About a week ago my doctor highly recommended that I get the H1N1 flu vaccine. I have put much thought into it and decided after literally half the neighborhood and 10% of the elementary school got sick I needed to do something to protect my family. (I'm sure not the entire school had swine flu, but at least 170 kids have been out with something.)
After my doctor appointment I called the list of Health Departments across the valley to see if they had any vaccinations. The first several told me that they only had them for children ages 6 months to 47 months. Okay, I thought. I will see about getting Livy one at least. Then the very nice receptionist (Seriously, she was very helpful. It caught me off guard.) Told me that they were having a shot clinic that Saturday. This was perfect and we would all get our shots then. Little did I know!
Saturday morning I wake up at 5 am for the clinic that starts at 7 am. After waking a very sleepy toddler, who was beyond cranky (I told her this is how mommy feels when you wake her up, but I'm sure she wasn't paying attention.) we were on the road. I drove 45 minutes to discover the line.
I was expecting a line, but nothing like what I experienced. The clinic was at one end of the block and the line snaked back and forth through a huge mall like parking lot and down three large city blocks. All of this for one of the 1700 doses available that day! I stood in line for about an hour when the line started to disperse. We were told the vaccine was gone. I can't tell you how frustrated I was that I drove 45 minutes for nothing!
Once home, I search my county's health department website and find that they were having a clinic on Tuesday. "Fine!" I thought, I will try it again. I don't want my family to get sick!
Tuesday comes around and we are in line 1 1/2 hours prior to opening. We waited an additional 1 1/2 hours to actually receive the vaccine. I felt oddly calm afterwards, knowing that at least we were somewhat protected. My next worry is if I can handle standing in line again for Livy to get a booster shot in a month.
Have you experienced the lines to get your H1N1 vaccine?
I feel that even though we received the vaccine we still need to use some caution with illness. Not only will I have a newborn baby, who I certainly don't want sick, but I have a small history of being sick. Last winter I was literally sick every 2 weeks from December to April. I don't think I can deal with that again this year.
So what is my game plan? I wish it was an easy one, but mentally, socially and physically it will be tiring.
Here are some things that I'm going to use to help prevent us from getting sick as often. (I don't think it's possible to avoid everything all together, but at least cut down.)
* I'm going to avoid people! I wish this one was the easy one, but I don't plan on taking my baby out for several months after she's born. After 7 weeks of bed rest, this one hurts the most. I need social interaction, but not if everyone is sick. I guess I could always screen everyone before they visit me or I visit them. But it might be a little much to ask them if they are sick, are their children sick, have they been around anyone who might be sick.
* Sanitize, Sanitize, Sanitize! I mean this in every way possible. I will sanitize all toys after any play date at my house. I will periodically sanitize all doorknobs, light switches, phones and computer key board. Hey I will even sanitize our toothbrushes regularly if it means I get sick less often!
* Keeping hands clean! When I ran my daycare, I was the hand washing Nazi. Every child had to have their hands washed once they arrived at my house. I had no idea when the last time they washed their hands. I would then set the kitchen timer and every hour everyone had their hands washed. It may sound a little over the top, but I truly believe it helped. We were rarely sick during my daycare years. I am strongly considering using the timer again to help remind us to keep our hands clean.
* Air out the house! Back in the daycare years, I was required to take classes and attend A LOT of training. Some classes I really enjoyed and learned much. One thing that I found interesting was the air quality in our houses. It's actually pretty bad, especially when we're sick. It was recommended for us to air out the house for 10 minutes everyday. I know this sounds crazy in the winter when it's freezing outside and you don't want to let the warm air out, but if you do one room at time for 10 minutes it will help.
What else are you doing to keep your family healthy this winter?
I have a friend with a six week old that stood in line for SEVEN HOURS on Saturday to get her vaccine.
ReplyDeleteI am so glad that you are the hand washing Nazi and not the hand sanitizer Nazi! The thought of those germs sitting on my hands, whether dead or not, is quite disturbing to me! (I know, I am odd...)
I've heard that drinking hot liquids daily and gargling with salt water or Listerine can help you to not get sick as well. It kills the bacteria that may be growing in the back of your throat. The bacteria have to incubate there for a few days before you start showing symptoms. It may be an old wives tale, but I am willing to drink hot cocoa every morning, especially if it will prevent me from getting sick!
ReplyDeleteBrittany, I have received an email stating the same thing. Actually I've received it several times. It also talks about using a Netti Pot which I purchased this last time when I was sick. It's kind of weird to get used to but it may do the trick. I haven't used it since I was sick last, but I may have to add it to the list. I am totally with you with having some Hot Chocolate every morning, can't go wrong there!
ReplyDelete| wouldn't queue for the vaccine. People around here have been ill but they all seem to be getting over it just fine. Do you know people that have been so ill, it's made you want to be vaccinated? Are you prepared to share more the reasons? Was it because of last years illness'?
ReplyDeleteI'm really interested to know because in your post you sound really concerned and I wonder if I should be more bothered about it than I am.
x
Kelloggsville,
ReplyDeleteMy biggest concern was that of my children. With so many children getting sick around here I didn't want my children to be affected. Yes, most of the people are recovering fine, but I think back to this past March when I came down with influenza. I was extremely ill for 2 weeks. I could hardly move and therefore couldn't care for Olivia the way I should have. I even ended up at the hospital with an IV because I was so ill. We have been told that this one will hit worse than the typical flu and I couldn't bare the thought of myself getting that sick again and not caring for my children, especially a newborn. It frightened me even more with the thought of my newborn getting that sick and she would not be able to get the vaccine, you must be 6 months old. The only way for me to protect her was for me to get vaccinated while pregnant and breastfeed her.
I think with this vaccine, it's something that each person must take into consideration. If I wasn't pregnant and perfectly healthy, I probably wouldn't have gotten the vaccine. There are many paranoid people out there right now and I honestly feel that I made the right choice for me and my family.
We don't have to worry about the vaccine now, since we just all passed it around last week... I would have prefered the vaccine, but oh well. Luckly Miss H didn't catch it, we all wore masks around the house and I washed my hands so much my knuckles started to crack and bleed. I big thing, that we are doing is wearing masks when we go to stores and do our shopping. I don't care about the staring, at lease I know I'm not sucking in any germs.
ReplyDeleteNot only are there no vaccines around here right now, but there are no more flu shots at all at my hospital system. For the YEAR. They are not receiving ANY more shipments. I found out that after at least one delay, my school district is going to give regular flu shots next week. So I'm glad about that. But only for people 18 and up. Which means my kids still won't have anything this year. Ugh!!!!!!!
ReplyDeleteDid I mention that I get spit in the face daily by any number of various children at my work? I am certainly HIGH risk, and therefore, so is my family. :(
I'd say 25% of my school/staff has had some nasty bug recently. Some of it H1N1, some of it something else.
When the childen get into the car from school, grocery shopping, park etc we all purell. Then the minute we get home everyone takes off there shoes and we wash our hands. I will also occasionally disenfect backpacks and reusable lunch boxes.
ReplyDelete