FLU SHOTS, and I am NOT kidding!

[Gracie]

Hey....

I've been incommunicado because I've been sick. Really sick. Sicker than I can remember being in a long, long time.

Thought at first it was a cold, then as the coughing began, a-ha, no, it must be asthmatic bronchitis, like Betsy had at Christmas.

But it wasn't. It was respiratory influenza, a viral strain that isn't treatable but just has to run its course. Only thing they've given me is codeine so I could at least sleep. (And boy, have I, pretty much 'round the clock. Just as well, really, because when I'm awake, I now understand at least a little why some people enjoyed chemically altering their consciousnesses.....Grizzy's been kidding me about trippin'!!)

Dr. Remington asked if I'd had a flu shot last fall, and wouldn't you know, I hadn't, because the clinic never was open when I could get there. We agreed that no matter WHAT I will have one from hereon out, every year, without fail, as he reminded me about the big epidemic that killed so many in 1918.

So if you HAVEN'T got your shot...DO. I am still wobbly, weak, dizzy, all that, and I have a cough you cannot believe...sound like I'm in the endstages of emphysema, I swear....and that cough, he says, is going to linger for weeks.

Run! Save yourselves!

[doctork]

Gracie, I hope your recovery is quick now that you are on the tail end of this.

And Gracie is right, it is really a good idea to get your flu shot. Yes, even now. I am seeing several patients with influenza every day in the office. A little good news - if you are seen within the first 24 - 48 hours of illness, a prescription medication can be given that will shorten the duration, and lessen the intensity, of the illness. Otherwise, you're in for at least 5 - 7 days of misery, maybe even 10+ days. And beyond the 48 hours, cough syrup with codeine can reduce the cough and the terrible body aches.

For those who know that they have been exposed to influenza, you can get the shot pronto, and then take the pills to prevent you catching the infection during the two weeks it takes for the shot to take effect.

Sponsored by your local prairieDoc, who doesn't want her cyber friends to suffer.

[liriodendron]

I am one of those folks who never got flu shots. That is, until last month, when I went to see my doctor about something else entirely. It would seem that she was still looking through my chart after I'd left the office and noticed I'd not gotten one. She actually sent one of her nurses to hunt me down and drag me back in just as I was getting into my car. I have, ahem, reached that magic age where no stone is left unturned. Since most of the rest of you are slightly older than I am, I guess that I can assume that you have all had yours already, right?

[slb2]

I had the flu shot once at Ace's request. I know how this will sound, but I honestly think getting the shot compromises *my* immunity. I think our health is hugely determined by our thoughts.

I'm likely wrong about this, but it's the stance I've decided to take. My mother always quipped, "You have to stand for something or you'll fall for anything." I think she's right.

[doctork]

slb2 said:

I had the flu shot once at Ace's request. I know how this will sound, but I honestly think getting the shot compromises *my* immunity. I think our health is hugely determined by our thoughts.

I'm likely wrong about this, but it's the stance I've decided to take. My mother always quipped, "You have to stand for something or you'll fall for anything." I think she's right.

Most healthy young people will recover from the flu just fine, as the complications strike mainly the very young and very old. Babies and people over 65 are the ones most likely to die from it: 35,000 - to 40,000 deaths per year in the US.

However, lots of people just don't want to be that sick for 5 - 10 days. A number of people who bring the influenza victims to our office (the patients themselves are too sick to drive) decide on the spot to have a flu shot and get the Tamiflu prescription. They have seen how sick their family member or friend is, and don't want to go there. It's a late season this year, spiking now in February, instead of December - January.

On the immunity side - I think if you have influenza this year, you probably have some residual immunity that will last the next few years. Though most people who have it one year are extra careful to get the immunization next year.

I always tell people I cannot make them have the flu shot, or anything else for that matter, since it is their decision. I am not their mother, and I am not the health police. Thank goodness!

[gailkate]

I love the thought of you in full Health Police gear, DrK.


