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I am Officially Part of the "Exposed" Club...
Well, I'm back a day or so early from vacay.
Why?
It turns out my brother has H1N1 (aka Swine Flu). My parents started getting symptoms yesterday. Thankfully it's a mild-ish case for all three.
This leaves me as the sole Healthy!Marcs in the family. This also means I've now been exposed. Joy. No symptoms yet, so that's something.
BlueCross basically told me to do the following:
1) Inform my place of employment so if I do develop symptoms over the next four days, they won't think I'm eeking out extra vacation time. Also, it gives them time to decide whether they'd prefer me working from home next week to make double sure that I'm not contagious.
2) Don't overdo it for the next few days. Take it easy and pay attention to my body/health and take immediate action if I get symptoms.
The good news is I don't have to quarantine my sorry ass. It's so widespread in Massachusetts that everyone's been pretty much exposed whether they know it or not. Public health officials have pretty much thrown up their hands and decided that it's better to "spread the love" (so to speak) in this first wave of infection so when it boomerangs back on us in the winter (as these viruses tend to do), more people will have immunity.
In short: better to get normal flu-level sick now to spare yourself deadly ill 6 months from now.
*sigh*
I'm not panicking, but damn this is not a good thing to find out. I'm kind of torn between "get sick and get it over with" and "oh HELL no." Since I'm not immunocompromised, I'm leaning towards "get sick and get it over with."
In the meantime, here's a picture preview of a puffin which I snapped with my trusty Canon. And yes, it really was that close.
Why?
It turns out my brother has H1N1 (aka Swine Flu). My parents started getting symptoms yesterday. Thankfully it's a mild-ish case for all three.
This leaves me as the sole Healthy!Marcs in the family. This also means I've now been exposed. Joy. No symptoms yet, so that's something.
BlueCross basically told me to do the following:
1) Inform my place of employment so if I do develop symptoms over the next four days, they won't think I'm eeking out extra vacation time. Also, it gives them time to decide whether they'd prefer me working from home next week to make double sure that I'm not contagious.
2) Don't overdo it for the next few days. Take it easy and pay attention to my body/health and take immediate action if I get symptoms.
The good news is I don't have to quarantine my sorry ass. It's so widespread in Massachusetts that everyone's been pretty much exposed whether they know it or not. Public health officials have pretty much thrown up their hands and decided that it's better to "spread the love" (so to speak) in this first wave of infection so when it boomerangs back on us in the winter (as these viruses tend to do), more people will have immunity.
In short: better to get normal flu-level sick now to spare yourself deadly ill 6 months from now.
*sigh*
I'm not panicking, but damn this is not a good thing to find out. I'm kind of torn between "get sick and get it over with" and "oh HELL no." Since I'm not immunocompromised, I'm leaning towards "get sick and get it over with."
In the meantime, here's a picture preview of a puffin which I snapped with my trusty Canon. And yes, it really was that close.
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As for me, I just have to wait and see if I get symptoms...sadly this is making me feel like a hypochondriac.
But thanks for your good thoughts.
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In short: better to get normal flu-level sick now to spare yourself deadly ill 6 months from now.
You know, that's the most sensible attitude I've seen anyone take thus far with regards to H1N1. Here's hoping that if you do go down with it, it'll be reasonably mild and you'll be over it soon.
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Overall, I think I'd rather get it now, too, even if it is inconvenient.
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My brother feels better, but my mother is sick as a dog.
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Then it becomes more flu-like.
My brother's problem is he got a mild case of it (with fever spikes), so he didn't even know he had it until he was officially diagnosed yesterday.
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So sorry to hear about your family and the flu. A guy got on the #47 in Central yesterday (I was on my way over to see a family member who'd just had brain surgery at Beth Israel) and he was wearing a surgical mask. Someone asked him if he had the H1N1 and he said he did. No one moved away from him. The lady who'd asked just asked how he was feeling.
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The tour was out of Cutler, Maine. So, yeah, right on the Canadian border, but not quite as far north as Nova Scotia.
It's nice that people here in MA are not panicking so much about H1N1, and that people are taking the right precautions.
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Also, holy guacamole! Take care of yourself!
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My mother's sick as a dog right now, my brother is feeling lots better. They're kind of on the fence with my dad. They don't think he has it, but they're not sure if it's just a nasty headcold or a light case of the flu.
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http://www.scienceblog.com/cms/could-older-population-have-enough-exposure-past-h1n1-flu-strains-avoid-infection-22444.html
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I know MA is aiming very hard for herd immunity which could actually work. There aren't as many tourist around in the winter months. :-)
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::sending good thoughts::
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My mother's sick as a dog, my brother is feeling better, and they're not actually sure if my dad has it or has a bad headcold.
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Hope the family feels better soon and that if you do get it, it's mild.
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As for me...not symptoms yet.
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I hope everyone gets over the flu quickly and if you get it, it's mild.
I haven't had the flu since college but man, what a misery.
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No symptoms for me yet.
