I came to Cedar Rapids to care for ailing grandparents. I'm not sure I was ever prepared to even consider their deaths. Three weeks before my sweet 16 I was told I was terminal and that there was very little chance I would live to see my eighteenth birthday and "it would take an act of God nothing short of the flood" for me to see my 21 birthday. Even though those predictions proved to be false I never really moved passed them in my mind. I expected to die first.
A week ago yesterday my daughter and I arrived to help care for ill family and yesterday morning my grandmother passed into the arms of her beloved husband. No one really knows how to deal with a situation like this, especially not me. Some of my grandmother's children came up right away to the Hospice House and others didn't even bother. We're trying to plan some kind of family gathering to remember and honor her, but I doubt all of her children will show up. I do think most of her grandchildren and great grandchildren will come to honor her memory.
This trip is more difficult than I expected. In a few days or a week my daughter and I will go stay with my paternal grandmother and help her care for my grandfather and just take care of herself. Hopefully grandpa will be released from the rehab/care center shortly. My husband and I want them to move out to Portland with us that there is always someone to help take care of them. My grandma doesn't want to, but grandpa does. At this point I don't know who will win.
Friday, August 17, 2007
Sunday, February 11, 2007
Vaccines food for thought
Everyone today seems to be focusing in on the ability of a new vaccine to save or simply change our lives. I agree that the concept behind vaccines is a noble one, but I do not believe that we should blindly follow the advice or recommendations for their use without further research.
Vaccine manufacturers are in the business to make money! Yes, they may truly desire to improve the world and make humans healthier, but they have a duty to their investors to make money. As for the government having our best interest at heart, well that remains to be seen. In a number of cases the government does little if any independent research into the products and treatments they recommend and mandate. The government and its many agencies receive large financial contributions and other favors from pharmaceutical companies.
Stop for a minute and consider how many drugs and medical breakthroughs have been pulled off the market in recent years for being unsafe. Given this questionable track record are you really willing to blindly follow their possibly corrupt and definitely questionable advice? It is your right and duty as a parent to ask questions!!
What is the purpose of the vaccine or treatment? Chicken Pox is not deadly; a little annoying, yes, but not fatal! Why should you give your child a vaccine that can put him/her at greater risk later in life? While chicken Pox is not fatal for a child it can be life threatening for an adult or at the very least lead to sterility. The Chicken Pox vaccine and booster both become ineffective in the late teens to early twenties leaving your children vulnerable when the virus can be life threatening!
The only way to gain a lifetime immunity to the Chicken Pox virus is to develop a natural case of the virus and allow your body to create antibodies! Yes, there are rare instances when the body is unable to develop a complete immunity to the virus. I have had the Chicken Pox 7 times and it was only at 15 that I began to show an immunity to the virus. If I had been vaccinated for the Chicken Pox as a child I would probably be dead to day, because my body would not have been able to withstand the virus as an adult. Even now I know that I will be at risk when my children develop the virus. My husband and I have chosen not to vaccinate our children for the Chicken Pox virus, because of the increased risk their lives would be at as they reach maturity.
Vaccine manufacturers are in the business to make money! Yes, they may truly desire to improve the world and make humans healthier, but they have a duty to their investors to make money. As for the government having our best interest at heart, well that remains to be seen. In a number of cases the government does little if any independent research into the products and treatments they recommend and mandate. The government and its many agencies receive large financial contributions and other favors from pharmaceutical companies.
Stop for a minute and consider how many drugs and medical breakthroughs have been pulled off the market in recent years for being unsafe. Given this questionable track record are you really willing to blindly follow their possibly corrupt and definitely questionable advice? It is your right and duty as a parent to ask questions!!
What is the purpose of the vaccine or treatment? Chicken Pox is not deadly; a little annoying, yes, but not fatal! Why should you give your child a vaccine that can put him/her at greater risk later in life? While chicken Pox is not fatal for a child it can be life threatening for an adult or at the very least lead to sterility. The Chicken Pox vaccine and booster both become ineffective in the late teens to early twenties leaving your children vulnerable when the virus can be life threatening!
The only way to gain a lifetime immunity to the Chicken Pox virus is to develop a natural case of the virus and allow your body to create antibodies! Yes, there are rare instances when the body is unable to develop a complete immunity to the virus. I have had the Chicken Pox 7 times and it was only at 15 that I began to show an immunity to the virus. If I had been vaccinated for the Chicken Pox as a child I would probably be dead to day, because my body would not have been able to withstand the virus as an adult. Even now I know that I will be at risk when my children develop the virus. My husband and I have chosen not to vaccinate our children for the Chicken Pox virus, because of the increased risk their lives would be at as they reach maturity.
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