Word, Simcha. Simcha Fisher had a really wonderful piece this week on science, Catholicism, and fear. I remember people spitting nails over her post on vaccinating her kids so I wouldn’t be surprised if there is some blowback on this one. (It turns out I was right: She put out a response today addressing the behavioral and spiritual components.) Given that I have a suppressed immune system (thank you prematurity!) and I live with two other people with suppressed immune systems (again, thank you prematurity and thank you cancer!), all I have to say is, “Word, Simcha.”
Seriously, the whole CDC whistleblower thing on Facebook was stupid and I have to bite my tongue in several groups that I’m part of because of the large number of “anti-vaxers” that are present and get pissy because I would be hesitant to let their unvaccinated kids play with my kid who has a suppressed immune system. Oh… there’s also a higher risk of febrile seizures for kids on selective and delayed vaccine schedules — click here for details.
One of the stupidest things I’ve heard in a while. A few months ago, someone shared a blog post in one of my Facebook groups that set off my “brain exploding” filter. Apparently, the author of the blog post argues that diseases like mumps, measles, and chicken pox aren’t bad because they survived them as a child and don’t remember them being particularly awful.
Yeah… no. I think somebody needs to turn in their license to breed.
(HT: Giphy)
The author may not remember these diseases being particularly bad, but my parents and in-laws sure do. They remember women losing their babies because of measles and rubella as well as classmates being hospitalized. There’s also the fact that I’d prefer not to watch my kid suffer from a disease that we have the capability to prevent, especially as getting any of those diseases would likely land him in the hospital.
Help Give A Child A Shot. Angie of The Jammie Girl wrote a post this week about Walgreens’ program to donate immunizations to the Third World for every shot they give from September 2nd through October 13th. I have to have a flu shot because my father-in-law has multiple myeloma and me getting the flu puts him at serious risk, so I’ll be heading to Walgreens in the next few days. (There’s also my child who hasn’t met a virus he hasn’t wanted to befriend and those friendships have an annoying habit of landing him in the ER.)
Preeclampsia Registry goes global. My email from the Preeclampsia Foundation this morning spoke of the Preeclampsia Registry being accepted into the Global Pregnancy CoLaboratory. It’s funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation as part of its PRE-EMPT initiative and it means that there will be funded research studies into the causes and pathology of the condition. For a list of some of the studies, click here. If you’re a preeclampsia survivor and haven’t joined the registry, please click here and share your information.
Cobra fun. For those who haven’t heard the news, an albino monocled cobra (basically, a white cobra) escaped from someone’s house and bit a dog. Thankfully, it was a dry bite (the snake has either been defanged or the venom glands have been removed is what they’re guessing) but said snake is loose in Thousand Oaks, California. It’s about 70 miles from here (thus I’m not going to see it) but I’m still not happy about going outside.
On the other hand, a number of fake Twitter accounts for it have sprung up and those are pretty amusing. (Here, here, here, and here.)
**UPDATE** The cobra has been captured.
Cobra-pranking. There’s a backstory on this one: When I was 4 or 5, I was terrified of cobras and other kinds of snakes getting into my room at night and biting me. My parents calmly explained to me that there were no cobras in San Jose, California… and then found out a few years later that the mascot of the middle school I attended was the cobra. (Go Castillero Cobras!) It has become a running joke in our family so the news of the albino cobra on the loose in Thousand Oaks led to a lot of interesting things being put on my Facebook wall.
I had taken my mother-in-law to Target and while talking to the cashier, the two of them decided to prank me by announcing over the loudspeaker when I arrived that a white cobra had been spotted in the store and Target wasn’t responsible for anyone getting bitten. (She had also joked to me when she called me to tell me that she was in line that she wanted to yell “cobra!” to scatter people so she wouldn’t have to wait so long.) Apparently, I took too long to get there so this cashier went on break before they could prank me; but she was pretty proud of herself.
See? I get no respect.
My in-laws’ cat is seriously grounded. My in-laws’ cat Felicity escaped out the back door and is refusing to come in. I’ve done the cat call, left her treats, etc. and now all I can do is wait up for her. She doesn’t have the best sense in the world and I’m a bit concerned about her becoming coyote chow…
For more Quick Takes, visit Jen at ConversionDiary.Com.
Just found your blog via 7qt…. This is hilarious! People that say the measles/mumps/etc are no big deal need to get their heads examined. I guess we should also get rid of toilets and indoor plumbing, since prior generations went without and “turned out just fine.”
I did not read Simcha’s post, but you know how I feel about anti-vaxers. The local HS had about 1/3 of the students out with whooping cough last year. We don’t have “community immunity” here for some diseases. And that scares me.
As for chicken pox, it’s been about 6 years ago now, that I missed the entire Easter season because I had it. The doc said it was one of the worst cases he’d seen in a long time. I had blisters everywhere (including up my nose, in my ears, and “down there”). If I could have avoided it by a vaccine, I sure would have. The thing with childhood diseases is that while they might not seem so bad having them as children, without the immunity a vaccine provides, most of those same diseases have the potential to be lethal when an adult gets them. There are times I’ve been tempted to slap people I don’t even know because of their position on vaccines.
There’s a Walgreen’s in town, and I have to get a flu shot every year because my diabetes puts me at high risk, so I’ll head over there soon.
A friend of mine lived in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, several years ago. At one point she heard a strange rustling in her pantry, opened it up, and there was a cobra! It had apparently followed a frog up from the little creek behind her house, and found the pantry a comfy place to rest. She was able to rally her neighbors, and they got it out for her. EEEP!!
Hopefully Felicity has come in by now. Little snot. If she can climb trees, she should be safe enough.
I’m going to be reading on your links for quite a while….