The Flu Shot Doesn't Make You Invincible?

I cannot be the only one....who after receiving their flu shot had an inflated sense of invincibility to germs, after all, wasn't I injected with a live active super version of the flu? Even though the pamphlet that accompanies the inoculation doesn't actually say it protects against the common cold...it has to make you at least a little stronger to fight those pesky germs, right?

I dislike you common cold!

It was just a week ago, while standing in the morning kindergarten line up that I was boasting about the flu shot. Sure I had never actually got a flu shot in the past, but something about my initiative against this seasons flu made me feel like I could take on the world of germs.  A boy in line behind Sonny Boy was coughing without covering his mouth, I wasn't worried, a girl in his class vomited on the Share rug, I didn't start to break out in a cold sweat, why...because we got flu shots.  Yet, here I sit, pockets stuffed with tissue, rosy nosed, with a hoarse throat attempting to pretend that this is just a side effect of my allergies.  Last night was the second night I took cold medicine and had to sleep with the noisy humidifier steaming up our bedroom, my husband was one sniffle away from moving to the couch to escape my restless bacteria filled coughing, but I still resisted throwing in the towel and admitting I had yet another cold.

I guess the good news is that my immune system is going to be impermeable to germs, with the succession of colds in addition to my super flu shot, I should be able to make it through Thanksgiving, into Christmas, and past New Years without one sick day.  Wait...maybe my over confidence is kicking in again.  I should set my sights lower, I should be able to make it to Thanksgiving without another cold, that is unless Sonny Boys picks up something at the school wide Thanksgiving feast, in which case we will be back to square one.