{"id":214972,"date":"2018-08-06T17:48:40","date_gmt":"2018-08-06T07:48:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/?p=214972"},"modified":"2020-07-28T15:59:07","modified_gmt":"2020-07-28T05:59:07","slug":"next-year-i-will-get-a-flu-shot","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/2018\/08\/06\/next-year-i-will-get-a-flu-shot\/","title":{"rendered":"Next Year I Will Get A Flu Shot …"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"
The Ekka flu season is only a week away and this year’s strain is particularly nasty … ignore it at your peril<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

August 6, 2018<\/strong><\/p>\n

by Dafyd Martindale<\/strong><\/p>\n

On Saturday, July 28, I woke up and realised I had the ‘flu (or something very much like it) … and just four days later I was in Kingaroy Hospital.<\/p>\n

Health authorities had warned this year’s flu was a particularly nasty one several months ago, and urged as many people as possible to get a flu vaccination.<\/p>\n

Judging by the vaccine shortages that followed, many people took them at their word.<\/p>\n

Foolishly, I wasn’t one of them.<\/p>\n

Probably like many others, I’ve had half a dozen bouts of flu-like illnesses over the past decade.<\/strong><\/p>\n

While I’ve never enjoyed getting them (who does?), I always resurfaced after a couple of weeks of feeling like something the cat dragged in, and without many major disruptions to my life.<\/p>\n

But this year it has been different.<\/p>\n

In the span of just a few days I found I could barely breathe.<\/p>\n

Thinking I was going to black out and\/or have a heart attack (or maybe both), I was quickly ferried to Kingaroy Hospital’s Emergency Department where the incredibly hard-working, dedicated staff put me on a bed, strapped an oxygen mask to my face, and turned me into a pop art sculpture of canulars.<\/p>\n

Then they gave me ventolin, oxygen, an ECG and an x-ray, followed a little later – once the immediate panic had passed – with a prescription for antibiotics and corticosteroids as well as some sensible health advice.<\/p>\n

Over the past several days the drugs they prescribed me have steadily worked to clear my lungs enough to restore something close to normal breathing.<\/p>\n

But it has come at the cost of a constant cough that has stopped me getting a good night’s sleep for nearly a week, along with an inability to walk more than a few dozen steps without needing to sit down to catch my breath.<\/p>\n

I’m not writing this because I want sympathy.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Instead, I’m writing to urge you to get yourself and your loved ones vaccinated against the flu if you haven’t already done so.<\/p>\n

This weekend the South Burnett will enjoy its annual Ekka show holiday.<\/p>\n

If this year follows the normal course, many people who’ve visited Ekka will return to our region bringing all manner of diseases with them.<\/p>\n

As my own experience shows – and local chemists can confirm – the flu is making its way around the South Burnett right now.<\/p>\n

But come next Tuesday, I bet Ekka-related flu infections will skyrocket.<\/p>\n

So you only have a few days left to ensure you don’t become a casualty.<\/p>\n

The other reason I’m writing this is that it occurred to me that this flu really could kill people, particularly the elderly if they don’t have a support network to look out for their welfare.<\/strong><\/p>\n

So if you have a single, elderly neighbour, please keep an eye on them over the next two or three weeks.<\/p>\n

And if you don’t see them out and about, please pop on over and ask if they’re okay.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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