We in the media have been devoting a lot of time warning you about the flu. It's one thing to talk about it but another to be hit by it, like I was over the New Year's holiday. On New Year's Eve my wife Sharon and I went out to dinner, then went to a comedy show in St. Cloud, and I already was starting to feel bad...cough, cold-like symptoms. I had to work the next day, New Year's Day, and at 9 that morning I was a reader during a church service at St. Mary's. I went back to work and was feeling progressively worse, and by the time I came home at 1 p.m. it hit me like the proverbial Mack Truck. The worse part was the chills...shaking so bad my core muscles were sore afterward. Impossible to get warm enough, yet running a high temperature. Sleep? Forget about it. I called in sick the next day and the day after, and I rarely ever miss any work days. And then the coughing...itchy throat and then the gunk in your lungs you have to cough up. Two weeks later and I'm still coughing. We tell people to get flu shots but because I have an egg allergy I can't get one, so I always cross my fingers and hope I don't get it. This year I and millions in the U.S. got it or will get it. In Minnesota nearly 30 people have died from the flu so far, including two previously healthy teenagers. It's nothing to fool around with...get a shot if you can. Next year I will see if they have a new vaccine that is developed without using raw eggs so I can get a shot.