Last year I got horribly sick. This year Jerry did but I didn't. We both had shots both years, have done so since crossing the 50-line. I think immunity does carry over and there are so many strains of flu that one left-over shot may be just what you need. NBC last night reported this year as close to an epidemic and said the current shot doesn't really hit it. I say God gave us medicine and we should take whatever might help.

I've also gotten fierce about germs. When one of us is sick, there are no shared handtowels, water glasses, anything. Jerry can't be counted on to go into full paranoia mode, so I do all the preventative measures, no matter which of us is sick. I have a friend who will only use paper cups when she's sick, so she won't re-infect herself! Maybe that's a tiny bit much, but who knows?

Anyway, poor Gracie, we feel your pain. Be well.

[doctork]

gailkate said:

I love the thought of you in full Health Police gear, DrK.


Anyway, poor Gracie, we feel your pain. Be well.

I did my stint as Health Police many years ago, having spent one full year as medical director for an HMO. Our uniform was a bit different - blow-dried hair, three piece suits, silk blouse, heels and stockings, every day; bullet-proof vests only when we had meetings with "participating providers" in the more rural areas. I quit as soon as I reached the point where it wouldn't look bad on my CV.

I saw the news story about new strains of flu emerging, not susceptible to the current vaccine. This is definitely new - I get a weekly email from the CDC, and the news was a special "early release" in my inbox yesterday. FWIW, the cultures I've sent out here in our town are still showing mainly H1N1, protected against by the current shot.

I had stopped doing the swabs because they were almost all H1N1, but now I'll start sending them out again on each case of suspected influenza.

Congrats on your excellent precautions, gk. And wishes for continued recovery for Gracie. Crossed fingers for slb, I really hope your natural immunity is up to the task.

[Trusty]

I used to get the shots until I found this great anti-virus program used by all the computer people at work. It comes in the form of a wafer about the size of a CD. Very crunchy.

[Brit]

Mmmm, interesting.

It comes in the form of a wafer about the size of a CD. Very crunchy

I've just got so used to a floppy. What am I doing wrong?

(Maybe this should be on the "Dear Joe" thread?)

Put it down to having the 'flu.

[hartlikeawheel]

It's time to complain.

I had that nasty cold that nearly everyone seemed to have had earlier this year. It never really seemed to go away. Finally I went to the Dr. and found that it had morphed into bronchitis.

After a regimen of antibiotics the cough went away but I seemed not-quite-well.

All this has gone on for a couple of months.

This morning I awoke with a scratchy throat and crackling ears.

Now I feel just plain thitty. It's like all my facial features are squinched up around "by dode."

I swear that haven't complained, not once, about what a crappy and extended winter we've had this year. Honest.

But right now I'm freezing, my bones ache and I'm dam sick of the weather.

I'm taking my box of tissues and sulking off to bed.

[brutus]

If your doc hasn't tested you for Influenza "B", I'd suggest it. My wife was first thought to have had pneumonia and it was later realized that she had "B", so ~B~ was part-time babysitter, part-time hauler-arounder wherever she was going.
~B~

[edsfam]

It is time for this winter to be over!



_E_

[slb2]

That picture is funny in a sick-o way, Eddie.

[edsfam]

slb2 said:

That picture is funny in a sick-o way, Eddie.

Thanks.

The picture ( not of my doing) sort of channels "Calvin and Hobbes" in a way.

I do what I can, when I can, where I can to bring more amusement to the masses.

_E_

[hartlikeawheel]

Calvin and Hobbs was a favorite around here. Unfortunately we no longer have it in the paper. He could pack a whole universe into a small square.

The picture says a lot of what has become a cliche in conversation MN side.
I doubt that winter will suicide though. He'll just eventually get kissed by the rain and flower fairy and melt with tenderness.

Then La Nina wiill breeze in with a mess of tornados. Man. I sound like a Lake Wobegoner. But we all know that it tempts the fates to get too excited about nice weather.

Geez, ~B~. So the princess has "B." Such a lucky girl.

At least you haul her around. Too funny.

The Mighty Oak "hauls" people too now that his young hog-raising days are over. What would we do without being useful?

