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Thursday, September 2, 2010

Melinda is sick again...

....and has an appointment with the doctor at 2pm to day to confirm whether this IS or ISN'T whooping cough.

Lovely eh?

If this is whooping cough, I would like to personally scream at every single parent in this STUPID state who has refused to vaccinate their children against major childhood diseases, thus starting an epidemic in California. I would not be sick and have GONE TO WORK for TWO weeks getting other people sick if you had gotten your damn children vaccinated. Who knows how many people I have exposed to this virus - it's not going to kill me, but it would be TERRIBLE if someone young, old, or immunocompromised DIED.

I have major allergies, some trouble with asthma, AND was exposed to smoke to a wild fire. I thought it was one of those things, but after 2 weeks, plenty of OTC medication and denial, it's time to go into the doctor's office NOW instead of waiting over the holiday weekend, in which I end up in the ER coughing so hard I can't breathe and I'm gagging and retching.

The most frusterting thing is that I feel FINE. I don't FEEL sick until I try to go to bed and spend 1 1/2-2 hours sounding like a emphazema patient being tortured to death.

In other news.....Farley is doing well! And isn't that what really matters?

10 comments:

  1. You poor thing! ...At least you'll probably get the good cough syrup. (The only way I can be persuaded to go to the dr is for good drugs.)

    Glad Farley is well!

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  2. I better get something good because I've gone through a whole bottle of OTC cough suppressents combined with all sorts of benedryl and they haven't done a D&*^*#** thing.

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  3. ahhhmmm, proximity to the Canadian border is a good thing in these cases--codeine-enhanced cough syrup is OTC there.

    Not that I would ever intentionally buy something in Canada that wasn't legal in the US. Of course not. You knew that!

    Feel better, Mel!

    (do you have a recliner? Mine is a godsend on "bad breathing" nights!)

    WV: diesol
    light energy that will fuel your big truck.

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  4. I'm sorry to hear about the nasty cough you have!

    I'm undecided on the whole vaccine debate - I've looked into it a lot and can totally see both sides of the fence on that one. But I have to ask....if the vaccine is effective (and therefore worth giving to yourself/your children) why would you have contracted the disease if you yourself have been vaccinated?

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  5. Immunity wears off after about 10 years (which is true of most childhood vaccines, including tetnus etc.) in which case you should get revaccinated.

    Tetnus is standard to re-get because the risk is the same as an adult.

    The other disesases (measels, whooping cough etc.) are usually only vaccinated in children because if you control the diseease at that level (children) the risk of getting it in the adult population is very very low, AND since adults won't die because of these diseases, if an odd adult or so gets it - no big deal. That's why up until ~10 years ago Whooping cough was UNHEARD of in adults in California, and now in the last year or two, my area has an EPIDEMIC of it, and there are similar epidemics throughout the state. Enough adults are gettign it (because of the 10 year immunity wearing off and there's a larger pool of unvaccinated children) that the disese is getting more widespread.

    My fear is this - the disease can cause death and brain damage in little kids. With the highest risk groups having a larger population of unvaccinated people in it, the disease will become more common. Kids that were unvaccinated used to be in a very small minority and were protected by virture of everyone else being vaccinated. this is no longer true.

    the only hope is that adults consider getting re-vaccinated, most kids continue to get vaccinated, and hopefully the disease goes back to being a rariety in the medical community.

    I'm not a parent, so perhaps don't have the emotional stake in this, AND I could be called baised as I have spent substantial time in vaccine development and working "in the industry". But, I have read NOTHING backed by any significant scientific journal that would keep me from vaccinating with the recommended vaccines for childhood diseases. I'm picky when it comes to later life vaccines as I see what "over" vaccinating my horses does to their hooves etc., but as I don't have to have vaccines every year, twice a year for the rest of my life like a horse, I figure I'm pretty safe.

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  6. Thanks for the well-thought-out response! My children are up-to-date on their vaccines....but I just have to question whether it's so great for them to get all of these vaccines at SUCH a young age. According to the CDC charts my months old baby was supposed to get 6 different vaccines at one time, in 3 different syringes. In my mind, that's a LOT to ask of a young immune system all at one time. They get these at 2, 4, 6, 9, 12 months......to me, that's a lot of vaccines to pump into a not even one year old's body. And at the rate the brain is developing and growing, I do wonder if it's the best.

    BUT...I believe there are some diseases where the vaccines have been life-saving. But chicken pox?? And while I still think everyone should be vaccinated for polio, since it's been eradicated in the US for quite some time I think it makes sense to wait on that one until the kindergarten shots. I question the efficacy of the flu shot.

    But who do you believe when it comes to this? Almost anyone "qualified" to have an opinion benefits financially from giving as many vaccines to everyone as possible.

    Thanks for the intelligent and seemingly unbiased commentary!

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  7. Just look into the Amish community. They don't vaccinate. I have only lived in this county for a year and already met one Amish man that has Polio. And we have a very small Amish population.

    I have three daughters and believe in vaccinations very strongly. They do not have autism.

    Michelle

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  8. Melanie is sick again....maybe you need to look at your own immune system rather than blaming all those unvaccinated children. Just a thought.

    "Terrain is everything."

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  9. Melanie is sick again....maybe you need to look at your own immune system rather than blaming all those unvaccinated children. Just a thought.

    "Terrain is everything."

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  10. Mel,

    Sorry you have been so sick. Sorry your supervisor is not very understanding...

    Hope you feel better soon.

    ~E.G.

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