Happy Birthday to me. Once again I have made it another year without dying. When you have my personality and live with my wife, that is saying a great deal. Here's a birthday weekend breakdown.
Friday: Slept in - did almost nothing. Went to Crossfit, was abused by Fran. Had birthday fun times, ate grilled food with German chocolate cake, and played Rock Band till 3 am.
Saturday: Went to the Terre Haute dog show to drop off a dog. (Don't ask) Visited Gander Mountain and picked up some ammo (what little they had). I spent some time with my family in Terre Haute. My grandmother apparently fell and broke her face. She did not get into a bar fight as it may appear. I feel terribly bad for the ground, she is exceptionally hard headed. Aside from that, good times were had. Afterward, Nick and I headed to our friends Karla and Phil's where Jesse and I assembled my AR15. I would not have been able to do it without him. Despite a nearly 45 minute search for a tiny piece of metal the size of a grain of rice (which I may have accidentally sent flying accross the room) and the now semi-permanent dent in my thumb, it went pretty well. Post-assembly, there was a great deal of shooting done.... and it was good. More grilled meat followed and was washed down with beer which led to resting.

Sunday: Good morning world! More R&R followed with breakfast in bed and the return to Indy. A nap in the afternoon was next on the schedule because of the strain of relaxing earlier. Fortunately, I was refreshed post-nap with tasty sushi with the family. With all the rest and fun to be had this weekend, soon life crept in and the painful sting of an ICM exam kicked in. With that, I must review endocrinology. Fun... woo...
OH NOES ITZ ZEE END! PIGFLUENZA!
I am officially taking a leave of absence from medical school. Since the WHO (not the band) raised the pandemic alert to 5 (one step from apocalypse), I just can't take the chance of infection. Since there are now 148 confirmed cases worldwide, it is only a matter of time before there are bodies in the streets. Oh sure, I could be afraid of little nuisances like tuberculosis that had a mere 13,299 cases in 2007 in the US, or the 44,084 new cases of HIV. Sure there are the oddball rarities like MRSA that infected 94,000 and killed 18,650 Americans in 2005 but that's not a big deal. Yeah, there were only like 131,934 cases of cholera in 2005 but only 12 were in the US. Even the sound of it "SWIIIIINE FLUUUUU" gives me shivers up my spine! Thank goodness they are trying to change the name to H1N1 because it is so unique, it makes me feel a lot more at ease.
Ok, now seriously...
It has a catchy name and it is getting a lot of hype, but it really doesn't have anything on Wombat Folliculitis or Mountain Goat Urethritis. When we shake the panic and hype from this case of mass distraction, maybe we'll realize that there are 3-5 million cases of severe influenza anually (worldwide) and between 250,000 and 500,000 of them die. Yes, that is from regular flu. Diseases happen. It sucks, but this is nothing new. Sometimes those diseases are absolutely devestating and there is a substantial number of deaths. Should we run around like our heads are on fire screaming that the end is neigh? No. Should we we throw $1.5 billion at it? It think it is questionable. Why? We already have a CDC that should be prepared for a real pandemic and we are are mobilizing funds for what? Vaccines and education? The last mass swine flu vaccination killed 25 people and gave 532 Guillain-Barre. Only 1 patient actually died of the virus. If we did develop a vaccine it would take about 9 months to grow in egg, and at least 16 weeks in tissue culture. By then, the buzzards would certainly be circling.
THE EDUCATION ANSWER:
Wash your hands
Keep your respiratory fluids off others
Wash your hands
Keep others respiratory fluids off of you
Wash your hands,
I would now like a cut of that $1.5 billion for supplies, firearms, and ammo (if you can find it) for when then the zombie pandemic happens. That folks, is the real threat. I'm off to clean guns.
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Posted at 02:10 AM in Current Affairs, Healthcare, Medicine, Social Commentary | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)