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

C4C I was vaccinated for shingles last October. Don't know if it is the same vaccine though. My mom had suffered horribly with shingles years ago, so I did not want to risk going through that.

I got the vaccine last fall as well - friend of mine was in excruciating pain for the last four years of his life - the vaccine may not be covered by any insurance (mine wasn't covered by OHIP) and it is pricey (approx. $250 I believe) but well worth it I think.

Thanks for the info.  It's supposed to be most effective for people between ages 59-69 and yes, it doesn't always prevent the disorder, but mitigates its effects.  So.....I think I shall call the pharmacist and get him to fill my prescription!  Thanks again!

Oh, forgot to ask -- any side effects from the injection?

Edited to add:  Sandy, I'm about to turn that magic age in October when my supp insurance ends and Medicare begins, and my supp insurance plan does cover it....so.....I gotta get it done already!!!

Blue Cross/Blue Shield KS covered our vaccinations (don't remember if there was a copay). DH and I had no SEs.

If you haven't already, you might get the Hep A vaccine too ( and followup vacinnes 6 months later). After my Costco berry exposure to Hep A I was surprised to find out many get this vaccine routinely. Hep B is blood fluid transmission, so mostly healthcare workers, but Hep A is transmitted from unsanitary handling of food. Lately "they" are talking about Hep C exposure...something to inquire about.



There is also the pneumonia vaccine. Usually for those over 60, but they will give it to cancer patients (having chemo?) regardless of age.



Thanks for the reminder on Shingles. I think there was a shortage of that vaccine when I would have gotten it.

c4c - I got the shingles vac 6 months after I finished chemotherapy at the "suggestion" ( GET IT!) of my onc.  Seems when our immune systems are vulnerable, and we've had the chickenpox as kids - AND we're 62 -it's an important vac.  BCBS covered mine 6 years ago.  Had the Hep series years ago...

I got the pneumonia vax about 9 years ago (I am asthmatic) and promptly got pneumonia. :-( I will probably try it again.



There is a push to test boomers for Hep C because so many have turned up with it. I was a blood donor for many years until I was dx in 2007, so I don't think I have it but I am going to ask for the test for me and for DH anyway.



L

Got the pneumonia vaccine two years ago (right after I got pneumonia).  There was a waiting list for the shingles vx - six months.

I got my shingles vaccine at Costco - got my flu vaccine there, too. 

Kam, I don't recall it being mandatory for India. But since we were already immunized I probably wasn't paying much attention. 

Courtesy of Salon:

Ted Cruz just told another whopper. Not just a lie: he never does that. When he tells a fib, it is always a gargantuan one. One so big that no one would dare to question it. After all, would a top-of-the-class Harvard Law School graduate whose daddy is a north-Dallas pastor, and who looks you squarely in the eyes like a big puppy dog, lie? Well, in the case of Ted Cruz, the answer is, always, yes. That's what he does best and with great ease even though, probably without exception, he is smart enough and informed enough to know that he is lying at the time (which is why he's sure to be the GOP 2016 candidate).

Here's what he told Mary Matalin, sitting in for Laura Ingraham, on the air just yesterday: “I think it is disgraceful that President Obama, in just a lawless move, just exempted Congress [from Obamacare].” IOW, Cruz is claiming not only that Obamacare does not cover Congress, but that Obama – illegally (as though, as President, he had any Constitutional power to do such a thing) – exempted Congress from it. 

The lie Cruz told to Matalin yesterday is a BALDFACED lie. Starting January 1, every person in Congress, and all their aides, will have to get their health care from one of the Obamacare healthcare exchanges. Senator Charles Grassley snuck this provision into the law because he presumed that, with this poison pill, Congress would not pass the law. The democrats called his bluff, and passed it anyway (probably assuming that, if Congress lost its current fairy godmother healthcare coverage and had to go under Obamacare, they would rally behind it).

Ugh!  The sooner he ambles over to the Canadian Embassy to renounce his Cdn citizenship, the better!

Thanks, Yorkie.  She finally spoke with someone yesterday.  I got an email from her this morning with a few details.  Cancer was in all 3 bx sites.  It was "ductal cancer" (no mention if it was DCIS or IDC).  She has been referred to a breast surgeon and that surgeon works with an oncology practice.  She visited her MIL last night -- IIRC, she is a survivor.  She feels better today. 

I passed along the recommendations I collected yesterday, and told her that she needed to do 3 things - get an MRI, get the BROCA test, and get her mammo images and reports as well as any path reports.  I am standing by ready to launch if I have to.  I am a fix-it, have-a-plan kind of person, so I am restraining myself from steamrolling her.  Good think I don't have kids - they would be flat as Flat Stanley!  I just feel so bad for her.  We have a bad, bad family trajectory.

Thanks for the help and the good wishes, all.  They mean a lot!

L

Thanks, Yorkie!  She also did say that both her husband and her MIL will be going with her to the appointment with the surgeon on Friday to take notes and ask questions.  I am very, VERY happy for that.  More perspectives are "more better."