- He is convinced that if he gets the vaccine he will feel unwell, and
- Its been a longggg time since he has been really sick,and
- He is 20 and therefore invincible
Last weekend I spent time with extended family and except for being related to each other we have not a lot in common so it should not be surprising that we discussed the flu. It took several of us to convince one relative (in-law, not blood, so that could explain the lack of knowledge*1 ) that the flu is decidedly not 2 or 3 days with an upset stomach. How someone gets to be nearly 50, with several older children and an profession in the schools without this knowledge is something that perplexes me.
Anyway, we have managed to keep the Motorcycle house (knock - knock) free of influenza this year. There was a brief round of stomach upset and a long lasting cold of doom. I was probably the hardest hit by the cold of doom, it lasted about a month, and every once in a while I suspect it is still with me lingering.
We now have 1 soldier down with strep throat. I hope that doesn't get passed along like everything else did.... which immediately reminds me of the horrors of pink eye when the kids were little. The two ailments seemed to go hand in hand around our house, and it wasn't unusual to throw an ear infection in for good measure as well*2.
I wouldn't have taken the strep victim*3 in for a test, but with the rampant way influenza is taking down young*4 healthy people I decided to act before the infamous 48 hour anti-viral window closed. We went to the Target minute clinic... there was no wait, they still have vaccine.... we were in and out in less than 15 minutes, prescription waiting for us at the pharmacy.
I've been reading a lot about the vaccine, its effectiveness, or lack of effectiveness in some instances... I'm still glad I got mine. I'll take any protection I can get.
- apparently we also have being a little full of ourselves in common
- it's been a really long time since we needed conjunctivitis medicine, but I bet I still have a stash somewhere.
- is this common, to change from "Oh My! we must see the doctor to "shake it off" when your kids get to be in the upper eschalon of teenage years?
- Scary numbers
4 comments:
For many years in the 1960s and 1970s 'flu' was relatively mild,
with the main symptom being aches and diarrhea. The only anti-viral then available was chicken soup (chicken fat really is antiviral). This has led to a false sense of security among those who had mild cases then.
We actually had the cold of doom in our house along with the Flu (with a capital "I") - husband, and he was vaccinated. I do not get the Flu Vaccine because of a preservative allergy. I have remained relatively healthy. Sixteen-year-old Boy in our house has had a cold in some form since Thanksgiving, last weekend he blossomed with the dreaded Conjunctivitis. I highly recommend Virtuwell.com for the Pink-eye episodes. I checked in online at 10:00 Sunday night and we had antibiotic eyedrops before 10:45.
I was once informed by a doctor that if you have a cold longer than five days, that it is really not a cold?
By the time they are teens (I currently have 3 and 1 tween) the requirements for a dr's visit are one or all of the following:
broken bones (or possibility of one)
large amounts of blood
fever for longer than 3 days
The fever thing can be 2 days if it is a Friday.
Oh, and check ups for school.
And now one of my children will come up with something I have forgotten and I will be making a visit to the dr. tomorrow. Damn! I forgot about not putting anything in writing. Hope you all stay well.
My brother and SIL and nieces had the flu, completely with one niece getting pneumonia. All are well again now. I may have had it very mildly (having been exposed at Christmas) - I wouldn't have even called it anything, other than some night sweats.
All of us got flu shots. I'm going to go with that keeping things from being worse.
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