Vaccines and bathing suits

~ MaryG

What’s the best advice you’d give to someone younger than you?

I feel like the older generations have messed things up so thoroughly that our “best advice” should be taken with a grain of salt.

However, here are a couple of things my kids have brought up recently in a “you were right” kind of way:

My daughter said it was good that she got ALL her vaccines including the HPV series that some other parents declined. It prevents unnecessary complications later in life, including during pregnancy—a time when you absolutely do not need extra things to worry about!

So, I’d say get yourself and your kids all the vaccines you’re offered, including the annual flu and Covid shots. And people 50+, get the Shingles vaccine for God’s sake. It works and Shingles SUCK. (My husband had it and it was awful.)

In general, avoid the “I do my own research” crowd, especially followers of that quack RFK, Jr. Listen to actual doctors and scientists.

My son said he broke one of my “life rules” on a recent business trip and I laughed. He had forgotten to pack a bathing suit and it turned out his hotel had a lovely pool. I LOL’d, but it’s true, I always say pack a bathing suit, wherever you go. They take up so little space and you just never know when an inviting pool, pond, lake, stream, ocean or hot tub will present itself to you.

As a corollary to that, I think everyone should learn to swim well. Make your kids drown-proof. Get them swimming lessons, even if it’s a hassle.

I love this dish towel my daughter got me. 🤣

26 thoughts on “Vaccines and bathing suits”

  1. Good advice, all.
    My husband had shingles a decade or so ago. He was miserable for months. And to make it worse? He gave me chicken pox at 48 years old as I’d never had it as a child.
    Talk about awful!

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    1. Oh dear God, that must’ve been awful – for both of you. I didn’t get chicken pox til 16 and it was really hellish. I still have scars. So you got the Shingrix vaccine after that, I assume!

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      1. When I went to the doctor, they shuffled me through the back door and brought all the interns and students in to gawk at me because they rarely see an adult case of pox. Come see the spotted freak!
        🥴

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      4. Similar experience here. Got mumps at the age of 30 or so. (I was one of the first kids who got the vaccination in the early seventies, but apparently those first generation vaccines did not work so well, at least that’s what the doctor said) So in my case it was – come see the freak with the swollen neck. And “oh, ha ha, we have medication for you, but you have to pay yourself. Insurance only pays it for kids, ha ha” 🤣🤦🏼‍♀️ BTW I got shingles about 10 years ago and it was a nightmare, the pain was unimaginable, and I also was miserable for months. The nerve took about a year to fully heal… Back then I haven’t heard of a vaccine.

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      5. Oh no! I never met anyone our age who had the mumps! My husband had to go to a special ER in Boston with his shingles because it went into his eye and can cause blindness. I’m really surprised that not everyone is aware of the shingles vax. It’s a no brainer.

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      6. I have only learnt about the shingles vax a few years ago. I think it was extremely expensive and insurance only recently started paying it. Need to check if one can get shingles twice, because I really do not need it again!

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      8. How awful. Chicken pox was bad enough as an adult, I can’t imagine mumps. Ugh.
        Every time the commercial for the shingles vaccine comes on tv I give my husband the stink eye for giving me the pox and making me susceptible to shingles.
        🤨

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  3. Great advice Mary! I just read something about the amazing success of the HPV vaccine leading to dramatically lower rates of cervical cancer (in some country, I can’t remember where). I don’t get a flu shot or covid shot but probably when i get older i will.

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    1. Interesting! I got it the minute I turned 50. My husband’s shingles were so bad. He had to go to the special ER in Boston because it went in his eye.

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  5. Well, I don’t think that the older generations have messed up everything, not at all. As a scientist, I work on the research of folks before me, e.g. I live a happy life because the generation before me made it possible.
    My sister is working in medical research, and my mother was a GP. They are both critical of the Covid vaccines now. Anyway, I am a semiotician and just trust them.
    Kb 🙂

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  6. I am with you all the way! The older generation, mine included, has made a terrible mess of things, and I can only hope that the suffering won’t be too great. As for vaccines…we get all that are available to us. They save lives, and I am impatient with those who think otherwise.

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    1. Thanks for commenting Laurie! Off the topic: are you gonna do a post about Graham Platner and Maine politics at some point? Extremely curious for your thoughts on that! (I mean, obviously you have to go Platner, but how concerned about him and his past are you? All eyes are on Maine!)

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      1. I’m not sure if I am going to write a post about Platner as I only occasionally write about politics. We shall see how it goes. Yes, I am going to vote for him, but I am very disappointed in him and also the vetting process that propelled him into politics. Nobody is perfect, but he sure qualifies as a “dirtbag” candidate. Fingers, toes, and everything else crossed that nothing else comes out about him. This race is so important.

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      2. That’s about what I thought you’d say, but I really do hope you share your thoughts with your wider readership. Your readers already know you’re a progressive, but Susan Collins is so MAINE. Is there ANY chance you’d choose her? I feel like only you guys truly understand the situation on the ground up there.

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      3. Thanks for being interested in my thoughts. I will probably write a post closer to the election. By then, if there are any more skeletons in Platner’s closet, they should have popped out. There is absolutely no chance that I will vote for Susan Collins. Never have, never will. Currently, Platner has pretty good support among Democrats and some independents. We shall see how that plays out in the fall. Anyway, for now all has been quiet on the Platner scandal front. I hope it stays that way.

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