With Fall upon us many kids will come home with a bad cough, runny nose, sneezes and of course the fever. What’s a mom or dad to do during times like this?
Plenty of soup and vitamin C is definitely on the list of good things to add to your child’s daily schedule but what happens when that isn’t enough?
Every year parents have to deal with the common cold and flu symptoms and worry about the time off they’ll have to need to take care of their child. But with the swine flu outbreak earlier this year now taking a front …read more

My son and I are on yet another round of antibiotics, this time for strep throat. I’ve always been a bit cautious with antibiotics, I suppose because my father is an immunologist and rarely drugged us as kids. He sort laughed off that notion it seemed everyone else had that if your nose runs, all you need to do is call the doc and load up on some antibiotics. My father argued that antibiotics did nothing for viruses, the cause of the flu, most sore throats, bronchitis and the common cold. If anything, he said, taking them unnecessarily could arm …read more

Day after day we have had rain and rain and more rain to the point I believe we may never have to suffer through another drought again. It is frustrating for my little boy whose season-opening T-ball and soccer games have been canceled due to too-soggy playing fields. The five-day forecast has no glimmer of sun, just gray clouds and lightning bolts. I fear this next week of ballgames will be canceled as well.
For entertainment Saturday my son burned some of his energy by dancing in a heavy downpour of rain. I watched from my in-law’s garage and laughed as …read more

Is it flu season again, or has it just never left?  The US Customs & Border Protection service is issuing some guidelines and warnings for the season, that includes some preparation for the H1N1 Virus (Swine Flu).
The service is echoing the position of the CDC, and strongly encouraging everyone to get a traditional flu vaccine as soon as possible.  These shots are available in a number of places, and are generally very reasonably priced.  You’ll find them through your work, at your doctor’s office or clinic, at your neighborhood pharmacy, supermarket, and community center.  If you don’t know where …read more

With the threat of N1H1, strep throat and a host of other germs swarming around, it’s more important than ever to teach your children the importance of washing their hands. If your kid is anything like mine, getting him to sit still and sudsy up long enough to sing the ABCs and rinse thoroughly takes an act of patience. Airborne has found a clever way to make this job a little easier for both kids and parents – SquidSoap.
SquidSoap is the only liquid-soap dispenser with a specially designed pump that stamps a child’s hand with a vegetable dye. It takes …read more

For those of you who are old enough to remember the 1970s, you may remember waiting in long lines to get vaccinated against the swine flu that was sweeping the nation at that time … likely because you were alerted by television PSAs such as this one:
 
In case you were wondering, this is not the same swine flu of three-plus decades ago, according to MSNBC. If you had that vaccine – or even your annual flu shot just months ago – you should not consider yourself immune. Check the MSNBC story for for more FAQs on the swine flu. 
Video & …read more

Caught an interesting article recently that wondered what happened to all of our fears about disease outbreaks. You remember the hoopla over SARS, West Nile, and the Avian flu?
For a while, that’s all anyone could talk about. We were watching the crows in our backyard closely because if you saw one dead it could mean the West Nile virus had killed it. People were buying surgical masks and staying away from standing water.
But now, just a few years later, talk of these diseases is almost nonexistent. The article questioned where this was due to an actual decline in these …read more

I know I’ve whined about this before…but when you are sick, do NOT go to work. I have been miserably sick with some kind of head flu all weekend and let me tell you, I haven’t gotten a thing done.
It took me a ridiculous amount of time to compose an e-mail and send it…only to find out moments later, that I’d sent it to an incorrect address which caused the note (and its giant image) to bounce back to me — typos and all. I’m cranky, delusional, paranoid and freezing.
So for tonight, I think I’m going to log off and …read more