I'm sure I mentioned this before, but they told me in 2007 that I had leukemia. My oncologist calls it a blood disorder since I don't have cancer yet. However, technically I still have leukemia so I fit into one of those high risk categories and received my H1N1 vaccination today. I'm used to shots and this was a small needle anyway, but after about 10 minutes it felt like I had a charlie horse. It's still a little annoying, but I'm sure it will go away by the morning.
As far as high risk categories go, morbidly obese people should be right up there. Last summer when people started dying from the swine flu, 6 out of 10 deaths at Chicago Memorial were morbidly obese. From what I understand, the auxiliary disorders like diabetes and high blood pressure make you more susceptible to the flu. In addition, the mere size of morbidly obese or super obese people means that the body is working double or triple time to survive, but it is also a strong contributing factor for viruses and flus. Obese people should be able to get their shots right after healthcare workers and high risk patients. They can do children next and old people dead last (sorry for the pun). It seems that old people were exposed to a lot more germs than us young folk and, as long as they are healthy, they may be able to resist the swine flu better than the rest of us.
I was crazy busy today and didn't make it to the gym. Besides, my ankle probably needed an extra day off. I'll be sure to at least ride the bike in the morning before my dental cleaning. My wife is in the dental field so we get pounded with horror stories about people that have gotten seriously sick because of cavities or periodontal disease. I love to to get my teeth cleaned. I take very good care of my teeth, but my low platelet count still makes me bleed a bit during cleaning. The nicest part of having my wife work at the dental office is free dental. We only pay for lab stuff or root canals, but we usually get a huge discount. Good thing because I spend a lot of my on our health care. Maybe one of my boys will become a doctor and give me free healthcare. Yeah right. Anyway, take care of your teeth like you take care of your heart. It all matters!
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