In the last few days, the subject of the MMR vaccine and autism have come up repeatedly. It started with the articles about how the original paper linking MMR vaccines to autism was fabricated, or at best greatly exaggerated. Then I read about the courts denying a claim that the MMR vaccines were responsible for autism.
Personally, I think autism needs to be studied, but I don't think the increases in autism are due to vaccinations. I agree with public schools requiring vaccinations. I don't disagree that parents have the right to choose whether or not they want to vaccinate. If however I have a baby and you chose not to vaccinate, my child will not be exposed to either you or your child until my child has been vaccinated.
Showing posts with label health-related. Show all posts
Showing posts with label health-related. Show all posts
Thursday, February 12, 2009
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
Saving for the Future
Recently, I have been keeping up with journals and blogs of several families who have either lost children to cancer or are in the middle of battling cancer. Many of these kids won't stand a chance. They go through the pains of treatment (chemo, radiation, bone marrow transplants) only to go into remission and then relapse.
While there is no way to prevent childhood cancer, I have been wondering how I would respond in a situation like this. I'm not going to be the neurotic mother who thinks that her child has every disease known to man. I wouldn't go to the doctor obsessively to get tested for the possibility of cancer. I do think though that I am going to be somewhat proactive.
One particular blog started me thinking about cord blood banking. This little girl was diagnosed with AML, and because she was adopted, her immediate family did not provide an adequate match for her to receive a bone marrow transplant. Because she was adopted from China and her parents were of minority decent, the chances of finding her a match was even slimmer. Even though they did manage to track down her birth parents, it was became impossible to continue the process because she relapsed before they could type her siblings. I know the issue of stem cells are a hot button issue, but in our case it would make a lot of sense. Jeremy and I would have an inter-racial child. If anything were to happen, we would have to rely solely on the generosity of other donors in order to find a match. Even then, the probability would be slim. We discussed the possibility of banking cord blood, and even though it is expensive, it would be something that I'm willing to save up for now. Since we're not planning children anytime soon, we'll have plenty of time to save up money to do this even though payment plans are available. Even if it were never used, we would at least be working in every way to give our kids every advantage we could.
While there is no way to prevent childhood cancer, I have been wondering how I would respond in a situation like this. I'm not going to be the neurotic mother who thinks that her child has every disease known to man. I wouldn't go to the doctor obsessively to get tested for the possibility of cancer. I do think though that I am going to be somewhat proactive.
One particular blog started me thinking about cord blood banking. This little girl was diagnosed with AML, and because she was adopted, her immediate family did not provide an adequate match for her to receive a bone marrow transplant. Because she was adopted from China and her parents were of minority decent, the chances of finding her a match was even slimmer. Even though they did manage to track down her birth parents, it was became impossible to continue the process because she relapsed before they could type her siblings. I know the issue of stem cells are a hot button issue, but in our case it would make a lot of sense. Jeremy and I would have an inter-racial child. If anything were to happen, we would have to rely solely on the generosity of other donors in order to find a match. Even then, the probability would be slim. We discussed the possibility of banking cord blood, and even though it is expensive, it would be something that I'm willing to save up for now. Since we're not planning children anytime soon, we'll have plenty of time to save up money to do this even though payment plans are available. Even if it were never used, we would at least be working in every way to give our kids every advantage we could.
Saturday, November 1, 2008
Flu Shot
I wonder if it's even worth getting a flu shot anymore given how much the last couple have hurt. Last year, the flu shot hurt my arm for several days, but everyone who had gotten the shot experienced the same ache. This year, I think it was the person giving me the shot that is causing the pain. It feels kind of bruised although I don't see a bruise at the injection site. Hopefully it'll get better tomorrow.
Jeremy still refuses to get a flu shot. He never seems to get the flu though, even when I do have it. We'll see how he fares this year with the winters being significantly colder here. I hope he stays healthy though. It would not be fun if we were both to get sick this winter.
Jeremy still refuses to get a flu shot. He never seems to get the flu though, even when I do have it. We'll see how he fares this year with the winters being significantly colder here. I hope he stays healthy though. It would not be fun if we were both to get sick this winter.
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