Cripes, ... I'd rather get the damn virus !!!!

Holy crap ....   7 hrs in line (OUTSIDE ) with 3 kids was no picnic !

My wife and I took turns waiting in line while we tried to distract the kids...

My wife was in line at 2:00pm  (..the clinic opened at 2:30pm... ),
and we didn't get out of there until 9:00pm !!!

We had to bribe the kids with toys, chocolate, McD's, etc..,
but they were troopers. ... only a few tears were shed  (...mostly by mummy !  

...and here's the kicker ...
kids under 9 will have to go for a booster shot in 3 weeks !!!!

There's no way I'm going through THAT again !!!

What a wasted day.... I'm spent !


Steph

7 hours? Seriously? I would've given up at the 1 hr mark. Why aren't they in schools going classroom to classroom giving the shots?

Sure is a drag ! But we ' d do anything for our kids , wouldn ' t we ? In the meantime , here ' s some infos i posted on the H1 N1 thread from our Vancouver fellow member . Better be safe than sorry ...



These simple rules came true my emails in french . So , i decided to translate it to my best knowledge and share it with you all ...  


- Often wash your hands ( Everyone knows that one )

- Avoid touching your face with your hands ( viruses come in true the mouth , noze and eyes )

- Gargle with warm salty water twice a day ( Use listerine if you don ' t trust salty water ) . The H1 N1 takes 2 to 3 days after initial infection in the throat to spread and show symptoms . To gargle prevents spreading . In some ways ,  to gargle has the same effect on a healty person as the Tamiflu has on an infected person . DO NOT UNDER ESTIMATE THIS SIMPLE METHOD , non-costy and efficient .

- Also , clean your nostrils at least once a day by strongly blowing your nose and then wash the inside of both nostrils with a Q-tip soaked in salty water . It is really efficient to reduce the viral population .

- Give a chance to your natural immune system by eating citrus foods or any foods rich in vitamin C . If you choose to go for vitamin C pills , make sure that they contain zinc in order to facilitate absorbtion .

- Drink warm liquids ( thea , coffee ect... ) as much as you can . To drink warm liquids washes the viruses down into the stomach where they can ' t survive .

Thanks for the translation Whizzervic, I only cut and pasted in French section...

I would rather wait a bit for the rush to pass, it is dangerous to go wait inline and freeze while taking the risk to get contaminated, in a group which
who knows has what !!!

I will get it once the rush is gone in a few days

See you soon

Alain

It is in the paper today... vaccine supplies running out, long waits, health hotlines with a record number of calls...

Like I said yesterday... panic. It is just like the terrorism thing in the US. They talk about it SO MUCH that people start to missinterpret everything and start panicking.  

It was stated that the government wanted to innoculate health system personel first. They say that anyone and everyone showed up to be vaccinated.

And imagine that... they state everywhere that they want to innoculate MINIMUM 75% of the population, yet they run out of vaccines after one day.

Quoted from Sparky

It is in the paper today... vaccine supplies running out, long waits, health hotlines with a record number of calls...

Like I said yesterday... panic. It is just like the terrorism thing in the US. They talk about it SO MUCH that people start to missinterpret everything and start panicking.  

It was stated that the government wanted to innoculate health system personel first. They say that anyone and everyone showed up to be vaccinated.

And imagine that... they state everywhere that they want to innoculate MINIMUM 75% of the population, yet they run out of vaccines after one day.

Don't worry the media is using it all over the place ... an article today in the metro talked about the 'edpidemic' of grow-ops.

Quoted from jonny_eh

7 hours? Seriously? I would've given up at the 1 hr mark. Why aren't they in schools going classroom to classroom giving the shots?

Have you been ready the paper? Watched the news? A one hour wait????? Are you serious! You won't be getting the shot then. All clinics across Ottawa have outrageous wait times. Best I have heard thus far is 3 hours and Steph's experience is not unusual.  

