Why another blog?

I am a wife, mother, mother-in-law, grandmother, retired nurse, sister, cousin, woman of faith, singer, bicyclist, knitter, Vietnam Veteran and writer. I have published a book about my year in Vietnam and am working on another memoir and some fiction--- just for fun. How to find my book "When I Die I'm Going to Heaven "Cause I Spent my time in Hell." (Also available on Amazon.)

I care deeply about my family, my faith, and my friends. I'd like to keep them.  But recently I have found myself posting long-winded, sometimes convoluted comments on Facebook that have bordered on being angry or ridiculous--or both. It dawned on me what I really needed to do was start a new blog in which I could share my thoughts and opinions without necessarily getting into an argument with someone I hardly know, love a lot, or haven't seen in 50 years. I tried, I really tried with another well known blog publisher, (where I actually do have 1.5 functional blogs) and as often happens, their attempts to make getting  a new blog started has had the opposite effect on me. So I decided to go back to where I first learned to blog from my friend Christine Halvorson who does this crazy stuff for a living. Here is .a link to Christine's business where you too can learn to blog! I am a word person. I doubt I will be posting tons of pictures, so this seems like a much easier path to saying what I want to say. So here goes.

Recently three posts or events have really grabbed my attention, In no particular order:

vaccinations

the Pledge of Allegiance

New England's awful  winter weather

Additionally, fifty years ago I lived in a northern suburb of Copenhagen, Denmark as an exchange student.I love Denmark and its people. My oldest daughter is married to a Dane, a classmate of my host sister's daughter. The Valentine's Day terrorists attacks in a city I love, aimed at wonderful people, who in my opinion, have the ability to see all of life's peculiarities with a somewhat sardonic and self deprecating sense of humor kept me awake last night. And it is that humor, poking fu, in this case,  at a religious group which apparently takes itself and those who don't agree with its extremist members that cause this attack gives me more fuel for my blog fire.

I have decided to start writing about vaccinations first.

An old high school friend posted a picture of a child who had died of influenza even though she had been vaccinated against it. Another friend, who, in general holds a low opinion of mainstream medicine posted another article about the evils of the preservatives in vaccines. Both screamed "Don't get them." 

But here's my view:

According to the national record of vital statistics kept by the Center of Disease Control,  the top 10 leading causes of death in 1900 were:

1  Pneumonia (all forms) and influenza.

2  Tuberculosis (all forms0

3  Diarrhea, enteritis, and ulceration of the intestines 

4.  Diseases of the heart 

5.  Intracranial lesions of vascular origin

6.  Nephritis (all forms) 

7. All accidents 

8. Cancer 

9  Senility

10. Diptheria

Of these there are vaccines against pneumonia, influenza, and some diarrheal diseases, There is a vaccine for TB but we don't offer it to people because TB has been pretty much eliminated in the US except in certain populations (those with compromised immune systems from things like AIDS or IV drug abusers.) Nephritis is often a complication of bacterial infection. And take a look at number 10: Diptheria. That is the D in the DPT immunization children begin receiving at age 2 months. 

Now take a look at what the top ten killers of people were in1998:

1. Heart disease

2. Cancer

3. Stroke

4. COPD (Emphysema)

5. Accidents

6. Pneumonia

7. Diabetes

8. Suicide

9. Nephritis

10. Cirrhosis 

Quite a bit different. And a lot of the difference can be attributed to vaccines and antibiotics. But to prevent than to treat!

Having been in the Army I have been vaccinated against just about everything including the plague. But what convinced me to vaccinate my children was something that happened the first year I was out of the Army. I was teaching nursing at a hospital school of nursing. It was about this time of the year. One of my students had a brand new baby girl. An adorable little girl who died from Whooping Cough (the P in the DPT vaccination) when she was three weeks old. Too young to be vaccinated. I vowed then my kids would be vaccinated. 

My nursing career has given me opportunities to care for people in the throes of some of the above mentioned diseases. I'll share them in another blog post!