Immunity

M is ten today. Wow. Ten years old.

When 2009 started, we realized it would be a big year. C became a teenager, S started Kindergarten, and M went double-digits.

Wow, wow, and more wow. Sometimes I am just in awe at the way life keeps happening.

M had his yearly physical on Friday. While we were in the office, the pediatrician was going over charts and such and said, cryptically, "Hold on." He left the room. A few minutes later he came back in, discreetly holding something in the palm of his hand.

It was two vials of H1N1 vaccine mist. One for M, and one for S, who was with us. (Heck, my husband hasn't even had his dose yet!) The kids all had their seasonal flu vaccine doses in September; timing was perfect.

Vaccine has been coming in intermittently. Injectable vaccine is harder to come by and reserved for certain patients. C is on the hot list to get the injectable when it does come in (they'll call us!), but for the rest of the kids, it's hit or miss, and the doc just happened to know that a box of mist had come in that day. Funny thing is, we're not allowed to tell anyone local that we got it because the demand has been so high while the supply has been so up and down. They are trying to get it to the people who need it most first - and in terms of mist, M and S qualify because of C's health issues, and M also because of his heart.

All that said, it's probably better that I can't tell people we got it. I've been getting very annoyed with anti-vaccine people. I know people have concerns and getting all the info you can is very reasonable and responsible - but H1N1 is doing crazy things and kids especially seem to be at high risk. I've already been through one PICU experience and hope never to be there again. From everything I have read, any risk from the vaccine itself is orders of magnitude lower than risk of complications from H1N1. I want my family protected in every possible way.

There's a good Q&A with a rockin' pediatric infectious disease guy here. This doctor was one of C's doctor when he was sick, and he is so, so good. He's written text books. He's a real go-to guy in the field.

Last week I read this article on the vaccine. The line that stood out to me was this one:

"This flu, seemingly by random, occasionally picks out the healthy child or young adult and puts them in the intensive care unit, hanging on by a thread," he says. "We don't have thousands and thousands of ICU beds and high-frequency jet ventilators standing by to care for those people."

This is all to say, go get yourself and your kids vaccinated if you can. Really. I've done the PICU and high-frequency jet ventilator thing and I don't wish it on anyone. Anyone.

So, M is covered. S will have to go back to get another dose of the mist in a month. Hopefully we'll have found the injectable for C by then. He's on the priority list not only at our regular pediatric practice, but also at the infectious disease clinic up at the hospital. The pediatrician told us to get on every list we could, take the first one that comes up then cancel the others after we actually get it. My husband will get one at work (since he works with immune-compromised patients). I'm looking for a dose myself. Somehow, some way we'll get the whole family covered.