He's been addressing various state and local safety organizations for the last few days. Wearing his suit, leather coat, a hat. Looks a pretty darned shart-dressed man. Then he races home and changes to finish out his day. A little of that goes a long way.

I finally got him to buy a new suit by warning him that we'd probably have a funeral soon!

I don't know if I have the flu. Don't feel terribly ill, just dragging around feeling crabby and not wanting to eat or sleep. Ugh. I see the doc tomorrow for a check up so I'll run it by him.

[hartlikeawheel]

Oh.

I haven't seen Gracie for a while. Is she still ill? I hope not.

[rogesgallery]

A couple of my friends have had that provocative variety of flu this year. I was kinda jealous because I haven't had the flu for a few years so I insisted on sharing a pint of Brandy, out of the bottle, with my friend Dave while he had it. I guess the Flu doesn't like brandy. An immune system can't get too much exercise is my philosophy.

Actually I very much agree with slb. Unstressed people with a positive attitude seem to get sick less often.

Here is an interesting pdf article on stress related sickness in the work place

ije.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/reprint/26/6/1243.pdf

Here's an appended article from the NY Times:

A Cold Fact: High Stress Can Make You Sick
By JANE E. BRODY
Published: May 12, 1998

EXPLANATIONS of why people catch colds are almost as numerous as the viruses that cause colds. They range from the environmental -- living with small children, riding the subway at rush hour, getting chilled to the bone -- to the personal -- smoking too much, exercising too little, sleeping poorly, eating erratically, working too hard.

But studies under way at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh suggest that psychological stress is also a very important factor in determining who gets sick when nasal passages are invaded by a cold-causing virus. Just any old stress will not do. It has to be long-term stress, lasting at least a month and stemming from a significant problem like being fired from a job after years of service or being left financially or emotionally bereft by a divorce. The researchers point out that stress is not the cause of all colds. Rather, people under severe stress are more likely to catch cold when exposed to a virus than people under milder stress.

Dr. Sheldon Cohen, a psychologist at the university, has spent years trying to discover why some people frequently catch colds, while others rarely get a sniffle. In 1991, he directed a study of 394 men and women that identified psychological stress as an important factor in colds.

He and co-workers in Britain showed that the higher a person's stress score on a standard test, the more likely the person was to develop a cold when exposed to a cold virus. Stress was an important risk factor even when smoking, lack of exercise, poor diet, disturbed sleep and alcohol consumption were taken into account.

In the current studies, financed by the National Institute of Mental Health, Dr. Cohen and colleagues at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and the University of Virginia Health Sciences Center subjected 276 healthy volunteers ages 18 to 55 to physical, social and psychological examinations before placing them in quarantine and depositing cold viruses in their nasal passages. On each of the next five days, volunteers, paid $800 each, were examined to determine who became infected by the virus and who then developed symptoms of a cold.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I realize I am not a Physician but I have found that I personally and others I have observed, suffer more sickness in times of stress and poor physical condition. I have also read that most of the flu deaths are from complications in people that have heart disease.

Doc? Would you recommend that a perfectly healthy person get a flu shot? What I'm getting at is: Are you aware of any science that would indicate the immune system can benefit from exposure to periodic viruses?

[gailkate]

While waiting for a sound medical opinion, we can de-stress with this. It's a link to one of those irresistible (to me) animal-human bond stories. Life is so amazing.

www.fourwinds10.com/siterun_data/environment/plants_and_animals/news.php?q=1205336491

[Gracie]

hartlikeawheel said:

Oh.

I haven't seen Gracie for a while. Is she still ill? I hope not.

What a sweet bit of concern, MissHart, and with all you deal with, yourself.

I'm not physically ill any longer but have been wrestling with the ides of March and last night was the darkest of them all....as blogged....


Tonight I could write the saddest song......and it's raining. Storming, actually, the atmosphere heavy and dark and brooding. Perfect, I suppose, for the mood I'm in.

