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Christi Diggs
on May 23 2013 - 06:00 AM
A drop of spin, a cup of deception and tsp. politics=Apathy
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Lindsay Metcalf
on May 22 2013 - 06:00 AM
When that tornado siren sounds, I'm in the basement
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mara williams
on May 21 2013 - 06:00 AM
Summer break has this mom on a house upkeep war path.
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A week or so ago the media was (and still is a little bit) full of flu headlines.
"Flu kills thousands"
"Flu pandemic worsens"
"20 children dead from flu"
"47 states hit by flu 'epidemic'"
If you've been following my blog for the past 5 years, or if you know me on a personal level, you are aware that I don't get a flu shot. There are many reasons, oh, how I'm tired of repeating them over and over and over again.
I don't dig putting formaldehyde in my body, not once a year for the rest of my life.
This year the flu shot was 60-something percent "accurate." If I'm gonna inject something in my body it'd better be 100%.
Did you know that in Europe not a single country asks the general population to seek flu vaccines?
People do die from the flu, but even more people survive the flu.
Yadda, yadda, yadda. You get the idea.
Alas, I am here to report that I am still alive, for now. Even after swine flu, H1N1 and was there another one?
Anyways, since I do sit in a newsroom, I am constantly reminded and aware of news headlines and stories about the flu.
I do get freaked out a bit. OK, not a "bit," but A LOT.
If I were given the choice though, I'd take feeling cruddy for a few weeks over formaldehyde.
I've been washing my hands constantly. We're talking around the clock hand washing every hour or so. (I even washed them while I was writing this blog.)
Top that off with Purell and you get really dry aged-looking hands like mine.
My hands are so dry they are cracking and bleeding.
While lying next to me in bed the other night, Bo grabbed my hand and said: "What's that?"
"Mommy's hands are bleeding because I've been washing them so much. Did you make sure to wash your hands a lot today?"
I'd freak out if I knew what kinds of things my son's hands have touched at school. (The Christmas party almost put me over the edge.)
Every day Bo comes home from school we make him wash his hands. Especially during flu season. I'm constantly squirting Purell onto them after being in public.
I have to admit, I could be over-doing the clean hands thing, but it's the best and most natural way to protect yourself.
I even grab door handles with my sweater. If the door is a double-sided swing door I open it with my hip or foot.
Yeah, I'm a proud OCDer.
I was sitting in the car in the parking lot at QT a while back while my husband went inside to grab something. I saw at least 20 people grab the same door handle over and over again. One person even touched it right after they sneezed into their hands.
ACK!
Yes, I squeezed some un-wanted Purell onto my husband's hands when he got into the car.
Bacteria is good. My fear of it, not so much.
Is there really any harm in having bloody hands?
A coworker of mine said that viruses can enter your system through the bloody cracks in your hands. Is that true? Looks like I need to start carrying around travel-sized hand lotion as well. Do they make antibacterial hand lotion?
I also know that viruses can enter through your eyes.
Maybe I'll start walking around with my eyes closed.
How is everyone doing this flu season? I'm always interested to know who has gotten confirmed flu after being "vaccinated."
Kids & I have gotten the flu vaccine every year for the past 8 years & have never gotten the flu. I'm not hyper-vigilant about washing my hands, but try to do so fairly regularly. My office is small, so pretty clean, but the kids are in a big school, so their exposure is huge.I do get a flu shot, but it is mandatory in my work. I would probably get it anyway though. I also don't like the preservative/chemical issue but if I run by that rule I wouldn't eat, be clean, drive or breathe so I just have to make the best decisions for me. I also am not a fan of the alcohol sanitizers....total chemical. Plus, like you have experienced, they are killers on the skin. That can't be good. Open wounds also lead to infections so I avoid those. I prefer soap/water, another chemical I know, but I also follow with a lot of lotion (another....) and hope for the best. At night I am so greased up trying to combat the damage from the day. It does get obsessive the more you think about it. I try to be sensible, make good decisions and be as clean as I can to avoid it all.Bath and Body works sells a hand sanitizer with a moisturizer included. I'm guessing that other companies sell some things like it.We are doing pretty good at our house. Both of our kids are told to wash their hands good, but do NOT use the purell that they have at school. We need to have germs and such so that we are able to better ward off other things. You can't live in a sterile environment! (Well, you might be able to but I would think people would get tired of being in a bubble all of the time.) DS has to be reminded not to wash so much because he gets the cracked bloody knuckles and has to use his "man lotion" (Better known as vaseline) on his hands to keep them from bleeding all of the time. Hope you and your family continue to stay healthy. (BTW we didn't do flu shots at our house either this year.)We have done flu shots, but have also gotten the flu in the same seasons (probably from a different strain of flu than was in the shots), so we don't do flu shots anymore. Esp. after I found out that they contain thimerosal, a mercury based preservative. I can survive flu, but ridding your body of mercury is verrrry hard. We're not in the high risk groups that need a live-saving flu shot, so I don't feel guilty about skipping flu shots. You can wash your hands less if you don't put your hands to your mouth, eyes or nose. Stay at least 6 ft. away (if possible) from anyone coughing or sneezing. Clean and cover wounds until they scab over (yes, wounds are an open door to viruses and bacteria). I tell all this as someone who has a degree in biology, worked in research labs, and hasn't seen the flu in our house for a number of blessed years.
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