Friday 3 February 2012

Flu Jab

I went to my GP surgery yesterday and had my flu jab. The first flu jab I have ever had in fact. What prompted me to go for it? I have to confess it was in part a guilt reaction to the publicity given to the fact that the uptake of flu jabs among NHS personnel is woeful, and suggests that health care professionals don’t practise what they preach.

But there was always that fear than one might react to the jab rather unpleasantly. Heaven knows, I saw enough patients in my time who insisted that the flu jab “gave them” the flu. But since I have retired from practice that doesn’t matter so much, although I did time it so that I would have a free day afterwards.

I got jabbed in the morning and felt generally OK for the rest of the day. But I was restless and mildly feverish during the night. At 6.00 a.m. today, wakeful, I was hugely relieved that I was not faced with a typical 10 hour stint in surgery seeing patient after patient expecting me to be in tip-top form. (Patients often say ‘And how are <I>you</I> today, doctor?’ And of course the question is asked in anticipation of only one reply: naturally, no patient wants to entrust herself to any doctor who is not 100% on the ball. If they only knew the truth!!).

But the malaise I experienced certainly wasn’t the flu – which is a vicious illness at best – or anything like it. I shall certainly book myself in for it next year

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