Friday, November 18, 2011

A Pox upon You…Really?

I know…I know…I’m working on it…we talked about it recently…trusting another person to make the best decisions for her life…based on her life experiences…hopes and dreams…trusting her heart…I said I would do it…it sounded easy enough…
And it sounded so good when my friend was doing that for me…it’s just that…it’s hard to not roll my eyes…and say…people…what are you thinking…I would NEVER do that…when I hear about some things…
Case in point…did you know that there is such a thing as a Chicken Pox Party…where people take their well children to mingle with kids with active Chicken Pox…in the hopes that they will contract the disease…and not require immunizations…
(I wish I’d known about them when we had to cancel my daughter’s third birthday party because she broke out in pops the day after I mailed the invitations…I could have billed it a whole ‘nother way…and maybe charged admission…)
But it gets even better…say you live too far away to attend a party…there are people who have their virus shedding young’uns…lick suckers…and mail them…at $50 a pop…to well kids…again for the purpose of giving them the disease…
(By the way…Chicken Pox is airborne…and swapping slobber is not the best way of catching it…but there are a lot of other diseases…that can be easily transmitted that way…a little strep…hepatitis…you know…minor things…)
Now…thankfully…this practice is being curtailed…some federal agencies have gotten involved…because…it’s illegal to mail diseases…think Homeland Security…white powder…anthrax…hello
So here I am…eyes rolling…exasperated…my inner nurse coming out all over the place…what were you thinking…children die from complications of Varicella…it ain’t no laughing matter
Thankfully…Bertha is here to give me additional perspective…
There is a reason that this Mama feels strongly against immunizations…she doesn’t have the same medical background that I have…she’s had experiences that I haven’t had…immunizations have been linked…rightly or wrongly…with severe complications…this Mama is doing what she sincerely believes is best for her child…
Bertha…I love you…I know you are right…but…I’m really struggling with this one…not with the legality of it…we know…it’s illegal…but with trusting her heart…when it appears so different from mine…
Maybe it would be different if I knew her…understood where she’s coming from…maybe…
It’s gonna take some more time in the contemplation chair to get this all straight…
Jane

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