Browsing all posts in Illness.

The Care and Feeding of Illness

In the light of the mounting cases of the flu among my bloggy friends, and the fact that, where I live, even DOCTORS can’t get the H1N1 vaccine, I feel compelled to do what I can to make everyone’s lives just a little bit easier during the (nearly mandatory) ten days when the household goes [...]

Swine Flu 1, The Mother 0

The last time we talked about the H1N1 flu (the flu originally known as “swine flu”), I was telling you all not to panic. I said it was mild, that the deaths in Mexico were probably statistical freakishness, and that, while I supported the draconian measures taken by some public health departments and the CDC, [...]

Don’t Send Me Woo

“Woo,” in scientific and skeptical writing, refers to unfounded or ludicrous beliefs, and the persons who hold said beliefs. It may have come from an abbreviation of “waste of oxygen.” Who knows. But there is a hell of a lot of it out there. Scientists rail about the proliferation of pseudo-scientific junk on the web, [...]

Do I LOOK Like a Drug Dealer?

Don’t answer that. Most of you have no idea what I look like anyway, so how could you answer that? But honestly. I’m nearly fifty. I dye my hair red from its natural state of almost completely grey (a hereditary thing–I got it from my kids). I’m 5″2′, twenty pounds overweight and always dress in [...]

I Couldn’t Resist–

You all know, of course, that I am a major Anti-Anti-Vaccine proponent. Respectful Insolence, one of my favorite blogs, posted this headline this afternoon: Oprah and Jenny need your–yes, your!–help! Oprah’s production company, whose unflagging idiocy in giving Jenny McCarthy her own soapbox has already flabbergasted me, has now asked for suggestions for topics for [...]

Don’t Panic! (Not Yet)

The swine flu outbreak has everyone up in arms. Twitter was all over it. The science blogs are covering it non-stop. The WHO is carefully tiptoeing around the word “pandemic,” chosing to update it’s definitions rather than upgrade the status of the current outbreak.

Conversations with School Nurses

I never picked up a kid from school unless they: were bleeding uncontrollably and really needed stitches (twice), actually broke a bone (twice), REALLY had a concussion (once), or were so visibly sick that they couldn’t go back to class. The latter happened fairly rarely, as, being the careful mom with a microbiology background that I am, I DIDN’T SEND THEM WHEN THEY WERE SICK.

Men are Wimps, Part 2

My back is killing me. It’s a long story, revolving mostly around the fact that I spent the better part of twelve years with a child on one hip and a diaper bag on the opposite shoulder.

So, you see, I can’t mention how much my back hurts. Because in a second, his will hurt worse. MUCH WORSE.

My Name is Mom, and my Son is an Addict

After years of actively scoffing at women who somehow didn’t know that their children were building bombs int their basements, I have to say “Mea culpa.” You’d think I’d have picked up on the warning signs: Lack of interest in family activities. Tendency to stay behind closed bedroom door. Mediocre performance in school. Lack of [...]

No Mother is Allowed to be Sick Alone

In this cold and flu season, I feel as though my kids are passing viruses back and forth, and I’m the monkey-in-the-middle. Except, I always seem to actually catch it. (Twenty years ago, one of the theories of why the HLA antigen system—that pesky set of cell markers that makes transplants reject—evolved was that it [...]