I agree with you 100% on the question, "Why aren't they in schools....". That is something my wife and I have wondered and discussed. In the paper, they mentioned there are a serious of questions to be asked. Perhaps the parents need to be there to answer the questions.  

Duane

my wife was in line at 1:30pm in kanata - ticket #100- i got there at 3:30- they were up to #920(from the nite before)- we didn't get out of there until 7:40..

There is actually no better environment for spreading a flu than a long line of "at risk" people standing for hours in cold weather.

the whole distribution system is a friggin joke. I'd stay well clear of the whole situation for a few weeks at least.

erin and eve went to the downtown mall and they were going to wait 3-5hrs.  but were told by staff that the city bridgenorth had really no one there.  they were doing all ages even and erin and eve only had to wait 45min and were treated great.  way better there then at the mall.  cleaner and more for the kids to do.
  so if you are around me and want the place to go.  well thats it.

Quoted from whizzervic

- Avoid touching your face with your hands ( viruses come in true the mouth , noze and eyes )
- Gargle with warm salty water twice a day ( Use listerine if you don ' t trust salty water ) . The H1 N1 takes 2 to 3 days after initial infection in the throat to spread and show symptoms . To gargle prevents spreading . In some ways ,  to gargle has the same effect on a healty person as the Tamiflu has on an infected person . DO NOT UNDER ESTIMATE THIS SIMPLE METHOD , non-costy and efficient .

  really great advice.
   stop touching yourself.   thats going to be HARD for a few of ya's.
   as for the salt water.  don't use table salt.  go to a bulk store and get sea salt.  mouthwash is ok.  but alchol isn't a go way to clean you mouth.  if so, most of us would have the cleanest mouths going.

Quoted from sentinelking

There is actually no better environment for spreading a flu than a long line of "at risk" people standing for hours in cold weather.

the whole distribution system is a friggin joke. I'd stay well clear of the whole situation for a few weeks at least.

+1 - Agree.  

Quoted from sentinelking

There is actually no better environment for spreading a flu than a long line of "at risk" people standing for hours in cold weather.

Agreed...

That's why my wife and I took turns to keep the kids out of the line-up.
One of us would wait in-line while the other took the kids for "roadtrips" ( Timmies, Toys 'R US, McD, etc... )
and would check back every 45 mins or so.

It was a PITA, but I think the change of scene kept our kids "sane".
Some poor single mothers waited in-line with babies in strollers for the entire time.
I saw an older blind gentlemen wait in the cold for hours.

As bad as it seemed for us, it was ALOT worse for many.
If you have kids, it really is a two-parent job.

As for waiting for the "panic" to subsisde before getting the shot,  
keep in mind this is only for kids 5 and under and seniors.  
School-aged kids are not "eligible" yet.  That starts tomorrow.
....  THAT will be absolute chaos !

Also, the vaccine takes 21 days to take effect.
If you wait too long, there will be very little point in getting it at all,
since the virus is expected to peak within the next few weeks..,

... but I agree with everyone, very poor preparation for this.

All clinics are WAY under-staffed and ill-prepared, and the poor health-care workers
are given an impossible task to please everyone.

Tough situation for all...

Steph

Hey, I was at that mall today!  We were 2.5 hours from leaving home to home again.  Not too bad, kids were fine.  I brought my laptop and they watched some Dora.  They were very brave until in the chair, and then turned to mush... can't blame them.  But I went first to show them it wouldn't be too bad.

Quoted from gorydeath

erin and eve went to the downtown mall and they were going to wait 3-5hrs.  but were told by staff that the city bridgenorth had really no one there.  they were doing all ages even and erin and eve only had to wait 45min and were treated great.  way better there then at the mall.  cleaner and more for the kids to do.
  so if you are around me and want the place to go.  well thats it.

Just like installing that brand new OS update, I'm going to wait a while and see if they've worked all the "kinks" out yet..    If I get the shot, it'll be after this whole thing has quieted down a bit.