Glenn Reynolds is Wrong on This

His post today:

Though many of us lived through the flu pandemics of 1957 and 1968, almost nobody can dredge up personal memories of those times.

 Wrongo, pal.

As it happens, I was stricken in BOTH of those flu epidemics. In 1958, my mother was forced to cancel my 7th birthday party, right before we moved to a new house. I had a habit of getting some illness or other affecting my birthday celebration - this had happened every year since birth.

The flu took its normal course - achey, feverish, coughing, and just so tired all I wanted to do was sleep. Being a kid, with the usual good immune system, I bounced back within a week.

In 1968, it was harder. I was a junior, and actually took sick at school, and reported to the nurse's office. As I was a chronic malingerer, she never even took my temperature. I complained that I was cold (well, duh! I was burning up!), and she brought me blankets, but otherwise just called my father to pick me up.

I spent 2 weeks isolated and in my room. I only left to go to the bathroom - my mother followed in my path, spraying everything I touched with Lysol. All meals were in my room.

Apparently, it worked - no one else in the family got sick. I honestly can't remember being that sick, until I got pneumonia while we were moving to our first home, and had to be hospitalized for 4 days.

I do remember my mother bringing in the black & white portable TV. I watched the Elvis Presley special on that. Otherwise, I read a lot of books, and slept.

It took 2 weeks before I was ready to go back to school. I was dragging for almost a month - every day, I came home and took a nap.

When, several years later, the flu shot was available at work, I took it. I was mildly sick the next day, but it beat the flu.

With COVID, I'm generally spending more time at home, but - other than church - I've never been all that social. So far, so good.