This latest flu scare with the spread of swine flu reminded me of my own experience with a flu pandemic in 1957. I was 9 years old and along with my sister and parents, we set out on a auto trip from Oregon to Colorado. One day out and I got sick. The more we drove, the sicker I got. It was the Asian flu. I thought I would die before I finally got over it. By the time we got to Grand Junction, Colorado, my mother refused to go any further until my temperature broke. She was on the verge of hospitalizing me. We spent several days in Grand Junction in a motel and finally, my temperature came down and we continued our trip.

I have pictures of me at our relatives just outside of Colorado Springs and I looked like a survivor of the holocaust camps. My eyes were sunken and black and I was very skinny. It took a long time for me to get back my strength.

My dad often talked about the flu pandemic of 1918 when he lost his older brother to that flu. I don't think my dad really ever got over the lose of his older brother.

They say that this swine flu is not as bad in the USA as in Mexico which they attribute to our use of flu vaccines. I think the worst scare is if it spreads to third world countries that don't have the medical technology we have. In the mean time... we can just watch and wait.