Gigi’s Flu Story
Gigi [0:04]:
Every time I went into the doctor’s office they had asked me if I wanted a flu shot and I said no, I never get a flu shot. I'm a teacher I'm pretty much immune to everything and that's how it started.
Brian [0:17]:
Well, she had been sick, kind of for a while since…on and off since about Thanksgiving. It happened around Christmas or so, where she started to get more sick. And I think we both got the flu at the same time, and so I was kind of down as well for a couple days and then she just got kind of progressively worse.
Gigi [0:38]:
Well, the first time I went to urgent care, and they said I was just a little dehydrated and then the 4th time is – that's when they realised that there was something wrong with me.
Brian [0:53]:
Her lungs were basically flooding and she was drowning, and that, you know, she needed to be…you know she could fight it or whatever but she was going to have to be intubated and probably put under and that it was serious. She looks like she's asleep, just completely flat on her back and passed out and they have a tube down her throat and the machine is breathing for her. She has tubes running in all different directions. I think she was on, I mean, I had a full page of medications that she was on. She pro…was on…had about 8…8 different IVs running through her.
Gigi [1:36]:
I think I was, from the pictures that I saw, I think I was really swollen. I looked like somebody filled me up with water. My face was really big, my hands were really big everything was swollen.
On-screen text [1:52]:
Brian had to talk to their 3 daughters about Gigi’s condition.
Brian [2:00]:
I kind of told them, you know, mom’s serious and she's in the hospital and I told them, you know, she's there and there's a strong possibility she may never come out of the hospital. She drew this picture and I don't know if we still have it or not…yeah…but just like a crayon drawing. She was only in there for maybe 5-10 minutes and then she drew that, that we kind of hung in the room for her mom.
Text on Screen [2:30]:
Gigi’s lasting health effects after the flu.
Gigi [2:34]:
Before I went to the hospital, I would you know just get up do whatever I want, go and do a workout, run around. Regardless of my asthma, regardless of my allergies, I would just get things done. Now there's just not getting anything done. The forgetful…forgetfulness I've had…it's almost like something just turned off and then…and then it will turn back on again. I'm losing my train of thought right now actually. Yeah, it's really difficult like focusing and concentrating.
Text on Screen [3:13]:
Brian and Gigi’s thoughts about flu shots.
Brian [3:19]:
So, we thought we were invincible, you know, we thought that we didn't need to get that we don't ever get the flu and this and that. But, you know, that perfectly healthy person that came to the brink of death because…because of that kind of, you know, arrogance I guess in a sense and ignorance.
Gigi [3:41]:
I thought because I worked in the classroom I don't have to get a flu vaccine because I've just been exposed to every kind of germ out there you know but it's not true. You have to get the shot every year. That was the first time I’ve ever gotten a flu shot, when I was in the hospital. I got mine this year and it's really important that you do that because you just never know. I mean you're probably looking at this and thinking that will never be me that's what I thought. I thought, I'd always see these videos and thought and that would never be me…and it's me.
Grateful thanks to Shot by Shot for permission to use this film.
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