Dear Pam,

The student was last in my class on April 15th. From what I've read, the incubation period is about 2-10 days.
It's been 10 days now.
I was certainly excited for a few hours. But I got calmer when I learned who the student was and that he had not attended lately.

Also, meningitis spreads through close contact -- not as easily as the flu or cold.

I sent email to two of the teachers about which student it was. One teacher I left off the email. The heck with him. He thought that the admin had given out too much identifying info by listing what classes the student was in -- the exact info that helped my friend and I figure out which student it is.

So now the only tricky part is to handle this so that I can help my students and also be seen by admin as cooperating with the county health dept.
I can't very well hint to them that I am not going on a course of anti-biotics or tell them that choosing medical care is a personal decision and not up to the county or the school to force it on them.

I hope the student is getting good treatment and getting better.

M.

Heck....

Need to vent A LOT.

Ah ha, my nasty life... my pathetic luck...

I had a very stressful week.... My culture cells died suddenly.... I made a long experiment on wensday.... Since that day, I was feeling extremely tired.... thursday, busy day as well, lookng for several things my boss needed... damn... and on friday, finally friday ! I was going to see my favourite band performing here, in my city (they are from Finland)... I bought my ticket like 2 months ago, with several problems, I didnt have money, needed to ask an aunt, etc... whatever... and, of course, precisly yesterday, the silly goverment of my city decided to cancel all the public activities because my country seems to be under an epidemy of this porcine influenza virus....

Gosh, Im still feeling mad and sad....

They are giving us our miney back, but heck, I needed distraction, I wanted to see them sing !!!

Dear Majo,

Keep venting.

You sound good overall -- you are working on experiments, you made plans to see a concert.

Sorry about the cells not making it.
That stinks, but that is the nature of science experiements. You are gaining experience!
Do you have a new experiment planned?

Your city is front page here -- all events cancelled.
I feel for you. You prepared for that concert.
And the distraction would have been nice.


Are you guys still allowed to go out -- just not to events where lots of people gather?
Maybe throw a party at your house.

M.

(((((Mari)))))

Oh gosh, I just cant believe it..... Yet ! I had waited for ages.... When I saw they were coming, God I was so happy, and these 2 months I had been too excited counting the days, waiting for that moment and heck yeah, it had to be precisly yesterday.... I mean, why not one week before ?? Aw
I dont know when they will come back (in case they decide to come back to this nasty place), probably years from today... Who knows if I will be still alive.

We can still go out but only for the necessary... Like buy food and go to doctor...

I will need to go and check my cells on monday as quick as possible and then come back home.... I need like 10 dishes full of cells for my next experiment...

Barbara,

Good luck with the impatiens... i had to google it to find out the common name - Busy Lizzies, hee hee. we used to have them when we had a garden. I hope they manage to "weather" the weather even if they are not meant for full sun.

I've tried finding online help for my violet - but have not encountered anyone with a "tree" violet" (one which has gone through the trauma mine has - and survived!) before. The sites i have found all give info about potting and/or repotting when the plant is "normal" and give advice on how to make them flower, diseases, etc. i might have to email a couple of ppl who have their own sites and offer advice or something like that. my mother (who is generally good with plants) thinks i could probably repot it and that it has the capability of setting roots, but she doesn't want me to take her advice because i have always done well with my pet african violets, whereas it's one plant she can't seem to "get right" with so they die on her or don't bloom. but she is good as far as plant theory. however she says it's a risky move because the environment in this house is not optimal for the plant, and that it doesn't seem to have a great root system as is, so that is also a concern in repotting - it might just die. so i dunno what i'll do.

Anyway, your little garden sounds nice, what color impatiens did you choose?

~ waves ~

Gosh, i'm sorry to hear about the concert getting caught up in the middle of this epidemic. That sucks. Hopefully the band will come back. It sucks they didn't just reschedule - i guess it isn't that easy with a medical thing going on.

i hope you are safe and don't catch that flu, meanwhile!

~ waves ~

((((( Waves )))))

I feel very sad still..... I guess I can only pray now.... Oh darn thing....

What worry me is, that we dont know for sure what this thing is.... I mean, from pigs but... Heck...

That genoma sounds crazy.... We will see....

Dear Waves,

I appreciate your post -- esp when you don't feel up ot it.

Yes, the chewing improved from how I presented the day the orthod put on the braces.
I soon hope to retrain myself and start eating more fruits and veggies -- usually not in the mood and not sure why that is.

I feel like I could turn myself into a self improvement project -- don't know what that is about.

Do other people have diaries / journals going back from their childhood about trying to be good, do the right thing, do a better job, work harder, . .

Now I make a list each night of what I need to do the next day -- in a word processing document and keep it open so I can see it the next morning when I wake up. Often it is the same list as the day before.

Whoops. Rambling a bit again. I think that I feel anxious at night.

The meningitis scare makes me feel vulnerable but also responsible.
I need to give the students the instructions I got in the email and I need to set the right tone for them.

My accupuncturist today told me to take a probiotic and close to 1,000 mg vit C each day to keep immune system strong.

I hope that your African Violet finds a way to flourish? I'm guessing that you already gave it the African Violet version of vitamin C.
Keep us update on any changes if that is ok.


M.

Dear Pam,
I think I got myself lost and in knot on the thread!

I am hearing from other people who had braces as kids. That helps. I feel less weird knowing that braces are a shared experience.
They don't hurt so much. Tdoc said to think of them it as "discomfort" and to try to take one day at a time.

But I still have problems (after 10 weeks) with talking -- the braces are in the way -- can't really explain what the problem is.

And I have to keep moisturizing my lips. I walk around looking like my bottom lip is peeling -- I think I might be breathing through my mouth at night or licking my lip a lot in the day-- I don't know.

Nearly all the stuff a person can buy in the store to protect lips -- I am allergic to. I did find an olive oil based organic lip product at CVS for daytime (yes! cheaper IS better sometimes) and at night I sleep with vit E oil (also olive oil) smeared all over the lips.

M.

Dear Majo,
I'm praying with you.
Actually, I think that much of the world wants your city to pull through this successfully.
Are you studying to become a scientist?

Mari