I used to work with a woman who had (has) to take care of her adult daughter in every way.  This woman (the daughter) had the mental acuity of an 18-month-old, according to my old co-worker.  Although in her 30s, she is not able to do anything for herself, even eat.  Whenever my colleague left the house, she had to arrange for nursing care.  It's very sad.  After I got to know her a bit better, I felt comfortable asking her what had happened.  As a baby, the daughter had some sort of autoimmune reaction to a vaccination which caused a huge number of aftershocks.  My memory is sketchy...I believe it was an MMR vacccine (measles, mumps, rubella combination).  They grew up in Texas; one of the reasons they moved to Minnesota was because of our health care system.

Well, needless to say, I was pretty stunned to hear about this.  But at the time, I sort of assumed that it was a freak occurrance.  Now, just yesterday, I was reading something else got sidetracked; basically the same story was staring me in the face.  I'm beginning to wonder just how prevalent reactions to vaccinations are.

Of course, I couldn't find any statistics on autoimmune reactions following vaccination.  Statistics don't necessarily mean a whole lot anyway: the same set of data can often be presented in many different ways.  However, in poking around online, I found some alarming things.  Now, believe me, I know better than to believe everything I read, especially online.  But it's food for thought.

First of all, I read on two different sites that the FDA does not require the same toxicity and efficacy studies for vaccines that it mandates for therapeutic drugs.  (I'm sorry, in all my hunting around, I closed some windows and lost these sites, so I can't provide the actual sources.)  I'm certainly not stating this as fact, but if it is true, it's some scary shit.  Basically, the rationale is that the need for new vaccines is so great that the FDA is willing to approve despite potential risks.  Yikes.

What are the risks, you might ask?  Apparently, they are two-fold.  Short-Term reactions may include anaphylaxis, polio (caused by the polio vaccine), thrombocytopenia (caused by the measles vaccine), acute arthritis (caused by the rubella vaccine), acute encephalopathy (caused by the DTP vaccine), shock, Guillain-Barré syndrome, and death.  Long-Term reactions may include ADD, ADHD, asthma, allergies, and a weakened immu ne system.  Particularly with the so-called long-term reactions, there are a lot of skeptics, primarily because there's really no way to link the adverse medical condition (such as asthma) with the vaccination.  (A child develops asthma 9 months after vaccination -- who's to say the vaccine caused it?)Lots of people seem pretty convinced the link exists, however.

Now, the question that comes in to my mind is why we need some of these vaccinations in the first place, at least now.  I can see the need for a regular tetanus shot for everyone, and I can certainly see the need for a flu vaccine, but what about polio?  Polio is not a problem in the US.  But from what I've read, there's actually a risk for infants contracting paralytic polio from the vaccination!  Pertussis (whooping cough) and MMR vaccinations also seem to have a high rate of reaction.  Here's a very informative article on vaccines.

The question popped in to my mind then, what happens if parents decide to decline vaccinations for their children?  Well, it's a mess.  Evidently, there are three reasons a parent might have grounds to request an exemption from vaccination.  If the child has a valid medical contraindication, a doctor can write a medical exemption.  Most states offer a religious exemption.  And 17 states offer what's called a "philosophical exemption," for those parents who just plain don't believe their child should be vaccinated.  There are considerable legal hurdles, and it appears that in some cases parents have had to fight to keep their children just because they objected to vaccinations.  This website talks more about the legal exemptions.  Health care employees may also have legal obligations to receive certain vaccinations.

Not everyone agrees that there are risks involved.  Here's an article that denies any link between the pertussis vaccine and asthma.  So it's obvious that even the experts are divided on this issue.

I guess I'm not sure where I stand on all of this.  Frankly, I'm not sure my opinion matters a whole lot -- I don't have any kids and probably never will have, and I've already received all of my childhood vaccines (without any problems, I might add).  I still plan to get my routine tetunus shot, but the articles I read said that the tetanus vaccine is one of the safer ones, especially when you look at how devastating the disease is.  I suppose it's just something to chew on.  One thing to remember is that just because a person is vaccinated doesn't mean they're immunized.  So is the purported risk worth the potential measure of safety offered?  Who am I to say?  I'm curious to know what everyone else thinks, though.

