, I think), it's not influenza.
And the biggest baddie about flu is opening the window to pneumonia. The pneumonia I had a few years ago while on vacation in Glacier probably started as the flu my son had just gotten over. Next thing I know I'm sitting up all night because I literally can't breathe if I lie down. Trust me, you don't want to do that.
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Bits of writerly thoughts and random short fiction found at
The Ninja Librarian Blog
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Survival Skills 101 • Eat Better
