Town Talk
All this media blab about Swine Flu is, for the most part, just that… media blab. Right now that is. Make no mistake. Having the flu is no piece of cake no matter when you get it. In fact, I’ve just come out of a three-week stint of flu (possibly swine, possibly seasonal), with a heavy dose of pneumonia thrown in for good measure, and I can cold guarantee that I don’t want to go that route again. Unfortunately, the time might soon be upon us when we will have to be more diligent than we’ve been. And, to be honest, I’m not sure that many of us have been very diligent.
Not to name names, but I’ve met quite a few parents recently who’ve had children that were infected with the flu, and yet they let the kids out of the house to go to camp, gymnastics, birthday parties, the like. “Why?” I’d ask, bewildered. “She has a fever.” The reply, “The fever is under 100 degrees. It’s no biggee. I’ve given her Tylenol. She’ll be fine.” Um. Right. She might be fine. But come on. What about those of us with asthma? We really don’t do fine with the flu. Letting someone out in public who has been infected with the flu can have serious consequences.
It never occurred to me that I had asthma. I’ve always thought my cough was a nervous cough. I didn’t have allergies. I didn’t smoke. I took in a lot of fresh air. I’m basically a good person, etc. But a couple months ago I caught yet another cold that dragged on well beyond the one month mark. Finally my family said, “Enough of this hacking. Go to the doctor before one of your lungs flies out and hits one of us on the head!”
When it comes to going to the doctor, I’m like a man. I’d just as soon my watch-cha-ma-call-it fall off before I step foot in a physician’s office. Nothing against doctors. I’m just not a fan of taking medicine. Plus, I hate waiting around.
Enter Dr. Albert Digerolamo. Dr. D. to his patients. He came in to the examining room, shook my hand, and proceeded to spend a good amount of time with me, after which he asked if I’d ever been diagnosed with asthma. “Nope,” I said, with a wracking cough, proud to be so healthy. To make a long story short, I walked out of there with prescriptions to combat an asthma that I was sure I did not have, promising myself to never ever go back to this Dr. D. guy again. My friend, who is a nurse, said, “Give him a chance. I meet doctors all the time. He’s great. He knows what he’s talking about. Give the medicine a try. Just trust him on this one.”
One horrid cold, one horrible flu and one debilitating case of pneumonia later, I can honestly say that Dr. D. probably saved my life. Had I not been on the steroid inhalers early to get my lungs in better shape, I’m fairly certain my body would have closed up shop once that flu hit. As it was, I ended up in the hospital, gasping for air. But at least I was breathing. Had Dr. D. not put me on inhalation therapy… well, I just have to wonder.
Now, I’m not suggesting that we trust anything a physician tells us. I’m a huge patient advocate. My hard and firm rule about going to any doctor is the following: make a list of every question you have, and then make sure that you don’t leave the house without adding five more questions to that list. We must take responsibility for our lives. To ask a doctor to be solely responsible for our well-being is neither fair to the physician nor to ourselves.
Which is another why I’m a Dr. D. aficionado; his patience with me in answering all my questions, allows me to be a better patient.
I liked him so much that I set up an appointment for my ten year old daughter. He was fantastic with her. He sat her down, looked her square in the face and went over everything a good, responsible adult should go over with a kid approaching the teen years. Did we have firearms in the house? Did she sit in the backseat of the car at all times? Did she use the Internet? If someone approached her that she didn’t know,” etc. Now, I drill these types of things into my kid until she’s so bored her eyes roll into the back of her head. But, believe it or not, many parents just don’t. Many parents—although loving—can do stupid things, such as forget to talk to their kids about important things… or let them go out in public with the flu.
Which brings me full circle to where I started with this article. Did I really have the swine flu? No clue. By the time the flu did infect me, the CDC had stopped recommending the H1N1 diagnostic test. Hospitals only take nasal swabs, and those offer anywhere between a 40%-69% false negative when it comes to detecting the H1N1 flu. But had I had the swine flu, it still might not give me immunity for the next round of H1N1 that’s expected to hit soon. It’s highly possible that the strain will have mutated into something really strange and new and horrible by then. So here’s a little advice. Come the end of August, start really paying attention to this stuff. Teach your kids how to wash their hands, often, while singing Happy Birthday twice. Work with your nail biters to get them to kick that habit (read: How To Break The Fingernail Biting Habit). If for heaven’s sakes, if your kid has a fever, keep them home. Don’t let Tylenol mask the symptoms. And if you don’t have a doctor, head on over to Dr. D.‘s office. He has late office hours, you don’t have to wait long, and in the short time I’ve known him, I can honestly say, I’m getting to where I kind of trust the chap with my life.
For More Information:
Dr. Albert Digerolamo
Family Medicine Associates
35 E Padonia Rd
Lutherville Timonium, MD 21093
(410) 683-3330
For more information about the H1N1 Virus (Swine Flu), visit the CDC’s website.
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on 08/07/09 at 10:04 AM
