I've had several monster posts on all sorts of subjects kicking around my head recently, but somehow real life seems to keep the thoughts in my head instead of flowing out my fingers onto the screen. Soon, I promise.
In the meantime, greetings from H1N1 central.
I admit it: last spring, I pooh-poohed the hyperbolic alarm over swine flu as the usual media irresponsibility, but after 5 days of living with it - my daughter, not me (yet) - I have to say that it really is a whopper. She is currently heading into the worst phase of the illness, which starts out as "ordinary" flu. But after a day or so of seeming recovery, it turns into a brutal pneumonia. We're not quite at that stage yet, but she's certainly having the relapse today, frighteningly going into a near-hypothermic state tonight (apparently one of the body's defenses is to LOWER temperature as well as to cook the infection out with a HIGH fever).
So, back to the vigil tonight - my husband and I are watching her like a hawk; so many kids around here have been so sick that it's hard not to feel like we've regressed back a century or so, and hard not to feel just as scared as those parents nursing their children through scarlet fever, diptheria and other life-threatening conditions. Ok, so this flu may not be quite THAT dangerous, but there's no doubt that it's a rotten one and when it reaches the acute pneumonic phase progresses aggressively and very fast. No fun.
So from us: heed the public advice on handwashing, and stay away from anybody suspected to have the illness (and if you already have it, keep your germs at home, please!). It's definitely one to avoid!
In the meantime, greetings from H1N1 central.
I admit it: last spring, I pooh-poohed the hyperbolic alarm over swine flu as the usual media irresponsibility, but after 5 days of living with it - my daughter, not me (yet) - I have to say that it really is a whopper. She is currently heading into the worst phase of the illness, which starts out as "ordinary" flu. But after a day or so of seeming recovery, it turns into a brutal pneumonia. We're not quite at that stage yet, but she's certainly having the relapse today, frighteningly going into a near-hypothermic state tonight (apparently one of the body's defenses is to LOWER temperature as well as to cook the infection out with a HIGH fever).
So, back to the vigil tonight - my husband and I are watching her like a hawk; so many kids around here have been so sick that it's hard not to feel like we've regressed back a century or so, and hard not to feel just as scared as those parents nursing their children through scarlet fever, diptheria and other life-threatening conditions. Ok, so this flu may not be quite THAT dangerous, but there's no doubt that it's a rotten one and when it reaches the acute pneumonic phase progresses aggressively and very fast. No fun.
So from us: heed the public advice on handwashing, and stay away from anybody suspected to have the illness (and if you already have it, keep your germs at home, please!). It's definitely one to avoid!
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