Love & Messy Houses

Today I did my best in everything I attempted to do but finally it was late and I had to go home. Tomorrow is another day.

I got kind of freaked out because my son and I got our meningitis vaccines and THEN I learned that at one point there were concerns that it raised the risk for developing Guilláin Barré Syndrome, but apparently this was studied carefully by the CDC and it was determined that the number of reports of development of GBS within 4 or 5 weeks of getting the vaccine were not statistically insignificant. That does mean something to me, so it has basically set my mind at ease. I am a huge proponent of vaccines, but it made me angry to think that there is risk in something that is supposed to be benign and prevent life threatening disease. I mean, it made me angry that the doctor didn't really seem to want to discuss it with us. I even asked him why some people have bad reactions to vaccines and he said it was just from "a really aggressive immune response." Whatever that means. I did a little research and learned that there is something about certain viruses and bacteria that is thought to trigger an all-out assault by the immune system in a dysfunctional way that causes it to attack the body's own tissues. With GBS, the immune system attacks the myelin sheath of the peripheral nerves. It causes symmetrical paralysis starting in the legs and feet and moving up into the arms and sometimes affecting the muscles that allow us to breathe. Truth be told, GBS etiology is quite poorly understood and the answer is basically, "we don't know what causes it." Well, we can't know everything, now can we?

We don't know how a lot of things work.

What I do know is that body and mind are one and the same and that you are what you eat and that immunity is boosted with lots of laughter.

I have had all kinds of biology and physics and microbiology and organic chemistry, etc., and I'm pretty scientifically minded and I get irritated with vague responses to scientific questions and that has happened twice in the last two days. The second time was when I was asking questions of an infection control expert about plasmid exchange between specific types of organisms found in hospitals. I got the vague answer...I have decided that people give these vague answers because they do not know and they don't want to tell you they don't know.

I know, because I feel this way a lot in health care. We can't tell anyone we don't know. There are the egos of colleagues, the fears and projections of patients, and the soul-crushing competitiveness of certain caregivers. It would be nice if we could just be honest when we don't know something and just tell someone we'll get back to them on it...but then it would, I guess, call our credibility into question.

My sense of things is that it is very important to be compassionate and always be learning something and really, really try to help people and make the world a better place. And being funny makes the world a better place! Laughter heals and prevents disease. Laugh often, laugh loud, laugh at life, laugh at yourself, laugh with heart!