Yup, I got smacked hard with flu this year. First time I can remember getting the flu, ever. Had no idea how debilitating it can be.

I rarely get flu shots because I don't get the flu. Can't remember ever getting it before. Pneumonia and bronchitis, sure. I get pneumonia shots every few years. But not flu.

Now I'm a believer. I'll get my flu shot next time.

It hit me late December/early January. Sneaked up on me. At first I thought I was just tired and had the usual allergies. Very stressful period -- my mom was deteriorating rapidly after surgery for her knee and femur, and it was looking like long term nursing home care. I was spending almost every day at the hospital and rehab center, evaluating her progress and trying to decide on the next step.

One day around the second week of January I couldn't get out of bed. So weak and achy I literally fell out of bed trying to get to the bathroom. Then I fell trying to get up from my computer desk chair -- no leg strength, just wicked muscle spasms when I tried to stand. Could barely move for the next week. So I stayed home and avoided the hospitals and nursing home for the rest of the month, just keeping in touch via phone to check on my mom's condition.

Then for the next three weeks I'd feel comparatively better for one day, take a bike ride... and the next day start all over again with the aching, respiratory stuff and weakness. It didn't let up until the first week of February.

I'd go to the grocery store or pharmacy about once a week, usually late at night, and wore a paper surgical mask. I see a couple of older Asian folks in my neighborhood doing that. Good practice. More folks should do it. I mostly did it to minimize the impact of cold dry air, but it made sense to avoid spreading my germs all over the place.

I'm probably among the lucky ones, perhaps because I have some natural resistance to the flu virus. There were much younger and stronger people dying from it. I'm wondering whether my auto-immune disorder (Hashimoto's thyroiditis) somehow worked for me to offset the cascade effect of immune system responses that sometimes kill other folks.