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IT’S LIKE RAAA-EE-AINNN ON YOUR WEDDING DAY

So way back in September, I wrote an article about why certain H1N1 prevention practices (like avoiding physical contact) were unneeded and perhaps a little too over-the-top.

While I was writing the article I took the time to evaluate my own chances of getting the flu and brushed it off, thinking I had a hardy immune system and that would be enough to protect me.

How wrong I was.

In perhaps an amazing example of irony, H1N1 hit me like a bulldozer over the course of two hours on a Tuesday night.

The next week and a half that I spent sick and recovering was possibly one of the worst experiences of sickness I’ve ever had.

However, it wasn’t all bad. I came away with a couple tidbits of knowledge I think any one of you reading this who comes down with the flu might find useful.

1. Exactly one half of the people you know will react as if you have contracted the bubonic plague and will be dying in short order. This, fortunately, includes professors and TAs. The other half will laugh at your misfortune but will still stay away from you in fear of catching the aforementioned plague.

2. Drink liquids like it’s $2 shot night. You might shrug off this warning from the doctor but it really helps when your throat alternates between feeling like a desert or a tunnel of acid.

3. You’re sick, you recover, you get better.

Catching H1N1 is not nearly as scary as people are making it out to be; take your time to recover.

If anything, when your kids are in bed sulking about the watered-down colds of the future, you can brag about how you were part of a pandemic and lived to tell the tale.


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