I got some cleaning done yesterday, and three loads of laundry done, so I plan on spending the whole day doing absolutely nothing productive.  Laundry is such a chore.  I live in an eight-plex house, and there aren't any machines, but the apartment complex next door has a washer and dryer that I'm allowed to use.  They're coin-operated, and they're not very well maintained.  Oh, the washer works fine, but the dryer never dries anything the first (or even second) time around.  I'm sure it's because the filters are clogged, but slum housing is a huge problem in this town, and a poorly-maintained clothes dryer is probably the least of our worries.  So, I got a late start, and because of the number of cycles it takes to get a load dry, I didn't get to bed until 3:30 last night.  At least I don't have to work today.  Thank goodness it's done.

I talked to my family today -- my parents and my grandma.  They thanked me for their gifts; I got my mom a pedometer, my dad a couple of CDs (Shelby Lynn, ugh), and I crocheted an afghan for my gramma.  I had to search to the ends of the earth for those CDs; evidently I'm not the only one who doesn't like Shelby Lynn.  But they all seemed pleased.  My gramma sent me money, and my parents really outdid themselves.  I got socks (which I always need), a really nice knife/kitchen utensil set, a Non-Sequiter page-a-day calender (I'd never heard of that comic strip before...I guess we'll see), some candy and cashews, and cash (hooray!).  It was way too much, but I think they felt sorry for me because of the surgeries and my pathetic financial situation.  Mike got me a combo birthday/christmas DVD player & Golden Girls box set last month.  I still don't have anything from Matt.  I can't wait to see what he's going to come up with this year, especially since I never even got a birthday present from him.  It'd better be good.  :-)  I got him a DVD box set of Keeping Up Appearances, which is a British comedy show.  It runs for a total of 635 minutes.  I made him promise after he opened it that he wouldn't make me watch it with him.  He loved it, though; I thought he was going to wet himself.

New Year's is coming, and I'm excited.  I've always loved New Year's Eve -- far more than Christmas.  Matt and I got a hotel room in La Crosse; the bars in Wisconin are open until 5 a.m. that night.  The problem is going to be finding someplace to eat.  There aren't many places in La Crosse that take reservations, and I've found out the hard way that no matter what time you go out to the restaurant you can plan on waiting sometimes at least an hour for a table.  That's kind of irritating.  I just hope there isn't a repeat of last year.  We did the same thing -- got a hotel room in La Crosse (so we wouldn't have to worry about driving back to Winona) -- and at one point during the night I went back to the room from the bar.  I was already kind of tipsy, and I inadvertantly locked my room key in the room.  The room was in Matt's name, so they wouldn't let me in.  He had gone off to a different bar, so I had to wait in the hall for him to come back.  Oh, well...after that experience, I doubt I'll make that mistake again.

I was hoping to see Bri this weekend, but now I'm not sure if that's going to happen.  Originally she was going to stop by work on Monday on her way back to Madison so that we could go out to lunch.  But when I talked to her, she remembered that she was taking her cat with her to her folk's house and so that wouldn't work.  She thought maybe she could come down on Sunday, but after talking with her parents, that might not happen either.  Oh, well.  As much as I want to see her (I haven't seen her since this summer), I don't want to create friction between her and her family.  I'm sure it'll all work out.  She did mention that if she couldn't make it, she may come down to visit with her girlfriend who I haven't met.  That would be very cool.

Now, on to my book review.  I suggest Tricky Business, by Dave Barry.  This book is absolute hilarity between two covers.  I'm not even sure that I can provide a synopsis of the plot, which is bizarre, but basically it's a story about a bunch of characters who go out in a tropical storm on a gambling cruise called the "Extravaganza of the Seas" off South Florida.  The ship is a front for drug smuggling, although most of the characters don't realize that.  I'm just not going to say any more about it -- I'd just end up butchering the story.  Rest assured: from the time you open the book to the time you put it down, you'll giggle non-stop.  Barry has written several incredibly funny books (I'll probably review another one some other time), and he also has a nationally syndicated humor column, which if you like, you can even have emailed to you for free once a week.  He's a hoot.

Wow...it's been a very long time since I've posted.  Work has been absolutely nuts; fortunately things are slowing down now.  I'm so glad that Christmas is finally here -- and on it's way out.  :-)

So what are all of you doing for Christmas?  I'm doing absolutely nothing, which is fine with me.  When I worked in nursing, I always ended up working on Christmas, so never really got a chance to celebrate.  Besides, being agnostic (or whatever), it's not like the holiday has any kind of religious significance.  I'm so sick of how materialistic everyone gets around this time of year.  I mean, don't get me wrong, I've never been the kind of person to turn down a present, but people are so greedy!  I just read an article in one of the local newspapers about how the rate of housing evictions rise during this season.  The article mentioned that no one has ever done even an informal study to figure out why this might be, but it seems pretty obvious to me: people spend their rent money on Christmas presents.  Not a good thing...

