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Wednesday, April 8, 2015


Part of being a parent or grandparent is if your child or grandchild gets sick, then you get sick. To people who don’t have children, there is always this vast question of why things have to be that way. It really depends on the child and it depends on the age of the child as well.

My son was never much of a huggy-clingy kind of kid. Even when my boy was 10 years old, he would act like he was 30 in that he showed affection only when absolutely necessary. When my son was sick, he would sleep . . . a lot. I would dare to say that my wife and I rarely ever got sick when the boy was sick because he kept it to himself. That was just the way it was.

My grandson is a very different story. He loves his Nana and Bapa and he has to be on our laps, in our arms, and sitting with us in our comfy chairs. We bought him his own comfy chair, but apparently nothing compares to our comfy chairs. When our grandson is healthy, he is a ball of energy that literally bounces when he runs. When our grandson is sick, he is a ball of energy that literally bounces when he runs.

Most times, with my grandson, you can hear the bug coming your way. Our grandson makes a wheezing noise when he is sick and he, as most children do, drains all kinds of fluids from his mouth and nose. I know, ewww. But you clean up the fluids and ignore the wheeze because of that little smile. When that little smile comes at me calling out my name, and I hear the wheeze and see the fluid, I know I am in for a long week.

On Easter Sunday, my grandson was dressed in his little suit and was wheezing and leaking all over the place. Easter was great and everyone had a blast. Now, my wife and I get to deal with the after-effects. Was it worth it? It was so worth it that I can guarantee that I will do it again and again until the kid turns into his father and no longer feels the need to show an overly-aggressive sign of affection. Until that point, I intend to enjoy every minute of my grandson being a little guy. Luckily, we have a second grandson who is going to be a source of wheezing and fluids for many years to come as well. So we stock up on Nyquil products.

The reason for all of this is that I was telling my wife that I was a little miffed about getting sick because I had a flu shot this year. When my wife informed me that she also had a flu shot and that there is news circulating that flu shots are not nearly as effective as they used to be, that is when I started to become a little concerned.

I mean, what happens if the little baby grandson gets this bug that seems immune to flu shots? So far, the little guy has not been wheezing or leaking fluids, but what if he does? Do they have something for that? If so, can I have it?

After a little research, I found out that medical scientists are concerned that this year’s flu shots are not as effective as they have been in the past. Those little flu viruses are adapting and changing, which is weird because it isn’t like they get to meet and talk about the flu shots and what can be done about them. How does a virus mutate when it only survives a few days and the virus in Europe never gets a chance to talk to the virus in America? Ah, science. I’ll leave it to the scientists.

But here is my point. If we were to put a sexy name on this new strain of flu, people would be clamoring in the streets for ways to protect themselves. Hell, a good Ebola story still scares the crap out of people, even though Ebola is nowhere near the danger that the flu is becoming.

Netflix has a documentary about “super viruses” and how they are evading flu shots. To a lot of people, these kinds of documentaries seem like propaganda from the pharmaceutical industry, but this one is not. If you want to get scared, then watch this documentary. It will show you that the flu does not need a sexy name to be dangerous.

We have all been living with the flu for so long that it has become just as much a part of everyday life as sunshine and potholes. But there is a chance that we are losing the battle against the flu and, while that may mean a week or two of discomfort to most people every year, it could be much more serious for the very young and the very old.

Despite it all, I will still take the wheezing and the fluids in stride because I love my grandchildren. But I will still worry that what awaits my grandchildren is something much more powerful than my generation ever dealt with. It isn’t bad enough that my grandchildren will have to deal with all of the coming dangers they can see; now they will have to worry about the dangers they cannot see. And that is always much, much worse.

+George N Root III is a sick grandparent who doesn’t blame it on his grandchildren. His column appears every week in an attempt to stave off Ebola.



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