H1N1 and a really big sigh

When my daughter got up for school today and complained about a sore throat I must admit I paid more attention to her then I would have this time last year.

I used to be the type of Mom who figured that if there was no fever, blood or vomiting my kids could go to school.

This morning? This morning I wavered a bit and then I went here and used the provincial flu assessment tool to see if I needed to do anything for her.

I didn't. She's fine but I must admit I'm turning into a bit of an um, lunatic over the smallest cold symptoms in my kids these days.

You see, all this hoopla in the paper over the 'Swine Flu' has made me uneasy. It's also made me more aware of how fast a healthy kid can get really sick.

And?

I. Don't. Like. It.

I was the Mom who, a short month ago, wasn't going to give my kids the H1N1 shot. I figured that we'd been through many flu seasons and never really gotten that sick so, why bother? I'm also not a big fan of putting stuff into my family's bodies for no good reason.

What changed?

Well a child, a healthy child who lived one town over from us and, in many ways, reminded me a lot of my own son died from H1N1.

Died.

Gulp.

I then talked to a friend who is an ER critical care doctor and I asked him his opinion on getting the vaccination for my family.

He told me to get the H1N1 shot.

I asked him what the difference was between this flu and the other flu's that I've been blithely ignoring in the past.

'Leanne,' he said, 'this flu can kill you.'

Oh.

So, right now? As of today, my two younger children and I have had the H1N1 shot and my husband and my older daughter have not.

I plan on taking my older daughter to get the shot soon. This will be difficult as she is completely and irrationally terrified of needles.

Sigh.

Hubby? I've given him my opinion, now I just hope he finds the time to look after it for himself. I may have to badger him a bit about it too.

Double sigh.

What did you decide to do?

Comments

[Mary Lynn]

We ended up all getting H1N1 back in September. Or at least I'm 99% sure we did. They're not actually testing most people anymore to confirm that's what you have. I had a medium dose, the kids had mild doses, and Hubby was sicker than I've ever seen him...and I've seen him with pneumonia a few times. He had a fever for well over a week, a terrible cough, aches, ehaustion, and his lungs were so full of fluid he couldn't lie down to sleep...he sat upright in a chair and tried to sleep for 3 nights in a row till antibiotics finally kicked in. It's one nasty bug.

We're still all going to get the shot. I haven't yet because, since we've all had the flu, I figured we weren't high priority. Planning to go the end of this week or beginning of next.

[Holly (me.)]

We did not get the H1N1 vaccine because we got the flu itself. It was not too bad, but we did go into our practitioner with every changing or new symptom just to be safe.

[RevAnne]

I am a fully functional adult now who can get shots (but hasn't had either flu one b/c we didn't get enough seasonal vax in the area, and we're not high priority for H1N1 either) now only because I tried hypnotherapy last year.
I started out totally and irrationally afraid of needles and then it developed into a full-blown phobia. I might not have tried the hypnosis if I hadn't needed to take a drug I had to inject twice a day...my worst nightmare. Actually the drug didn't work (worse nightmare), so I conquered the phobia for nothing but all this rambling is to say this: it might be worth finding out what exactly she was afraid of. If she's afraid it will hurt, she'll probably grow out of it. But if there's something else there, you might want to talk to someone. I wish I had sooner.