I have to admit, though, I did get gifts for a few people this year, although not on my usual scale.  I couldn't: I just got the bill from my first surgery -- the one I had back in October.  $1700.00.  Yikes.  I know I'll be able to pay off a big chunk of that with my tax refund, but I also know my refund isn't going to be that big.  And besides, I had another more expensive surgery in November.  Thank goodness I have a policy with a maximum out-of-pocket clause.

I finally got smart and signed up for our SelectAccount through work.  This is a benefit that's offered that allows me to have money taken out of my check every week tax free, which I can use for medical and dental expenses, even OTC drugs.  Even though I don't get paid very much, I have to say that my employers offer a pretty awesome benefits package.  They even subsidize a chunk of my health club membership.  That's very cool.

Back to Christmas...last week I read an article in our local paper about a group of friends who definitely have the right idea.  It made me feel less Scroogey, if that's possible.  :-)  There's this group of people who's known each other since high school, obviously a close group of friends, and they decided a couple of years ago that instead of giving each other gifts, they would spend the money they would have spent on each other -- which amounted to like $300 each -- and buy toys and hats and Target gift cards and donate them to homeless people so that kids could have Christmas presents and warm clothes.  Now that's the spirit of Christmas.

So I'm spending the holiday bundled up in my house, riding out this awful cold front.  Yesterday the wind chill was about 15 below.  It's about the same today, although I'm not going outside.  Thank goodness for space heaters.  I think I might also take this uniterrupted time and do some cleaning, and maybe plow through the mountain of laundry that's accumulated.

OK, another random subject change...  You know, after being single for so long, it's long since stopped bothering me.  I mean, I certainly haven't been actively looking for someone.  But lately I've been almost grateful.  My friend Mike met this guy online that he started seeing.  Now, I love Mike to death, but his track record in the guy department is not good.  This new guy is no exception.  His name is Shawn.  He lives about an hour away -- you'd think that Shawn wouldn't be so all-consuming, but he is.  They've known each other for about 12 seconds and this guy is already picking out their silver pattern.  (And I'm not sure I mean that figuratively.)  A few weekends ago, I guess he just appeared at Mike's door (completely unnanounced) and sort of stayed for the whole weekend.  And believe me, that's just the tip of the iceberg, but I won't go into all of it.  Yesterday I met him for the first time.  He's even worse in person.  I've got a dilemma here.  This is Mike's life and Mike's problem and it's none of my business if he's dating a needy, pathetic, soul-sucking leech.  I mean, he's a grown man.  But as a friend don't I have an obligation to beat some sense into him??  It's not easy watching your friends make stupid mistakes.

Well, I'm not sure that anyone pays any attention to my mini-book reviews that I've been so diligently posting, but I feel obligated to share good literature when I come across it, so here we go again.  :-)  I found an amazing book completely by accident the other day, and I pretty much read it covert to cover.  It took my breath away.  It's called The Bean Trees, by Barbara Kingsolver.  It's the story of Taylor Greer, who sets out in her beaten up VW to escape the poverty of rural Kentucky and ends up in Tucson, "inheriting" a native american baby named Turtle along the way.  She arrives with no money, no friends and no idea what to do, but finds amazing ways to survive.  The characters in the book are so well-developed you can almost hear them in the room with you -- accents and all.  She touches on many themes: abandonment, survival, human rights, poverty, love...and weaves them into an amazing, charming book.  It's a book that can be deadly serious, but there were times I was surprised enough to laugh out loud.  You have to read it.  But get your own copy -- I'm guarding mine.  :-)

Happy holidays, everybody!

Well, I'm on the upswing (I hope).  My stent came out on Thursday, and as awful as it was, I'm happy to be rid of it.  I'm taking two new prescriptions that will hopefully impede new stone formation.  My UTI symptoms are all but gone, even though I have a few days left of antibiotic therapy.  I still have a little residual pain, but I have high hopes that that will fade.  And the best news of all: when I saw my urologist on Thursday, he said the ureteroscopy was a success -- he was able to extract all 3 stones!

We had our Christmas party at work on Friday night.  It's always a huge to-do.  They have it catered by the Radisson and there's always tons of fantastic food, and all the free booze you can drink.  And that's another thing: Friday night was the first time I had something to drink in about 2 months.  No pain at all.  It was so much fun.  Although, after the party everyone went to a nearby bar and I probably had a bit too much.  Oh, well.

