Is This You? A shot in the arm

There are subjects that will be debated for years and years and will still not be resolved. You know, the chicken or the egg? The lefties or righties in politics? Which is better, with or without fries? Yes, all important discussions for sure. So let’s talk about a much debated subject: the flu shot, shall we?

There are two of us in our household. One of us gets a flu shot every year without fail and one of us, me, doesn’t. Who’s right? Well, I am of course, silly.

Let’s look at the science for the reason to have the flu shot. I must say here I’m not in any way suggesting you do or don’t get this shot. I’m just telling what my one-minded opinion is. OK, we can now proceed with my, and mine alone, proverbial knowledge — such as it is.

The science behind the workings of the flu shot, I’ve been told, is the flu shot is dead flu stuff your body will attack and that attack will make your body stronger to fight off the live, real, disastrous flu bugs that might inhabit spaces in your body and make you sick as a dog. Sounds too good to be true, huh? I mean, if science can do that with flu bugs, why oh why can’t they kill fat cells, stuff them into a syringe, shoot them into my ever-so-plump bod so those dead cells get attacked by my body and then my body would kill my always-growing-in-number fat cells and make me look all thin and a svelte size 12 like Marilyn Monroe was? Now, that really sounds too good to be true — and of course, it is. Dang me!

I’ve no doubt in some people the flu shot works wonders and if not taken some run the risk of getting really sick from the flu. But, yes, yes, there’s a “but!” But there are those of us who walk among you that feel the flu shot makes us sick. Is it just me? I don’t think so. I have run onto a few other people who say they get the flu from flu shots. And of course I’ve been told by medical professionals there’s absolutely no way the flu shot can give me the flu. So convincingly so a few times in the past I decided maybe this time I won’t get sick and I give in and get the shot. And I’ll be a monkey’s uncle if not more than a day later I’m sick as that proverbial dog — with the flu. But I have also been told I wasn’t as sick as I would be if I hadn’t taken the shot. But sick just the same. Where’s the logic in that?

So? What’s a person to do about this dilemma? Not to be too flippant about it, but how about flipping a coin? Heads no flu shot, tails you get a flu shot. Pretty silly way to take aim at what can become a really deadly illness. But just to be sure you don’t do something terribly wrong, please know I’m not talking about childhood vaccinations here. I wholeheartedly believe in getting all the vaccinations there are for kids. Even though I still remember beads of sweat forming on my brow as I was taking home the permission slips to have my parents sign saying the nurse was allowed to stab my arm and inject whatever solution was the solution of choice at the time. I got every shot under the sun when I was a kid and never got whooping cough, polio, or any other bugga-bugga disease those vaccinations were designed and created to protect me from. My parents were smarter than I and had their children protected from everything you can think of in the way of vaccinations and I’m thankful for their clearheaded thinking. Even if each one was, at the time, a major trauma to this little chickadee. But this flu thing is different. How? Well ...

I just don’t want it. It’s that plain and simple. It might be the pain of the shot. I mean, my dad used to tease us they would use a huge needle with a hook on one end and a propeller on the other to deliver the medicine. Well, that will make any kid stay up all night worrying. But now it isn’t the pain — well, not too much. In reality I probably, in the deepness of myself, I really do believe the flu shot is a good idea for kids, people with some illnesses and our more mature population. When it really comes down to the nitty gritty of it? I don’t want to be put in any of these categories. Especially that “more mature population” one.

Trina lives in Eureka, Nevada. Share with her at itybytrina@yahoo.com. Really!