March is always a bad month for me, at least it has been since 2002, and this year is no exception. I do my best, I swear I do, to put the parts that hurt so much deeper into the closets of memory; I don't look at the old pictures, I don't think about 'THIS is the day/date....' and even though there's a small porcelain box that still holds the key--yes, literally, the key--to where I once lived--I don't open it. Why do I keep it, if I never look at it? Because it's as much a memento of what once was, what I once believed was my happily ever after...what I sometimes despair I will ever know again.

One of the reasons I wanted to move here, when Grizzy and I reconciled, was knowing I would rarely drive down the street where I used to live, the street where, at a certain intersection, I turned my face away, not wanting to see the home I loved more than any other in my life. It is a home I can still walk through in my memory, as I have written here before, can still see every detail, can even still smell the particular essence of old wood and aged paint and the lesser notes of potpourri and candles, homemade bread and apples and herbs...baby powder...clean linen...and my perfume, when I opened the closet. It is the place that even my little girl knows will make me cry if we talk about it much, the place she once told someone was the place Mommy missed every day of her life--and this at a time when she was only 4, when she had no memory of ever living there, when I had never once said those words to her--still, she knew. Knows.

But it is what it is, and it's gone. I can't get it back.

And today was already not a good day; for many and varying reasons, I've had a two-day migraine, worsening so much that today I stayed home, because the pain was so intense it sickened me. Grizzy brought home some more painkiller for me, and some logs for the fireplace, knowing a fire would make me feel better (it almost always does.)

The fire hadn't been burning long when my mom called; among the things we talked about was the bombshell that my house was once again on the market, and that the realtor thought it could be bought for only $20,000.

That's the price of a lost dream, people.

She said she had talked to the realtor (who was there to list my parents' home for sale) and that she told Kathy all the plans I'd had for the house, all the things I'd intended to do. She said Kathy's eyes grew wide, loving everything, seeing all the potential as I had, probably envisioning what it would look like, completed. She said Kathy is thinking of buying it for herself, and if she does, I will have to ask my parents never to mention it to me again. I don't want to know what she would do with it, how it would look.

And I wept,silently, while my usually very intuitive mother asked if I had a cold, because my voice sounded so thick and choked. Why do tears form such a hard, hurting lump in your throat, I wonder; tomorrow, I know, my throat will once again feel bruised. What happens to unfinished dreams and lost hopes, where do they go....

Ah, God. I keep thinking of a line from a book I love so, where one person says to the other to 'tell me one thing that you've learned, that I've paid for.' And I think of another, about some mistakes we never stop paying for, and I know that this is one I will always be paying for, a promissory note, is that the right term? that will present me with interest due and penalties owed...forever. Every now and then, it's going to come back and punch me in the gut one more time; hey, this ol' girl's heart is tough and she's strong, what's another knife to the heart....right? A little more scar tissue, is all...

And tomorrow is another day.

I won't sleep tonight, I know. It's taking everything I have in me not to pull on my shoes and walk out into the black rain, lose myself in the storm outside, while the storm inside rages itself out, wear myself out until I am too exhausted and too cold to feel anything. But I won't. I'll watch the dying embers of the fire, listen to the rain, listen to my family sleeping, know I have to get up and go on tomorrow and say nothing more. I love my child, I love my husband, I am committed to them forever and beyond, no matter what. I am here and this is now....

I remember reading the late great Lewis Grizzard's book about his father, a man who once held so much promise, and who died before he was 50, drunk for so many years that he truly had died years before. And that he had hurt so many people in his lifetime that only Lewis wept at his funeral, and so he wrote the anguished, loving, hurting memoir of his father, so that someone else would weep for his daddy. And I did. I even wrote to Lewis to tell him so.

I guess that's what this is, tonight. I need someone to hurt with me, or is it for me...

"...let it fall like rain

from my eyes...

tonight I wanna cry."



And tomorrow,

I.

Will.

Not.

Cry.











Well. My. So that's where I've been....

But the sun is shining today and I am determined, as I always am, to face the day with strength and courage and love. After all, there's a lot of good people here who do the same, and who inspire me more than words can say.

