Feb. 9th, 2007

Thank you

Feb. 9th, 2007 02:48 pm
pegkerr: (Fiona and Delia)
The newspaper here in Minneapolis reported that two more children died of the flu here in Minnesota, and now anxious parents are scrambling to get their kids vaccinated. I don't have to scramble, thank you very much, because I planned ahead, and my kids were vaccinated in October.

In thinking upon this, and upon my earlier post about getting my girls the HPV vaccine, I think it is fitting to stop and say a heartfelt thank you for something I have often taken for granted:

Thank you.

Thank you, Edward Jenner. Thanks to you, I don't have to fear blindness or pitted scars on my daughters' faces. Your discovery led to all the future discoveries that keep children all over the world safe.

Thank you, Louis Pasteur. Yeah, it was a hassle having to keep going back to the hospital to get that rabies series. But at least I didn't suffer this fate.

Thank you, Jonas Salk. Thanks to you, I don't have to fear the coming of summer, and my daughters can play on the playgrounds and swim in the pool and go to church with nary a worry of paralysis or contagion.

My daughters will probably never have measles, or mumps, or diphtheria, or chicken pox. They won't have to fear having a terribly deformed baby because they came down with German measles when pregnant. Now (I hope), they will be much less likely to have cervical cancer. We forget how lucky we are. There are still regions of the world that cannot get the everyday vaccines that we take for granted.

Oh, and a final shout out to Alexander Fleming. Thanks for your keen observation and the monumental discovery of penicillin (and all the antibiotics that followed) to which it lead.

I raise my glass in toast to you, ladies and gentlemen. You are the heroes and heroines whose hard work will make it possible for my girls to live to adulthood, strong and whole and healthy. I remember your names and deeds with honor, and utmost gratitude. So may we all.

Edited to add: And even as I remember and honor you, I ask further that you, my heroes and heroines, bend whatever will or prayer or spiritual guidance or wisdom you have to spare to give to the person (and I hope and pray that person is living now) who will someday announce the discovery of the vaccine against AIDS.

Gulp

Feb. 9th, 2007 10:01 pm
pegkerr: (Eliza)
Fiona has started reading The Wild Swans for the first time. I kinda thought she would wait until she was a little older, but oh well. I guess she's always been precocious.

She's fighting with Rob right now because he is trying to take the book away so she can get to sleep, and she wants to stay up late reading it.

Rob just came into my office to tell me he lost the fight.

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