But most years, I didn't bother. In February of 2020, I got the flu, which evolved into pneumonia, which led to an abdominal infection, which led to five days in the hospital.
You got lucky, very lucky.
Events unfolded on here recently (3 winters ago from the southern hemisphere).
I went to the doctors feeling unwell. Blue light job to hospital 1 (stopped breathing on route), air ambulance to hospital 2, on life support for 6 days, 12 days in ICU in total and over 2 months in hospital.
The Sunday I'd been fine. Driven hubby to the airport, come home, etc.
Monday I felt unwell and asked hubby to come home. I've only done this once before and that time I was exceptionally unwell. He wasn't feeling too good either, so said yes. He knew I would not ask unless I felt really bad.
He flew home on the Tuesday. By then I didn't feel well enough to drive so he had to get a taxi 75 minutes home into the middle of nowhere. $$$ job but necessary...
he made the appointment to see our doctor on the Wednesday, apt was the next day but we didn't know both of us where that unwell by then that we couldn't think clearly and this was not soon enough. We should have rung for an ambulance at this point, but we were too ill to know.
Thursday came, we both had consecutive appointments with the same Dr, so went in together. I didn't go home.
I only remember leaving the doctors surgery on a stretcher. I vaguely remember something bright blue going over my face. That's the last thing i remember. My husband tells me that was in the ambulance outside of the doctors surgery. I went onto a CPAP machine (blue mask) before they had to ventilated me within 5 minutes. they were still at the doctors at this point. I have no memory of hospital 1, no memory of being air lifted from hospital 1 to hospital 2 on life support, and no memory of arriving in ICU. The next thing I knew was Friday, in isolation in ICU on life support. That ill and that drugged that I couldn't have panicked even if I had had the energy to. I wasn't strong enough to even hold my own hand up to write answers down to orientation questions. They had to help me support the pen. Did I know where I was? Hospital. Did i know which hospital? No. Guess Canberra. Did I know what day it was? No. What month? Hopefully still July? It wasn't. And so on. I failed completely at the orientation questions. I didn't realise how badly until towards the end of my stay in ICU. I had heard the same questions asked of other patients. Only 1 other was as bad as me. The rest knew what was going on.
What we didn't realise when we went to the doctors was that my body was already shutting down (to die). I would not have survived the following night at home but hubby was also too ill to realise it at the time. He also had pneumonia. I had double pneumonia. I'd been vaccinated against pneumonia twice previously. The (UK) NHS then in their wisdom decided that 2 vaccinations where in fact enough and denied me the 3rd saying i should have immunity. Since then double pneumonia, a rare strain but one covered by at least 1 of my previous vaccinations I've been revaccinated twice, the last just before Christmas when my doctors rang us to get both of us revaccinated because the new vaccine had several new strains in it and it was considered urgent that both hubby and I were covered. Him to protect me rather than himself. He qualifies for the flu vaccine for the same reason, to protect me.
Hubby also crashed the car on the way home that day (on a private dirt road) but only vaguely recalls it. He had to see our doctor each and every time she was in the surgery (so every other day) until she knew he was out of danger. She rang him on the alternate days including the weekend. She'd allowed him to stay home simply because of our animals and them needing care. If we had had none, he would also have been in hospital. He was to ill to visit me the entire time I was in ICU.
I always get the flu vaccination as well. I can well remember a very bad strain of it I had at school. My entire year went down with it, all classes cancelled due to no enough pupils at school to have them (it was a private school). I was ill for over a month taking several more to recover fully.
