Hawaii Nesties
Dear Community,
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
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Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
H1N1...
Hey Girls..
So, as you know, I work in the healthcare field in a trauma unit. We are getting a LOT of patients lately who are being affected by the H1N1. Initially, I wasn't buying into the hype of the whole thing, BUT we are getting patients that are really, really sick. They are also within our age group. It is really scary, to say the least.
So please, please, please. Stay healthy. Wash your hands.
Get the vaccination, if you can. I just got mine on Wednesday...
Re: H1N1...
I didn't know you were in healthcare. I'm glad you can give us some insight. It's so hard to tell how bad it is from the news coverage. I've seen everything from the boy athlete who was perfectly healthy, but got H1N1 and nearly died... to the cheerleader who got the vaccine and now can't walk forward, but can walk backward (the ultimate WTF). It's hard to evaluate the risk to benefit ratio of the vaccine since it does not have a safety record.
What's your opinion Tamiflu? Does it work on the H1N1 virus? If you call your dr once you have the flu, do they prescribe it? Does it seem like there is a reasonable amount available?
It does not look like they will have the shot available to normal, healthy people in my area. They've even run out of it for the at-risk group... and, they aren't sure when they will get more. I feel like, if I wanted the shot, I wouldn't be able to get it until January... with the followup shot in February. I'm curious if you think Tamiflu might be an option.
Newlyweds since 2007
Tamiflu is an option, but only if its AVAILABLE in your area. So with that risk, sometimes i think that its been to practice preventative healthcare when able and get vaccinated.
I wonder if Christine will chime in to this post. It will be interesting to see what her hospital & unit (NICU) are doing in efforts of protecting ppl, esp. pregnant people/little ones. I know that our hospital isn't allowing visitors in L&D except for one support person. In our ICU, we only allow family members over the age of 18 and anyone going through the emergency (staff, family, patients) MUST have a mask on at all times.
yeah... my friend is in public health and HIS coworker had it, she actually called her mom to fly out to take care of her... yikes.
my cousin's bf has it now too. and according to her fb, it seems he's been out of commission for over a week! yikes....
i'm gonna try and figure out how to get the shot or whatever it is....
hawaii 10.2008 plan ;P married bio ???
Can I rant a bit?
I feel frustrated that the one woman who potentially had a reaction to the vaccine is being held up as an example for why you shouldn't get it. For all scientists know, if she'd gotten the flu, the exact same thing could have happened to her. While she certainly has my sympathy, I really feel like that's a story that's being blown out of proportion. If those symptoms appear in two or more people, then I'll start being concerned. Right now, it seems like it was something that related to her individual genetic make-up. Even she refers to it as a trigger to what's happened to her. On top of that - how many millions of people have received the shot?
I know vaccines are a concern for many - especially with those who believe there's a link between autism and vaccinations for children. I'm not a doctor and I won't pretend to be an expert. But, even if there is that link, not getting vaccinations against things like tetanus, small pox, etc, etc - strikes me as even more dangerous and it certainly affected more people (heck, it still affects lots of people in countries without similar access to health care).
Okay, rant over.
We have a different vaccine up here in Canuck-land, and it has only just been released. I'm banking on the fact that we lived through the SARS crisis (which was far worse in terms of mortality rates) and putting my faith in the notion that our public health department now knows what they're doing.
Alyson & Phil | Planning Bio | Married Bio!
Dates & Quinces Blog
Malia & Dave & Alexa
Happily married since 2-17-08! Three since 9-9-09!
Baby Blog
I haven't really heard anything at work about it as far as our unit. We have always had the policy that you have to be 16 to visit (unless the parents are under 16 - yikes - that happens, so obviously they can visit). Only 2 people are allowed at the bedside at a time and they have to wash their hands before they come in. We have a sink at the door. Any parents who are sick have to wear a mask and we actually encourage them to not visit if they are sick.
There are 6 of us who are pregnant at work and we had a baby who was possible H1N1 (mom had symptoms), so they won't give us that baby to take care of. And they offered the shots in the unit and are still offering them in the hospital. But it's kinda crazy that none of my pregnant co-workers are going to get it, as far as I know. The ones I've asked all say they never get the flu shot so they're not getting it now, especially H1N1. I want to get it but I want the preservative free shot and it wasn't available when they came to the unit so I haven't gotten it yet.
Christine:
Do you guys do ECMO on your newborn pts? We are the only adult/baby-ECMO facility in our region. Maybe that is why I feel like we are getting slammed. But it is still very scary. I ended up getting the nasal one b/c it was the only one available so far and I figured that it was better than nothing.
Treat mama or treat the baby? Its always an ongoing debate with any pregnant pts that we have. But sometimes, its just easier to think, without the mama--there is no baby. So, better to keep mama healthy...
Good point Malia. The hubbies should be getting them too!
We're still waiting for it to become available here. The first shipment that we got went mostly towards all of the doctors, nurses, and other first responders so I don't think that more than a handful of the 'high-risk' people in the general population got it yet. There's a campaign to get all of the school kids here vaccinated so I'm a little worried that it may run out really quickly. The shots are free and parents just need to sign a consent form for the kids to bring back to school. I'm not sure how worried everyone else is about H1N1, but I know that if I was a parent, I'd definitely be taking advantage of this.
Our next doctor's appointment in Nov. 20th but if there's vaccine available before our appointment, we'll definitely try to get in early because we have plans to make one last trip to Florida in December and if we aren't able to get the shot, we may have to cancel those plans.
Like Lisa said, it's still not available here. I was on the fence about getting the vaccine, but as I hear more and more cases of people dying or getting seriously ill, I think it's worth it. Especially being pregnant...
And I think the state could be doing a better job of publicizing its availability. I feel like I have to put in regular calls to my insurance company and my doctor to ask for updates.
Re: Tamiflu. I hope there are enough vaccines eventually for the mass public because although Tamiflu might work for now, if too many people rely upon it as a means for "curing" H1N1, isn't the concern that the virus will mutate into an antiviral-resistant form? In that case, we'll really be in trouble... a virus that is even more dangerous and, temporarily at least, not treatable with currently available meds.
I hope we all stay healthy!
I forgot where I read it, but Hawaii is actually one of the few states that ISN'T being affected by the H1N1 as much as the other states. It is good to hear, but doesn't mean that the virus won't travel there eventually..especially with all the tourists, visitors, etc.
There is always the chance that having more "cures" against certain diseases just makes those bacteriums and viral strains even stronger. So, yes, I totally agree. It may work for now, but eventually, we may need something else.
Scary!!
I didn't think we had a different vaccine in Canada??
I work in the hospital with Internal Medicine docs and they've recommended that pregnant women get the non-adjuvant version of the H1N1 vaccine. So I'm waiting until that comes out a bit later.
Married Bio
No, there's no ECMO in NV that I know of, but we're a level III NICU. I kinda think I should have just gotten the shot when they were in our break room because it was SO convenient. But I would feel a lot better getting the preservative free version. Just not sure if/when it'll be available.
Cerclage placed @ 21w6d due to CI (IC)
Re: different vaccine in Canada
That's what the good folks at Toronto Public Health told us at a staff meeting this past week. It's one of the reasons we're not getting it in nasal spray form.
Alyson & Phil | Planning Bio | Married Bio!
Dates & Quinces Blog
I got my regular flu shot last week when they came to give all the students the shot at my school. They highly recommended that all the teachers (especially the handful of us that had LO's at home) to get the shot. So I did. They are offering the H1N1 vaccination clinic the first week in Dec. yet again the are recommending that we get it to insure less sick kids. My husband has yet to get his and I have been bugging him too.