The subject head on the email from my husband read:
Influenza is here!
The body of the email informed me: Please go to Kroger post haste and get your flu shot! I just diagnosed my first case with a positive test. Love, Your Husband.
Confession here - I have never had a flu shot - ever. I hate shots. And I have heard that the flu virus mutates so quickly that flu shots are not necessarily effective. So I'm sitting here debating my husband's recommendation in my mind. To flu (shot) or not to flu (shot).
It occurs to me that my doctor husband may even be a vector for an uninvited visiting flu germ. Even though he has had the shot - he has to in order to protect himself from his patients and their germs - what if a germ clings to his funny Mr. Potatohead necktie - or to the cuffs of his sleeves.
I recently spent an entire afternoon fumigating my house after coming back from Virgin Gorda with bites all over my body. I'm reasonably sure they were mosquito bites, but just to be sure, I washed every garment that came back with me...because I'm no bite expert and you hear so much about bedbugs these days...
It occurs to me that if I'm getting anal over bugs that are visible - how in the world should I be reacting to the invisible ones? Is it worth the pain and possible side effects of a horrible shot? Can my immune system withstand a flu virus if I encounter one - on a plane, at the gym, while serving guests at my table? I guess I'm going to have to mull this one over - perhaps before my husband with his potentially germ-coated tie returns home this evening. I'm getting achey, sneezy and wheezy just thinking about it.