pondering the heiny flu

Media hype. What to believe? What not to believe?

In my case: piggy disease. Aka: H1N1. Or, as DH terms it, 'heiny flu.' ('Heiny' meaning 'bum.' And then he laughs hysterically.)

To vaccinate or not to vaccinate?

Phoned up the midwife. One of my questions, which hasn’t been addressed by the media, is: what was the socioeconomic status of the pregnant women who’ve died from H1N1? – because if most victims were impoverished, of course they’re more likely to die. Confirming my suspicions, she said that most pregnant women who’ve died from this flu are those who were poor (i.e., living in substandard housing, eating poorly, drinking unsafe water) and/or were immuno-compromised to begin with (e.g., recurrent bronchitis). I am neither.

She also shared info on the vaccine’s ingredients, and said that if I decide to get it, I should go to my family doctor, who has the mercury-free version.

Overall, though, she didn’t express a preference one way or the other. All she asked was that I make an informed choice, because she didn’t want me to get vaccinated if I had doubts in my mind.

So now I’ll have to do some more research.

I’m getting nervous about this decision, especially since I work in a germy environment. The custodians do their best to clean and disinfect, but come on, we’re spending time with icky teenagers who sneeze on everything and share drinks and kiss each other. Today I had 10-12 students out sick.

Wonder what they’ve got.

I also asked about Ninja’s reduced movements as of late – he hasn’t been much of a ninja! – and she said it’s normal, since he’s getting less space to move around. So I’ll keep an eye on it, and if I’m not comfortable, I’ll go in so she can check things out.