Flu Shot Anxiety

On Monday evening, on a typical hot chocolate drive, James and I talked about the H1N1 Flu Shot. It's been a topic of much conversation among my neighbors and friends as we hear reports of six hour waits at flu shot clinics. The general consensus among my peers has been that they were not going to get themselves or their kids the flu shot. The shot seemed rushed, they didn't have time to properly test it in the push to get an immunization to the public and in general people felt like the media has overhyped the whole h1n1 pandemic. I'm not against flu shots, but I've never gotten one in the past and I didn't feel any need to get one now. and that's what James and I concluded from our Monday evening drive.

Until 12am Tuesday morning when K woke up with a fever.

Suddenly my head is full of all the information that the fear-mongering mass media has been sharing. So despite having seen K in feverish condition every cold and flu season, I find myself in a state of panic and paranoia. All the conviction I felt in the car ride about not getting the flu shot flew out the window and I am devastated now that I can't get the shot, can't take him out to sit for the six hours at a clinic.

I called into Health Link where the nurse assessed K over the phone. Questions like, "Are his lips blue?", "Is he confused, does he know where he is?" are not calming my panic. But with no symptoms other than a fever and sore throat she promptly directed my to their website for "home care" instructions (which I'd had already read before calling in). So all night I'm on him like a hawk, and with every cough, sniffle, whimper, even though I'm telling myself it's only a cold, that panic grows.

This morning K's fever is gone, but a runny nose and mild cough have come in its place. And although I'm not feeling as panicked, I'm definitely not the 'laissez faire' parent I have been in flu-seasoned past.

So now I'm not sure what the best route to take is. Do I wait til he's feeling better and take the whole family in for the vaccine? Do we withdraw ourselves from all social situations and just bunker down until the hysteria dies down? or do we just carry on as normal with some extra hand sanitizer?

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