Friday, December 14, 2018

No Good Santa Goes Unexposed

You may recall that Farmer H plays Santa every year for a local school program for kids 4 and under. He buys little gifts suitable for such ages, and hands them out of his big bag.

Yesterday, Farmer H was doing his own laundry (you may recall that his refusal to admit wrongdoing and stop tossing soiled duds on the bedroom floor all willy-nilly led to this lifetime chore) when he received a text. It was from the coordinator of the school program.

"Huh. She says that a lady just contacted her to say her 6-month-old baby has Whooping Cough. And she thought that Santa should be informed that he was exposed."

Well. Ain't THAT a fine how-do-you-do? Because nincompoops refuse to vaccinate their children, now immunocompromised Farmer H, with his diabetes and pernicious anemia, may be coming down with Whooping Cough. That's called pertussis these days. Vaccinations are recommended at 2 months, 4 months, and 6 months. My kids had it. How come this lady can't get her own kid vaccinated???

Funny thing about Whooping Cough. Symptoms typically show up 7-10 days after exposure. Farmer H was notified on the 6th day. He's not showing any signs yet. And we leave for CasinoPalooza 3 on the 9th day. He has a regular weekly appointment with his nurse practitioner on the 7th day. We'll see if she recommends a course of erythromycin or azithromycin for prophylactic purposes.

But what about MEEEEEE?

Apparently, you can infect people before you know you have it, and two weeks after the cough starts. It's highly contagious, and people who spend and hour in a room with an infected person, or get within 3 feet of them...are prime candidates to catch it.

Sweet Gummi Mary! I just GOT OVER a terrible cough like that. I was gasping for air like I had Whooping Cough. That would make me the luckiest woman in the world if I did. Because now I at least have short-term immunity!

7 comments:

River said...

Get yourself a booster shot right away. Out here when whooping cough made a comeback, "they" recommended that all adults should get a booster shot because apparently childhood immunisations wear off after so many years. And adults don't get the characteristic "whoop" that kids do, so it's harder to tell if you have it.
On the other hand, what you had, might have been whooping cough and a blood test would show antibodies.

Hillbilly Mom said...

River,
The county health department called Farmer H to warn him that he'd been exposed, but said it was nothing for him to worry about(?). And they normally push vaccines. My cough was unlike any I'd had before, so maybe I had it before that random baby. Which would mean Farmer H had it before me...so I don't know. He is still symptom free, but this is the 8th day.

Kathy's Klothesline said...

I know that vaccines are a big debate, but if you choose not to vaccinate your children, then you should live under quarantine. If you object to the pressures of society to conform, why should you assume that society should be exposed to your actions? Rules, people! They are made for a reason.

Anonymous said...

I hope neither of you get it!! Why didn't she have her baby immunized?

River said...

I'd say if he is still symptom free then he's okay.

Hillbilly Mom said...

fishducky,
I don't know. People these days! We are both still kickin' as of this writing.

***
River,
So far, so good! But...Farmer H says, "I don't know which baby it was! I handled a lot of babies. If it was the first one, then I could have passed whooping cough to all the others I held.

However...I pointed out that they had probably been vaccinated!

Hillbilly Mom said...

Kathy,
Yeah! How dare she bring an unvaccinated baby around a bunch of other babies!