Our poor Isabel got a little woozy as the phlebotomist had to stick her twice to get the blood she needed for the labs ordered. She tried to bargain for Chik-fil-a since she had to be stuck by three different needles. I had forgotten both her and her brother got their 2nd dose of the meningococcal vaccine. I still said no to eating out because we had eaten out so much in the past three days. But I was sympathetic as she reminded me that she doesn’t like needles. At one point she said she would rather get meningitis than get the vaccine to prevent it. I know some of that was typical adolescent banter but I still seized the opportunity to remind her why we get vaccines. I look at my daughter and then look at her hands with perfect fingers, I tell her to look up what meningitis is and what it can do. Meningitis is a bacterial infection of the lining of the brain and spinal cord. The symptoms are flu-like symptoms but rapidly get worse and can even be deadly in a matter of hours. The bacteria can infect the blood and cause severe damage to the walls of the blood vessels. One speaker at an immunization conference survived this infection but not without losing his fingers. Nobody wants that. As a public health nurse, I don’t want that for anyone. As a mother, I especially don’t want that for my daughter or my son. When they go to college, they will get sick, but with God’s blessing and this vaccine, not with meningitis. I am grateful for the availability of this vaccine and grateful we have health insurance that covers it. I take none of it for granted.
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