The McMurdo Crud

So far I've been avoiding contracting the crud or the flu. My roommate on the other hand has been sick for about two weeks in total since we've gotten down here. Either I've been super lucky, or I have an amazing immune system. I prefer to think the latter, but have a sneaking suspicion that I could be wrong.

The first wave of the flu hit the beginning of the season, the end of October/beginning of November. With all the new people coming down from the states to start off the summer, they brought with them all sorts of yuckies, and since it's like a giant petri-dish down here (the self serve galley, and public use computers...) of course everyone got sick. Medical tried to prevent the spread by quarantining people to their rooms, but since we all get to share rooms with one to five people, of course roommates got sick... and so on and so forth.

This next wave of sickness came in, they say, from New Zealand a couple of weeks ago, which of course wasn't included in the round of vaccines that they offered to us down here at the beginning of the season. This news didn't upset me in the least, as I didn’t get the vaccine since I nearly pass out at the thought of needles.

My poor roommate, Jared (you all might know him as being an old friend of mine from Moscow) was quarantined to our room. He apparently was supposed to have me pick up meals for him, but he didn't tell me this because he was afraid I'd bring him jello, oatmeal and toast for his meals... He has no faith in me when it comes to feeding him apparently. It would have been nice to know, however, that I was in a confined space with a contagious person. I would've slept in the lounge to avoid getting sick.

Well, Jared returned to work about four days ago, and I thought I was home free, but alas... I woke up with a nagging feeling in my head that my health was heading south. The feeling hasn't left yet today... Only tomorrow will tell if the inevitable has finally caught up with me.