An Ounce of Prevention

Last week, I went to the occupational health clinic at work and got my seasonal flu vaccine. They didn't have the H1N1 vaccine yet and don't know when it'll be delivered. When they do, it'll be rationed to staff working high risk areas first. I don't think hospice falls into that category. There's a public clinic tomorrow that I'm thinking of trying to attend, but recent events like this have had long, long lines. People started lining up at one last weekend at 4 in the morning. Since I can't sleep well anyways, maybe that's an option. If I were the first to get there, I wouldn't have to worry about milling around with thousands of (possibly sick) people standing on line, lowing like good little cattle.

There is a lot of overwhelming information out there and with all of the media hype and states of emergency, it's easy to feel a little frightened. Worse yet, I'm concerned people are becoming apathetic or developing the belief that all of the noise surrounding this flu is hyperbole. Conspiracy theories abound that this is a money maker for vaccine producers, but I find that premise hard to believe. Because it's novel, this particular influenza virus is nasty and although I don't work in critical care anymore, I still hear the stories from the trenches. In conversation with my respiratory therapy friends, incidents of influenza have been seen with devastating consequences for their patients all summer long, including people in all age groups. About a month ago, my sister forwarded an email from a colleague that explained his wife's harrowing ordeal with this virus over the summer, including over a week on life support, permanent pulmonary damage and the long road to recovery. His wife is about my age.

While I await my opportunity to offer up my deltoid muscle, I'm trying to stay healthy, eat right, wash my hands 100 times a day, stop touching my mouth, eyes and nose and get as much rest as my hormonal state allows. More importantly, I'm doing my best to avoid obviously ill people, but it isn't easy because people can be ignorant and down right rude. The other day, I stood on line at TJ Maxx while a woman at the register was trying to check out. In her arms, she was carrying a pile of clothing and her acutely viral child. His face was flushed, his body limp and his cough, frightening. I wanted to clobber her for taking her kid out in the cold rain when he was too sick to even offer up a protest. I'd have been less judgmental if I'd bumped into her in the cold and flu aisle at the pharmacy, but TJ Maxx? What was it she couldn't live without that day? To be fair, she could have been the smartest person in the world, but she didn't have a lick of common sense.

Have you read The Great Influenza by, John Barry? It's incredible. If you don't want to read his tome, why not give him a listen?

Have you gotten your H1N1 vaccine yet? Will you?