My first bout with the flu

I should never have said "I never get the flu" aloud. I should never have assumed that my yearly employee benefit shot in the arm would fail to work. I should never have said never --

I'm dealing with my first case of bonafide flu in probably thirty years.

While I'm marking my list of "nevers" off with red pen, I also haven't run a fever above 100 degrees since I was three (during an oldie but not goodie flu vaccine of the mid 1960s). Now I'm all bundled up in a 70 degree room with shivers and a 100.9 fever. That's flu, right?'

I stayed home yesterday, hoping that a day of rest would fix that cold of mine. This morning, I woke up with a voice that sounded and felt like I'd chain-smoked and swilled bad whiskey (neither of which I do, to the relief of my students.) I went to work anyhow thinking that my morning temp of 98.9 would hold for the day because I couldn't possibly have the flu. I had (and still have) the chills and my temp (as I mentioned) is 100.9 degrees, My nose sounds like it's harboring a rain frog that makes little grumbling noises every time I exhale. My chest hurts from all the coughing (but I never get chest symptoms), And did I mention that I kept 3 1/2 hours of office hours and taught two classes in this state?

I'm going in tomorrow unless we're looking at 100 degrees or higher just before I go to work. I figure that I'm probably going to be fine, because I never, never, NEVER get the flu.