Vaccines

I wanted to finish off the H1N1 post by sharing our experience. We decided (after MUCH research and debate) to give Katie the H1N1 vaccine. In the end it was a matter of choosing the lesser of two evils, so to speak. We decided that a high fever for many days from the flu would be a lot worse than 1-2 days of a low grade fever from the vaccine.

Turns out that the vaccine gave Katie FIVE days of moderate fevers. FIVE days. Sigh. We were told to expect a couple of days of 1-2 degrees temps. Of course nothing is as straight forward as "they" say it is.

The worst part of the whole thing was that her eating, which was already in a slump before the shot, completely tanked during the fever-days. I think she ate about 1 meal a day for five days.

It's now 3 weeks later and she's back to her normal meals. Maybe 800 - 850 calories a day. Oh well, we'll take it!

H1N1

So we're trying to decide what to do about the expected H1N1 pandemic. I thought I'd put this out there and ask...What is your plan?

Katie is already quite a bit behind on the standard Canadian vaccine schedule. FYI - It's almost identical to the US version. She had a bad reaction (2 days of low grade fever) to all of the vaccines she's received to date, which is the reason we're spacing them out in 6 months intervals. That's really here nor there with H1N1 though.

Katie hasn't had a seizure since she had Meningitis, but we know that she is at a very high risk for them.

I knew this information already, but Katie's Neurologist just recently confirmed the following:

• 2/3's of children with a brain injury who are going to develop a seizure disorder in their lifetime will start having them before the age of 2.
• 98% of the other 1/3 will get them before the age of 6.
• A cold or flu increases that risk even more, even without a fever.
• A cold or flu WITH a fever increases that risk exponentially.

Soooo, we try to do everything we can to avoid all colds and flus in our house. We ask our family and friends to stay away if they've been sick, or have been around someone who was sick over the past week. We use tons of hand sanitizer and wash our hands like crazy. And I'm going to avoid bringing Katie to crowded places this winter. Which really stinks!

Our dilemma with the H1N1 vaccine is that the vaccine itself will give her a fever for 2 days (based on her track record of 100% of vaccines = fever). So, I have no idea what we're going to do yet. Our options are:

• Get the vaccine and automatically risk 2 days of fever. AND potentially unknown long-term side effects of the vaccine.
• Don't get the vaccine and risk a flu that could range from mild to severe with fever and other complications.
• Don't get the vaccine and she stays healthy.

I've heard different opinions from many of our trusted medical advisors. They're all over the map. I have no idea which one, if any, have the "right" answer.

I know we're not alone in worrying about what is in the vaccine, what are the side effects (both short and long term) and which vaccine is the "best" one to get if we do go ahead with it. I thought I'd compile the information that I have to date on the vaccine.

There are essentially four different types of vaccine that your doctor will get/order.

1. Regular group vial doses: This is what the majority of people will get if they choose to be vaccinated. It will come in a large vial containing multiple vaccines with Thimerosal. Thimerosal is a mercury-based preservative. It prevents the growth of bacteria and fungi and stabilizes the vaccine so that it remains effective over time. I have many, many hours of research under my belt on vaccines and Thimerosol, and just don't feel comfortable putting Thimerosal into Katie's blood stream for any vaccine.
2. Adjuvanted Individual Doses: Most of the individual doses have been Adjuvanted. Which means that they have an additive which is meant to boost the bodies immune response.
3. Unadjuvanted Individual Doses: These have been put aside here in Canada for both Pregnant women and children under 3. I would suspect there is a very good reason for this. (Can't find much more specific info) Therefore you may want to ask your doctor to be sure your child is getting the unadjuvanted vaccine.
4. FluMist Nasal Spray Vaccine: This is the version of the vaccine that contains a small amount of the live H1N1 virus. The other vaccines contain dead H1N1 virus. It is rare, but some people who have had the FluMist vaccine have passed the live virus on to others close to them. At the moment the nasal spray version will not be given in Canada. Canada's "health and safety" is conducting their own tests on this product and won't be ordering it until all tests are complete.

Another unanswered question about the vaccine is....How many doses will adults/children need? In Canada the jury is still out. They will be making a decision before the vaccine becomes available, sometime in November. More and more recent research has shown that most people are well covered with only one vaccine.

What are you doing about the H1N1 virus? what are your concerns?

The more input we have, the more prepared we will be to make out decision.

Finger Painting from the Summer

DSC02977, originally uploaded by Chris & Kristine Lee.

Here's a pic from one of the few nice days we had this summer.

LOL - Chris posted this because I haven't posted anything is such a long time. He didn't notice that I posted exactly the same photo a little while ago. Whoops!

Naughty Girl

This is what Katie does when I ask her "can you help mommy get you dressed". Please ignore my crazy voice...how annoying!

Naughty Girl from Chris Lee on Vimeo.

Speech Therapy

Katie started Speech Therapy about a month ago. So far she's only had a one hour assessment. We knew she was getting behind and the assessment confirmed that. She's pretty much "at age" (20 months) for gestures and comprehension, but behind by about 6 months in expressive language and play structure.

They have scheduled monthly sessions (we love national health care in Canada, but this is one area that seems to lack funding). Not enough, in my opinion, so we've arranged for some additional private speech therapy once a week in our home. I found someone who actually works at our local children's treatment center (she works with Katie's "regular" monthly speech therapist) during the day and moonlights on the weekend. Therefore, they use the same techniques and can even collaborate on a plan for Katie.

I am also slated to attend training for the "Hanen Method". The Hanen programs are offered for young children with language delays. I'm trying to be very positive about the program, but everything that I have read so far seems like common sense. Getting down in front of your child, using less words, repetition, etc. All things that I have been doing for a long time now. I'm hoping they reveal some magical secrets once I'm in the course.

Katie has been saying Mama, Dada, Nana and Yeah since she was about 11 months old. She has only added the word Baby since then. I hear some other random words now and then, "bye-bye" and "up", but not consistently and not much.

It's very, very hard not to worry about her development now there is an obvious delay in speech. I know that all kids develop at different rates, but with her brain injury it's almost impossible to not read too much into it.

In other news, she's still eating like a bird. Meaning, not much or hardly at all. Sigh. I'm convinced that her reflux hasn't been an issue lately and it's just a matter of her not wanting to sit still long enough to eat big meals. I wouldn't worry about it if she had some extra chubbiness to spare, but she doesn't. She's a tiny 19-20 pounds at 20 months old!

I've noticed an interesting ("interesting" inserted in place of what I really wanted to say) correlation this month. The less Katie eats, the less I sleep. I have a wicked case of insomnia and I'm going on about 4-5 hours of sleep a night.

Hope next week is better than this one. More eating, more words and more sleep needed.