H1N1 is widespread in our little neck of the woods with the local high school reporting as many as 1 in 4 of their student body out with the virus. In addition, my occasionally asthmatic daughter has nurtured germaphobia into such an art form as is rarely seen by humankind. Consequently I have been checking our pediatricians website first thing each morning for vaccination availability with the hope that being vaccintated would ease her mind. The paper reported earlier in the week that the state would be receiving a shipment with enough vaccine to inoculate about 2% of the population. I assumed that most of that would be distributed to high risk individuals (as it was) and that maybe with a little diligence we could get in line for the next shipment. Well, much to my surprise I logged onto the doctor's website just minutes after they updated and found that they had a few doses available on a first come, first serve basis this morning. I called, scheduled an appointment, woke Zoe, and within minutes we were in the car and on our way to town (I later checked and they were out of vaccine less than an hour after my call). What a mistake that was!!! The waiting room with filled to the brim with people waiting to get vaccinated alongside several VERY sick kids who were left to suffer for over a half hour, infecting everyone, before being taken back to see a health care worker. There was no attempt to make them (or us) more comfortable by moving them to examination rooms, and no masks were donned. Zoe immediately chose to go outside but I was forced to remain behind for what seemed like an endless wait until she was summoned (over 30 minutes later). I completely regret the whole thing. If by chance we luck out and neither of us managed to catch anything her vaccine should start protecting her in about a week. What's more likely is that I have contracted the very thing she most feared getting and will have passed it along to her long before that protection can do her any good. Ugh.
Thursday, October 22, 2009
My Germaphobic Nightmare of a Morning
H1N1 is widespread in our little neck of the woods with the local high school reporting as many as 1 in 4 of their student body out with the virus. In addition, my occasionally asthmatic daughter has nurtured germaphobia into such an art form as is rarely seen by humankind. Consequently I have been checking our pediatricians website first thing each morning for vaccination availability with the hope that being vaccintated would ease her mind. The paper reported earlier in the week that the state would be receiving a shipment with enough vaccine to inoculate about 2% of the population. I assumed that most of that would be distributed to high risk individuals (as it was) and that maybe with a little diligence we could get in line for the next shipment. Well, much to my surprise I logged onto the doctor's website just minutes after they updated and found that they had a few doses available on a first come, first serve basis this morning. I called, scheduled an appointment, woke Zoe, and within minutes we were in the car and on our way to town (I later checked and they were out of vaccine less than an hour after my call). What a mistake that was!!! The waiting room with filled to the brim with people waiting to get vaccinated alongside several VERY sick kids who were left to suffer for over a half hour, infecting everyone, before being taken back to see a health care worker. There was no attempt to make them (or us) more comfortable by moving them to examination rooms, and no masks were donned. Zoe immediately chose to go outside but I was forced to remain behind for what seemed like an endless wait until she was summoned (over 30 minutes later). I completely regret the whole thing. If by chance we luck out and neither of us managed to catch anything her vaccine should start protecting her in about a week. What's more likely is that I have contracted the very thing she most feared getting and will have passed it along to her long before that protection can do her any good. Ugh.
