And around we go
Its injection season
Hiya!
Remember me? I apparently still run this joint!
So this morning I’m at the bus stop — school being back in, we’re into the morning ritual:
Dozen or so kids running around at the corner yard, playing some currently circulating tag variant, hoping the bus is late. Myself and a handful of fellow neighbor parents are also there hoping its not.
Mother #1: “I couldn’t believe it — The high school nurse called me yesterday telling me Yertle1 needed to get the second meningitis shot right away!” (Looks at me, oldest is same year). “Did you get a call too?”
Me: “Not yet. But it doesn’t matter, we’re done with that”
Mother #1: “Oh you got his already?”
Me: “Nope. If they call we say its not happening. We’re done with it”
Mother #2: (looks up from phone) “Oh. You can get an exception?”
Mother #1: “Oh that would be good. Yertle’s first shot was really bad.”
Me: “Yeah. You need to go to your doctor & get a religious exception form. They can’t stop you, though they’ll try. Its important in the justification to be vague, and use language like “against sincerely held religious beliefs”. Nobody can ask you what those are, turns out”.
(Mother #1 jaw clench)
Mother #2: “Why meningitis all of a sudden?”
Me: “Probably trying to make sure everything is checked off in the schedule, meningitis is probably the last of them. Expecting those checks hit us as graduation gets nearer”
(Mother #1 nods)
Me: “I think the meningitis shot is being motivated by rare cases of kids in dorms having severe bouts of it, including a few fatalities I believe. I do remember hearing about a kid that died in the dorms from this when I was in school, but its really rare”.
(Looking back I’d really like to know if the annual campus flu shot campaign that year was correlated at all, and perhaps the meningitis shot status of the victim)
Mother #2: “But I would have thought that’s something that’s covered when kids apply for the dorms. I mean not all the high school kids are going to go there”
Me: (shrugs. Rubs thumb to fingers in universal ‘gimme money’ sign. Both women tsk & nod)
Oh. Hey. Looks like I just got an email. Guess I better dust this one off…
Prepping for the school checkup
Later this week we’ll be bringing the middle boy to the pediatricians office for a health checkup in preparation of his entering middle school. Given we’ve seen what we’ve seen, we need to do a bit of homework on the shots that will be aimed at us in this visit. We have the following to look forward to according to the schedule:
Full disclosure: Yertle’s name was changed to protect the innocent
Glad you're back, Dr. Flurm! Oh, I don't envy you, what a peculiar and dangerous situation for the kids.
Haha Yertle (and that his name was changed to protect the innocent)!