Yes, I DID Get A Flu Shot…and the flu

I know, it’s automatic. Someone says they had the flu, you blurt out:

“Do you get flu shots?”

Or you think it…

It’s kind of like asking people who survived a plane crash, “Were you flying carefully?”

Anyway, as you may know, I’ve been off the air since Monday’s show (Jan. 7). I was feeling kind of achy-breaky that day, but attributed it to strenuous physical activity over the weekend. Yard work, get your mind out of the gutter.

Leaving work I was feeling worse by the minute. You’ll laugh at what I did next, but south Texans might—might—get it.

Since I’d been eating light since the holidays, I thought maybe my body was signaling for some serious groceries.

So, I pulled into Whataburger and had a patty melt. A medicinal one, you understand. Those things are better than filet mignon, to me.

Turns out, I misread that signal. Although, a patty melt can’t hurt, right?

It was straight into bed for about the greatest walloping any illness ever gave me. I had mono in 1993, but this concentrated more misery into a shorter span of time, I have to say. For the record, I don’t recommend flu or mono.

Everyone has been very nice. I’ve had more offers of help than I ever expected. You could float an aircraft carrier in all the chicken soup I was offered.

And what can you say about coworkers like Trey and Sean, taking time from their families and working extra hours to cover me. You probably get tired of hearing this, but this group of people on-the-air—and behind the scenes—at KTSA are the nicest, most familial colleagues I’ve known in about 34 years in radio, spread out over maybe a baker’s dozen stations. The other people were nice too, but the support you get and give one another here speaks volumes. Which is saying something about people who literally speak volumes.

So, as I write this, I’m getting stronger and will be back on the air Monday the 14th. Hopefully the wall will be built by then and we can talk about something else. No?

Just for the fun of it, flu shots are only effective for the anticipated strain(s) that flu season. I always get one. Somehow, without traveling somewhere exotic, I picked up a “variant” for which there’s no vaccine or treatment. They tell me it happens a lot.

What worked for me: lovely coworkers and friends, sleep, chicken soup, and maybe a slight jump start toward recovery from a Whataburger patty melt.