Is anyone else ready for Christmas to be over with?  I am feeling so Scroogey lately.  I finally got my Christmas cards mailed off on Thursday -- I'm down to only one box this year -- and I couldn't even work up the enthusiasm to write a personal note in most of them...I just signed them.  I guess I'm not the only one, though.  My parents didn't decorate for Christmas at all, according to my mom. They didn't even get a tree this year, and when I was growing up, we always had an enormous Christmas tree with tons of decorations.  It's kind of sad, I suppose, but I don't really blame them.  I certainly didn't decorate.

I haven't done a book review in a while, so...  Now, I'm not really the biggest fan of Sci-Fi/Fantasy books, but there's one author who has written several series that are a lot of fun.  If you want something amusing and imaginative, you could pick up the "Xanth" series by Piers Anthony.  Now, it seems to me there's 27 or 28 book so far in the series, but as always, it's best to go in order.  The first one is A Spell for Chameleon.  Xanth is a mythical land where magic operates and punnish humor abounds.  It's in the same shape and location as Florida, but it's only accessible by magic means.  Every human resident has a single magic talent, unlike the folk of "Mundania" (the real world).  In this book, the protagonist Bink has been unable to discover his talent and must uncover his magic or suffer exile.  All of the Xanth books have magicians and centaurs and dragons and are just a lot of fun -- and don't think that you have to be a child to enjoy them (although if you're looking for a Christmas present for a young reader, they'd certainly be appropriate).  I'd have to say that Xanth has appeal for all ages -- it's nice to escape into fantasy every now and then.

I found a couple of interesting news items I thought I'd pass on.

Kim Ode, a columnist for the Star Tribune (the Minneapolis, MN paper) mentioned a website called "Live-Shot" in her Saturday column.  They offer a "real-time on-line hunting and shooting experience," which is to say that you get to fire a gun through your computer.  No foolin'.  Here's an excerpt from Kim's column, which describes the concept:

You control a camera that pans and tilts across a target set on a secluded ranch in the hill country.  When you send a signal to the firing mechanism, it discharges a gun.  Really.

Evidently, meat processing and taxidermy are available.  It's designed for disabled hunters.  A month's membership is $14.95, and a session with 10 .22 caliber rounds is $5.95.  For an additional fee, they'll mail you a DVD recording of your session.  Is this appalling or what??

An article that was in the January '05 issue of Consumer Reports discusses a bizarre marketing ploy.  Evidently, people will receive in the mail a letter or postacard (with a regular stamp -- as opposed to metered postage) with a marketing pitch diguised in a "letter."  They look handwritten.  For instance, one recipient received a picture postcard, signed by someone with the initial "J." that said, "Dear Linda, Can't believe it.  I'm finally well enough to travel."  It went on to say that "J." found an incredible immune booster that Linda (the recipient) was urged to order by calling the provided toll-free number.  Linda wrote in to Consumer Reports that she "wondered who the sender might be, before realizing the GOTCHA."  The postcard was signed with a nervy, "Wish you were here." 

Finally, another article in Saturday's Star Tribune was awfully disturbing.  It talked about a prevalent scam that is perpetrated on people hiring moving companies.  Apparently, people will hire these fraudulent moving companies, usually over the internet.  Their published quotes are cheaper.  When the movers show up, they are disorganized, often don't have a marked company truck, and don't seem to know what they're doing.  When all of your furniture is loaded on to the truck, they lock the doors and demand a cash "ransom," often two or three times what was originally quoted.  They don't set out until the customer pays.  If the load arrives, it's often weeks late.  Many times it's taken to a warehouse and ransacked.  Once the movers feel the heat, they stop answering the phone and will eventually change the company name and adopt aliases.  Several people have apparently lost thousands and thousands of dollars by hiring these fraudulent moving companies, and only sometimes do they get their stuff back. 

Reputable moving companies recommend the following tips.  (1) Don't hire a company on the internet, ever.  (2) Make sure the mover has a fleet of trucks and a national affiliation.  (3) Get a written estimate.  Honest movers will never require you to pay in advance.  (4) Don't permit your things to be loaded onto a truck that is not a company truck.  (5) Research the mover.  Here are some websites that may offer helpful information:

http://movingscam.com" title="http://movingscam.com" target="_blank"http://movingscam.com

http://badmovers.org" title="http://badmovers.org" target="_blank"http://badmovers.org

http://movingadvocateteam .com" title="http://movingadvocateteam .com" target="_blank"http://movingadvocateteam .com...

Scary, huh?