After the frantic preparations in the lead-up to Christmas, many of us can overtax our strength and immune systems before we even realise it, until the "crash" comes and makes us lay down our arms for a while! The line between "doing" and "being" is a subtle one, but an essential part of our armoury in combatting and living through this persistent, sapping disease.
Since my last blog post in October, I've certainly had my ups and downs. I was overjoyed to discover one of my short stories, "The Butterfly Wall" was to be published in the January edition of "Writers' Forum Magazine" here in the UK, and kept busy on my better days through November, when brain-fog was at a minimum, writing the first draft of my new historical novel. At about the same time I was hit by a virus which meant I was too unwell to attend my GP's annual flu jab fest. Every year it's a dilemma of "ip-dip-my-blue-ship"* as to whether I should have the jab or not.
Most years the flu jab has preceded a huge flare-up and worsening of my M.E. symptoms. So I wasn't in a hurry, once I began to pick up a little, to re-book the appointment. Even the nurse at the practice agrees it is difficult to advise what's best: as a Type 1 diabetic, I am in the "at-risk" group who are advised to get immunised, but as an M.E. patient, my immune system has ideas of its own that can make the jab less than helpful! (Solution - don't be greedy enough to have both conditions concurrently!)
However, I have now booked my shot for next week. I know at least 3 friends in our local area have been hit by severe, life-threatening Swine Flu in recent weeks, so I feel it my duty to have the jab, whatever effect it has on me, in order to protect those close to me. My mum's own health, always resilient even at 79, was compromised by the month-long saga of my failed boiler (as Facebook friends know only too well - zzzzz!) through the coldest winter in living memory, to the extent she has developed shingles in her head and the added extra side-effect of Bell's Palsy, so I refuse to put her or others at risk of catching flu from me just because the jab has adversely affected me in the past. The current jab formula claims to protect against Swine Flu, too, so perhaps it will be worth the risk this year. I hope so.
Then, the day after I finally decided to book the appointment for my jab, the national news revealed this week a shortage of the flu vaccine in some parts of the country. There's still time to race me for mine, if you're desperate - five injections a day is plenty for one body, already, if you ask me! Just call me "Pincushion"...
* The phrase "ip-dip-my-blue-ship" comes from a playground game we used to play at infant school in Yorkshire in the 1960s. The rhyme goes:
"Ip-dip, my blue ship,
Sails on the water,
Like a cup and saucer,
Out goes YOU!"
I've read about other variants since then from all parts of the country. The rhyme accompanied the counting round of the participant children's legs until the last person counted on "YOU" was out of the running for being "it" or "on" in the subsequent chasing game. The phrase is still used in my house (by me, anyway!) to express the horns of any dilemma!
