I say yes, you say no, OR People are Strange

Bren-2007

Susie .. thinking of you today and hoping all went well.

hugs,

Bren

suzieq60

I hope you girls weren't too bored in the bag and had lots to eat

ALL CLEAR!!!! I'm home after 4 hours there!!! You won't believe it, but the volunteers remembered me from last year - hugs all round after I got the results!!! The doctor who delivered the news didn't know me but I gave her a hug anyway. Also hugged my ultrasound tech from last year and anyone who was available

They still haven't finalised the MRI result, but they said it looks the same as last year - they did review it while I was there. They'll get the final results to the bs before next week I hope.

(((((((((((((((((((HUGS))))))))))))))))))) to you all for being there for me.

Sue

Enjoyful

Wonderful, wonderful news!!  Congratulations!

208sandy

Terrific news Sue!

CherrylH

Yeah,SusieQ!!! Drinks on the House!

1Athena1

YIPPEEEE!!!!

Apologies for the smell of the dead zebra. I got hungry in that big bag!

Susie - so happy to hear it.

suzieq60

LOL Athena - I wondered what the stink was

Thanks girls - I can relax now I think. Going for my thyroid ultrasound this afternoon - nothing to worry about there but hope the goitre has shrunk some as I've been taking kelp tablets.

Sue

AnnNYC

Yay, Susie!!!!!!!!!1

suzieq60

Thanks Ann!! I'm loving it

Ang7

Can I ask you all your opinion on flu shots?

We had the kids get them when I was on chemo but I heard some talk about adverse reactions in my Twin Club and I am not sure what to do this year.

The pediatrician says there is no question, we should all get them...

riley702

I've gotten them for years. Of course, I work in health care (Respiratory Therapy, so I'm exposed to all the respiratory bugs every winter). On the bright side, work provides them to us free. On the down side for some, they're very close to making them mandatory for anyone who has direct patient contact, reasoning that care givers who aren't immunized are a hazard to our frequently immunosuppressed patients. Starting next year, those objecting to the shots may file for an exemption, but they haven't clarified what would or wouldn't be a good enough reason to be exempted. Anyone who gets an exemption will still have to do the full gown, gloves, mask garb for every patient, every time.

BarbaraA

Congrats, Susie! Love good news!

Yikes, Riley, fully gowned? I am on the fence about a flu shot. a. I hate shots b. I seldom get sick c. a couple times I had the shot I got really sick from it. 

suzieq60

We can get them at work for free, but I don't have it - only ever did it once. Lots of people think the flu shot will stop them getting colds, but that's not so. They did have problems here with one batch that made little kids sick - no thanks.

Hope you all have a lovely day girls!!!!

Sue

Enjoyful

The only flu shot I've received is the H1N1 shot.  I got that only because I was starting chemo and didn't want to deal with flu/pneumonia, too.  No adverse reactions to speak of other than a sore arm.

bluedahlia

I take amantadine for my PD.  It's an anti-viral so I don't get sick very often. 

AnneW

I always get the flu shots. Granted, I am in health care with a viral cesspool known as college students. I've seen the flu--I can't miss a week due to the symptoms, and the cough which can least for weeks.

If you get sick from a flu shot, you were doomed to get the flu before the shot. It's totally an inactivated virus. It won't give you the flu. And it takes two weeks to really protect you from the flu. And remember, we're talking influenza, not colds or stomach flu.

Last year was a very light flu season. This year's shot is the exact same formulation as last year's. I'm hoping we'll have an easy go of it this year, too.

Anonymous

Yeah, Susie - what wonderful news. The best part, beside the GOOD NEWS, is hving it over with for another 6 months.  I can't imagine how anyone goes for exams without Major Anxiety - we all know what they're looking for!  Hope we all have the Most Boring Exams on Record for a long, long, time.

I've gotten a flu shot every year for years, and I don't want to "jinx" myself, but haven't ever had the flu.  This year I got a pneumonia one too, last one I'll need  ( they don't give them to folks over 65).

I think the only "problem" with some of the flu vaccine, was the one "inhaled" - as it had an "active" virus - all those quotes are cuz Ole Chemo Brain can't remember exactly, but I do remember the oral inhaled one was different from the injection.  So,Riley will have to tell us for sure

208sandy

Never had a flu shot in my life till two years ago (at age 63) - had one yesterday as a matter of fact - had the pneumonia shot last year AFTER getting pneumonia - rarely have gotten the flu as an adult maybe three times - getting it now as I do volunteer work at the hospital and that's a petrie dish!

otter

That's great news, susieq!  I know first-hand how good it feels to get the "all clear" and not have to worry about a recheck for another 6 months, 'cause I had mine last week.

I have something to confess:  I was an immunologist in my previous life.  That's the last time I'm going to mention that, and I will deny it if asked. But, ... I always get a flu shot.  I believe in the immune system, but I also believe it needs to be told about the nasty things ahead of time so that it can protect us adequately if we're exposed.  I've known people who contracted the flu (not from the shot, which, as AnneW said, is a "killed" virus). They got really, really sick.  Much different from a simple cold or bronchitis.

Before having, or declining, a flu shot, please think about your risk factors. 

I have an elderly parent who is in a skilled nursing home, and an elderly MIL who lives in an independent-living retirement center. Both of them are in high-risk environments, and would likely develop life-threatening pneumonia if they contracted the flu. They get flu shots, but I would not want to catch the flu while visiting them or give it to them if I had it. (The shots tend not to work as well in elderly people.) 