Thanks for loving me--and right back atcha.

[liriodendron]

Gracie, I am so sorry that you have been feeling such pain. I hope that sharing it with all of us will help to ease your burdens. You are loved.

[slb2]

Here ya go, sister:

[ozski]

[glow=black,2,300]Wonderful story, gail. The image of an eagle wrapping a human in her wings.....well, it just gave me chills.
Thanks lady, and congratulations on your 20 year anniversary.[/glow]

[jspnrvr]

According to the US Public Health Service the vaccine for this flu season ( 2007-2008) is to cover three strains: A/Solomon Islands, B/Maylasia, and A/Wisconsin. So there you are; it's the flu, and a lot of people are feeling just really cheesy.

[Jane]

Gracie: Many walk the path with you...

[joew]

Gracie, thanks for sharing your story of loss and pain with us. Like liriodendron, I hope expressing those feeelings and knowing others care will be of some comfort.

[hartlikeawheel]

Solomon Islands, Malaysia and WI? Just what kind of an unholy triumvirate is that? A lot of gruesome things come out of WI. . .

Well, I don't have the flu, thank you. I have my second go around with bronchitis. Got some heavy duty antibiotics. I still don't feel all that bad. Just lethargic.

Sorry to hear the black dog's come to visit, Gracie. It's a bummer, for sure. When you're there it's almost as though one can't find the door to let him out. Gotta exercise him indoors for a while.

All the advice in the world is meaningless when you're on that path. And all the comfort fails.

You just can't alter body chemistry of that kind with willpower or words,. About all you can do is talk it out, talk it out and remind yourself that it does pass.

I know from long experience that the lessons learned in those times of no light do come to fruition in time. You do too.

What use are we if we don't know pain?

I'm sending a couple of cozy hugs and a blankie. Cocoon and prepare to hatch again!

You reminded me of a song Joan Baez used to sing. Can't find it and can't remember any of the lyrics except for something like, "And if it should rain, let it rain." There's a lot of power in those simple words, methinks.

[doctork]

//I realize I am not a Physician but I have found that I personally and others I have observed, suffer more sickness in times of stress and poor physical condition. I have also read that most of the flu deaths are from complications in people that have heart disease.

Doc? Would you recommend that a perfectly healthy person get a flu shot? What I'm getting at is: Are you aware of any science that would indicate the immune system can benefit from exposure to periodic viruses?//

roges, there is quite a lot of science supporting the concept that stress lowers our immune response, so we are more susceptible to illness when we are stressed. It's sometimes called "psychoneuroimmunology," and you can probably google it and learn much more than I know!

Exposure to illness/virus does benefit our immune systems, as that is how we become immune to disease; it's the basic principle behind immunizations. It is also less common for older adults (as opposed to little kids and kindergarten teachers) to get colds because they have developed immunity over the years. There is some data in favor of the idea that our society is now "too clean" and that because we are not sufficiently exposed to dirt and allergens, we have increased asthma and allergic disease. We're nowhere near any definitive explanations yet...

As for influenza, I personally remain firmly in favor of influenza vaccine, as it can be a deadly illness - 35,000 to 40,000 deaths in the US in an average year. While it does kill mainly the elderly, the very young, and people with heart and respiratory disease, plenty of others die too. And the healthy individuals who contract influenza and fully recover after a few days (5 - 7, even 10) of misery can also infect others who are not as resilient. Their elderly and infant relatives, or with HIV/AIDS or otherwise failing immune systems, are the ones who die. Pregnant women are especially likely to die from influenza - then both mom and baby are lost.

Still, you've probably heard me say "I'm not your mom, and I'm not the health police." And I'm also of a Libertarian bent. So I just inform people of the risks and benefits, then let them make the decision on their immunizations.

Gracie, I'm so sorry about you pain. I'm hoping that by now it is a better day for you. When I experience "mistakes" or "failures" I try to consider them tuition paid in The School of Life. After all, if you learn something, it wasn't a total waste, was it? Maybe that is just too Pollyanna of me.

