Flu Shots

We have entered in to a realm in society where common sense seems to have disappeared. People blindly follow the advice of individuals without thinking it through. We have a deep mistrust of the medical professionals (AKA Doctors). It's almost like they have become the "bad guys" and all of a sudden the individuals who did not go to medical school are the "experts". I find myself often shaking my head and saying "HUH???"

If you read my blog, then you know that I have eighty thousand children, the majority of which were born in one take. I think right there I should be labelled an "expert". Ha!

I am a passionate "health freak". You can ask my dearest friends how much I harass them about what they're eating/doing to maintain optimal health. I cut out the majority of processed foods long before it became trendy to do so (I do still occasionally partake of "junk" so that my babysitter will want to come to my house. HAHAHA!) Being that I am in "that crowd" of people, you might be shocked to know that my children receive the flu shot. I know many, many, many people who are fiercely opposed to the flu shot. I can understand the arguments against it, and the feelings of nervousness in putting things in to your body that you don't really understand. It's the exact same feeling that I have when I board an airplane. I don't know how to fly a plane, and I don't know the pilots, and it freaks. me. out. I get it. It's scary. But for crying out loud, use some common sense!

If you have children with medical issues (especially of the lung sort), do you really think it's wise to not get them the flu shot? If you pay attention to all of those articles about not vaccinating, they're referring to the "average healthy human". Newsflash: if you have a child with asthma/Reactive Airway Disease/Chronic Bronchitis/any other lung "problems" then they are NOT an average healthy human.

There were two years where I did not get my trips vaccinated for the flu. Neither of them were because of any trends against such things, but rather due to two circumstances: one year they were sick too much to have a healthy window in which to be vaccinated, and another year I was very sick and by the time I health'd up, it was too late. You want to know what happened to my average "unhealthy" humans? They almost died. Yeah. My son coded (that's: stopped breathing) in my arms, at his doctor's office. Not just once either. My daughter's kidneys shut down, and I spent three weeks in the hospital where for four nights straight my helpless, dying, child cried out: "Mommy help me! Mommy help me!" over and over and over again around the clock (Nurses are amazing. And when I succumbed to the same sickness my children did, my daughter's nurse stayed at her bedside all night long so I could rest. When she had another patient she needed to care for, she left and helped them, and then came back to my child. That's heroism. FYI). I sat at the bedside of my child while she hallucinated the presence of her deployed father, because the flu had so permeated and sickened her brain that she began to see things that weren't there. Why did this happen? Because they got the flu. Why did they get the flu? Because they didn't get the flu shot. Period. Cut paste go to print.

I constantly am bombarded with articles about why we shouldn't vaccinate our kids. I get the sentiments, I really do. But I'm never bombarded with articles about why we should vaccinate (unless it's from the American Medical Association, but let's face it... those people are the evil minions trying to shove these poisonous vaccinations down our throats! Right??? -I'm joking-). I'm not saying the flu shot is for everyone. But I am saying this: on the side of the vaccination debate, I come out on the side where the best interests of my children lie. It's not about good guys and bad guys, it's about being able to adequately look at the health of my own children and recognize what is in their best interests. If the flu shot is "dangerous" as some claim it to be, is getting the flu more or less dangerous? Is all of the medical intervention necessary, to keep one's child alive should they get the flu, more or less dangerous than that one vaccine? Think things through, my friends. Don't jump on to a bandwagon without a clear picture of what happens. I certainly believe that we need to make decisions from an educated viewpoint. I absolutely believe that what's best for me and my children, is not necessarily what's best for others. However, I also believe that my children's pediatrician cares passionately, deeply, and fiercely about the health and safety of my children. I trust his two trips through medical school (here in the United States and also in France I believe). I trust his 20+ years of intervening, assisting, and helping sick children. I trust him when my child is coding in his office and he says Get in your car now and speed to the hospital. You'll get there faster than an ambulance. They'll be waiting outside for you. I trust him when he walks in while my child's kidneys have stopped functioning and says Don't worry. I'll fix everything! She'll be fine! I trust him. And every time he has given my children the flu shot, they haven't gotten the flu.

I freely admit that I, the Birkenstock-wearing-health-freak, gives her children the flu shot. Do you relate, to the need to vaccinate?