I also have a 5-year-old granddaughter who spends much of her time in a place where viruses and bacteria are rampant: an elementary school. Like my father and MIL, my granddaughter is at high risk of contracting the flu and developing a serious illness, but she could also give it to me when we visit during the holidays.

So, for me, it's a no-brainer.  I got mine 2 weeks ago, at a walk-in clinic where it's free with my insurance. In previous years, I'd gone to Walgreen's, where it cost around $25.

otter

Ang7

Thank you all -

It helps me to come here and get your opinions...

Anonymous

THANK YOU OTTER,  I sometimes feel like a cheerleader for flu shots, mammograms, and all the preventive stuff you can imagine, YET, still know so many women who refuse, it confuses me.  I try to "listen" to their "reasons" - but they just don't make sense to me. 

CherrylH

I work in a hospital and get the flu shot every year. It is actually mandatory. We get a sticker for our id badge to show we've had the shot. The color of the sticker changes each year.

RetiredLibby

I had a serious reaction (hallucinations, extremely high fever) to the very first flu shot -- the swine flu shot -- I got in college. After that, doctors recommended I not get one. However, I have asthma and am highly susceptible to respiratory viruses, so I have had the flu about every 5 years since then. It is gruesome. One year when DH and I had it at the same time (got it off the airplane), he looked miserably at me lying miserably on the couch and said, "I understand how people die from this." One year mine was so bad that I relapsed and got pneumonia.



When the H1N1 virus made its debut, my doctor and I had a serious talk and we decided to risk it. I was fine. No problems at all. I have taken it ever since and will do so this year, even with the healing belly wound.



I also had the pneumonia shot and got pneumonia the year after. I was disgusted.



L

Anonymous

HL -  I am so sorry to hear how difficult the vaccines are for you, and  sympathsize with the asthma.  I developed "adult onset" asthma about 10 years ago.  Thought it was pneumonia, but finally got it diagnosed as asthma, after trying to puff into those little plastic things at the allergist's office and watching the line on the computer monitor not move a bit.

This week, for the first time sine I moved here, after days of allergy ( why did God create ragweed) and MOLD from more rain than I 've ever known in my life,  woke up in the middle of the night  having problem's breathing.  As soon as Doctor's office opened, I asked them to call local pharmacy with prescription for inhaler, called pharmacist, he said he'd call me as soon as he got the prescription so a friend could go pick it up for me.

A few hours later - doctor's office called to say - because they'd never prescribed an inhaler for me before, I'd have to make an appointment & come in for an "evaluation."  If breathing wasn't so difficult I would have SCREAMED.  Called pharmacist to say "no prescription coming" and he was just about to call me, as he called doctor's office & got same answer.  He asked me if I had an old one at home.

Went scurrying, and found one, literally 6 years old - VOILA - still stuff in it, and it worked.

I am NOT NOT NOT NOT happy with my doctor's office   You don't want to hear the few words I could get out when I called them back to tell them what jerks they were/are.

rosemary-b

I had my flu shot this year as I have had every year for at least the last ten years. but am in a quandry about whether to ever get another one..

This year I had itchy eyes, a headache,a cough, hoarseness, fatigue and a hot hard red itchy reaction at the site that was about two inches in diameter.  The only reaction I didn't have listed under minor ones was muscle aches.

I am another asthmatic and know flu can be dealdy especially when complicated by pneumonia, I get that. I  had pneumonia all last winter and never ever want it again.But since I had a major minor reaction, if you will, I am at risk for what was so euphemistically called a major reaction, anaphylaxis.(Major sounds so much better than life-threatening) So which would be worse? The pulmonologist left the choice up to me.

I really don't know. she did say those who have hyper immune systems like people with asthma and allergies sometimes do get minor flu symptoms because their bodies see even dead virus as an invader. But she was concerned about the local reaction. She keeps telling me I should live in a bubble. But alas I cannot so I seriously don't know what to do.

Oh and to those who want to ramp up their immune systems to fight cancer, I say no you don't!!

Anonymous

Rosemary - I usually don't have any reaction to flu shot, but I did have a very VERY sore arm this year. Don't think there was anything else, but can't be sure cuz allergies have been SO BAD. The ragweed in the NE is off the charts, and mold, also in some places it's too wet to have mold!  Now with all the leaves falling - expect that will pick up too.

front page of our local paper, showed all the swamped field, with beets, swiss chard, all the root crops under water and silt from the river runoffs - so, so sad for farmers.

BarbaraA

Y'all have me rethinking my plan. Maybe after the cruise.

Sitting at the hairdresser with my hair foiled up waiting for it to cook. I am starving myself so I can !hopefuly, cram my fat butt into the dresses in two weeks. I'm eating low/no carb high protein and tons of veggies and a little fruit. Down two pounds and have seven to go. Ugh.

Anonymous

Flu shot!!!!!! Thanks for the reminder! I have an appointment in a couple weeks so I will ask for it then. Like many of you I work in health and social services sector so many germies too! I usually try to remember to get just the flu shot and so far, I have evaded the flu for many years. I did not get the H1N1 however, all the hype and media created pandimonium on that one actually scared off!

suzieq60

Otter - great news for you too!!!

CherrylH

Hello All,

The end of the work week is quickly approaching. Yeah!!!

I need someone to takeover bartending duties for  a week or so. I'm leaving tomorrow morning  for a visit with friends and a conference. Will be back on the 23rd.

Try to behave yourselves (NOT) while I'm gone.