Flu scare

I try not to be a paranoid person, but I know I probably am when it comes to Gabriel, and now to this baby. And frankly, this Swine Flu thing is scaring the heck out me. There have been six deaths in North Texas. The first four victims had underlying health issues. But now there have been two deaths of perfectly healthy children. And this morning on NPR, they had this frightening story for us. And until last week, I assumed Gabriel would be a candidate for Tamaflu if he had any symptoms, but no, it's kids 2 and under.

So for now we are taking some precautions, like avoiding big crowds. Our parish's big yearly fundraising event, the International Fair, was yesterday and we decided not to go. We've also decided to avoid Mass for awhile, because I have a theory that sometimes people think they have to still go every week even if they're sick. For now we are still sending Gabriel to his twice-a-week Mother's Day Out, but I'm getting more and more nervous about it. We decided that unless were notified that even one flu case had shown up, we'd continue to send him. I know most people just stay really sick for 5 or 6 days, then get better. But the randomness about the truly awful cases like the one in the NPR story is what terrifies me.

I was also nervous about taking the vaccine whenever it finally shows up since they appear to be rushing it through, but I guess I have to trust my doctor and the CDC (and a big dose of God), that the risk of not taking it greatly outweighs the risks from the vaccine. The way they are dragging their feet, though, the baby may be here before I get a chance to take it. According to everything I've read, his best protection will be for all of us to get the vaccine.

So we will be a pretty paranoid family for awhile, but we all think it's for a good reason.