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My brother's feeling better, my mom is feeling sicker, and they're not sure about my dad.
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"SORRY YOU'VE GOT H1N1..." (and inside) "Hope you recover without complications..." with the recovering patient sporting pig's ears and a beak...
And I'm sorry, but I keep reading that abbreviation as Hiney, which still rhymes with "swiney..."
I'm sure a lot more people have been exposed than anyone is willing to admit in the paper. Half the folks at Mediawest seemed to be recovering from something, coming down with it, or wheezing around like Con of the Living Dead.
But, yes, like having mumps as a child--get a mild case and give your immune system some ammunition. Hope you get very slightly sick... now there's a weird well-wishing. And I hope your parents come through OK.
BTW, how's your dad's knee?
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I don't have any symptoms so far, my brother's feeling better, and my mom's sick. My dad they're now not sure. They think it might be a bad headcold.
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It may be better to get sick and get over it but take very good care of yourself so you have the most mild case possible.
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Right now I'm taking it easy, so no symptoms yet. My mother is now sick, my brother is feeling better, and they think my dad actually just has a bad headcold.
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Note that "pregnancy" is a high risk category, if you have any pregnant friends, in addition to the usual suspects. (Asthma/COPD, things that compromise the immune system, diabetes, etc.) While it's "going around" there's a difference between, say, going grocery shopping (and washing your hands afterwards) if you're in a high risk category, and having someone come over for a visit who sheds virus everywhere ....
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At the peak of a pandemic? I'm willing to bet that ER may look a little different ... best to catch it now, so if you need medical care you can get it.
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The health people I consulted told me that if I don't develop symptoms in 4 days, I'm probably not going to get it. Just try not to breathe on anyone for a week. That should be pretty easy to do...just hide in my cube starting Monday if I'm symptom free.
In the meantime, I'm keeping socializing to a computer only until at least Monday.
Hope you feel better.
Re: Hope you feel better.
My brother is feeling better, but my mother is sick.
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Here's hoping that you either get it mildly, or avoid it altogether, whilst the rest of the state build up the 'herd immunity' for you!
Nearly forgot to squee over the puffin - I really like puffins, and that is a wonderful picture.
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Plus, there must be puffins in your neck of the woods, right? North Atlantic residents present. (Heeeee!) There was a guy from Scotland on our tour, and he was saying that some of the islands in his neck of the woods don't even bother with the blinds because the puffins will just wander around whatever visiting human is there.
As for me, no symptoms. My brother is feeling better, and my mom is now getting sick. My dad they think actually has a bad headcold.
Either way, I'm going to get the vax when it comes out if I don't get sick just to be on the safe side.
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I'm in Massachusetts too. *waves*
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Actually, this is on Machias Seal Island (Canada), but you can get out there via Bold Coast Tours out of Cutler, Maine (spitting distance of Canada). We were several hours on the island and you would not believe some of the video/pictures I took.
There are thousands of puffins there. Thousands.
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Though I suppose they're anything but.
Ah well, that's why god created stuffed animals...
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I looked up teh H1N1 on the Ontario public health site and here's some info on caring for someone at home who's got it. Most of it's pretty basic, but I wouldn't have thought about safety glasses...and that's an avenue in, through the tear ducts, that most people don't consider.
It also lists things to watch out for that could mean complications.
http://www.phac-aspc.gc.ca/alert-alerte/swine-porcine/guidance-orientation-05-03-eng.php
Info for doctors:
http://www.waterlooregionpandemic.ca/en/primarycareproviders/primarycare.shtml
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They look like moving stuffed animals.
The one up above was actually that close. They really aren't all that worried about people, to be honest.
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Love the Puffin...caption "This side is my better side, quick human, take your photo now"
Can I pick your brain re cameras? I'm interested in Canon's and need to get one for work - does yours have zoom lenses (an SLR) or something else?
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The one I have is the Canon PowerShot A590 which I picked up from Costco for $124 last year (I think it's around $100 now). It's got slot for memory card and takes up to 8GB extra. There are a lot of pre-settings on the camera to allow for you to take pictures based on the environment. The photo above was taken with the "beach" setting and only needed some minor cropping and minimal color correction with the Canon software.
The zoom on this is up to 16x, but I'm pretty sure you can get additional Canon zoom lenses with better power because you can actually remove the lens on my camera and replace it with a different one.
I'm very pleased with the camera, mostly because it's nearly impossible to take a bad picture or bad video with it. My brother had "camera envy" just about the entire time he saw me using it.
I don't know if it means anything, but Consumer Reports rated the Canon PowerShot A590 as a "CR Best Buy." If you're looking for a camera with solid performance, intuitive enough for a beginning to user but with enough advanced settings that you can grow into, while still being reasonably priced, this camera is pretty much the one to get.
I've owned it for a year, and it's been trouble-free operation the entire time with no problems learning how to use it.
Hell, I learned on a non-powered Minolta 35 mm film camera where you had to manually set your parameters for every shot. Compared to that, this camera was easy-peasy to learn.
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