And what about this $20,000 house? Do we have some financiers here in prairieCHATTER who could arrange for a group purchase as a retirement investment or something? A Home for Dopey Cronies? Gracie and her family could keep it nice and cozy for the occasional wayward dope who visits.

[gailkate]

What a great idea, DrK! This wayward dope would especially like a GracieGourmet menu. Her muffins alone would make me drive to Indiana.

And on the buffet today, we have

[Gracie]

You are all too wonderful for words.

Much as I would love to have the house again, and every one of you as housemates, it wouldn't be possible. It's back in Michigan, which we left two years ago when there was no work to be found, and there is less there now than then.

Nope. Gracie just has to suck it up and move on. And she has.

Yesterday was blessedly sunny, and I busied myself with some serious spring cleaning, especially my kitchen. Started some fresh herbs for the windowsill. Divided my African violets, and started what will be some more baby plants. Fed 'Audrey' and made some sourdough French bread. Mixed up some molasses cooky dough, the kind you roll in sugar so they have crackly tops...mmmm.....because molasses is so good for me.

(Although I must say that gail's muffins look so good that when I go home today I think I will mix up applesauce-bran, and let the batter mellow for a few days, and mix and bake some pumpkin muffins, which will be good before church tomorrow.)

And I put on the last of the Easter ham, and all its trimmings, to simmer in the crockpot and make stock. This morning before I came to work I skimmed and strained it and added the beans, and we will have homemade beans and cornbread for dinner tonight, because Grizzy loves them so, actually, so do I.

I scrubbed the kitchen floor and all my cabinet doors, because they all seemed to be spattered or dribbled with God knows what...coffee, undoubtedly, possibly pizza sauce, and something blue that defies definition...I mean, it looks like blueberry but I can't remember the last time I did anything with blueberries. It is a profound mystery.

Chopped some celery and made tuna salad. Made some yogurt 'pudding' for next week's lunch boxes (two boxes sugar free strawberry jello, two boxes cranberry jello, dissolved in the required boiling water, and with a quart of plain homemade yogurt beaten in instead of cold water. We all love it. Lots of protein and calcium and not too much sugar. Although you should see it when I use blue jello....very odd color. I digress.)

Then I got my bike out of the attic and took it out for the first ride of spring. Fresh air, sunshine, too early for bugs in my teeth so it was all good.

And a bubble bath last night, with a couple more chapters of a really, really, really good book. That's still my best form of self-medication.

But more than anything, yes, as so many of you said, I felt your hugs, I felt your caring, and it lifted my heart and my spirit as nothing else can. Jane is right...many walk the path, and many of us here have known tremendous loss. There are those who would say that it was just a house, and I suppose they are right--but it was the first, and only, that was ever mine, after decades of renting, and the way in which it was taken....well. Enough.

Thank you, again, for loving me. I love you, too. Very much.

[rogesgallery]

I have to bring up nutrition since I've been doing some nutrition research lately:

According to the American Cancer Society- "eating at least five servings of fruits and vegetables each day as part of a healthy diet can help reduce your risk of cancer."

A recent discovery concerns the importance of phytochemicals that are found in vine-ripened fruits and vegetables but are not found in those that are not vine-ripened.

Today, in the U.S., produce is picked green for long distance transport to cities. This “green harvest” is the primary reason for low phytochemical content in fruits and vegetables.

“The biological signal for a plant to synthesize initial micronutrient molecules is maturation of the fruit, vegetable and seed. When fruits and vegetables are picked green, it is before the micronutrient molecules are present.”

-Journal of the National Academy for Child Development: The Role of Phytochemicals in Optimal Health, 1997 Vol. 11, No. 1

That basically means fruits and vegetables picked before ripening have less, if any, of the phytochemicals needed to strengthen your immune system.

In the U.S., most adults and children don’t even come close to the minimum recommended daily servings of 2-4 fruits and 3-5 vegetables. And if you’re getting your fruits and vegetables from the market, more than likely you aren’t getting an adequate dose of maturely present phytochemicals.