So we've all been sick this past week. It started with Jeremy feeling the beginnings of a scratchy throat last Saturday night. He felt pretty crummy until Tuesday, at which point Evan started looking pretty sick. Sore throat, fever, aches, chills, coughing... Evan was not ever seen by his pediatrician (he'd been in the week before for suspected sinus infection, & was on antibiotics for that already), but because Swine flu is the only thing really going around right now, he got put on Tamiflu as a precaution. By Wednesday night, I was not feeling well at all. I stayed home from work on Thursday (which I never do, well almost never). I went to work Friday, but could barely talk. I had a previously scheduled doctor's appointment, so I got the once-over for my cold also. My physician's assistant doesn't think it's Swine flu, and recommended we all get the Swine flu vaccine as soon as it's available.
This is a little tangent but right now the vaccine in our area is only being given to certain health care providers. I called the health department to inquire, but because I'm just an optometrist and I don't have to see people who are sick, they wouldn't give it to me. I tried the "people are like 8 inches from my face all day" and the "if I refused to see everyone with cold symptoms, I would have no schedule" and even the "I have a son who has major respiratory issues," but no dice. I was mildly annoyed too, because it didn't sound like they were out of vaccine. I don't see why they couldn't give all the providers they were targeting first dibs, and then open it up to other providers. But that's not what they are doing. The parting advice was to make people wear masks (which is what we're already doing for people with symptoms). Gee, thanks.
What is CHARGE???
CHARGE syndrome is a recognizable (genetic) pattern of birth defects which occurs in about one in every 9-10,000 births worldwide. It is an extremely complex syndrome, involving extensive medical and physical difficulties that differ from child to child. The vast majority of the time, there is no history of CHARGE syndrome or any other similar conditions in the family. Babies with CHARGE syndrome are often born with life-threatening birth defects, including complex heart defects and breathing problems. They spend many months in the hospital and undergo many surgeries and other treatments. Swallowing and breathing problems make life difficult even when they come home. Most have hearing loss, vision loss, and balance problems which delay their development and communication. All are likely to require medical and educational intervention for many years. Despite these seemingly insurmountable obstacles, children with CHARGE syndrome often far surpass their medical, physical, educational, and social expectations.
2 comments:
ps can I check I have your email for permissions to my blog, thanks
the swine flu vaccine story stinks how poor of them to say you should not be administered it. In the UK all front line professionals are being offered it and also all the immediate family, so in our case all 6 of us.
Evan makes a great bat man great pics !
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