I have just been down to the Medical Centre for my Covid and Flu jabs. My son took me down - only a five minute drive from home - my appointment was for 12,10. He collected me from home at five minutes to twelve and I was back home done and dusted by 12.10. Hardly felt a thing. I had the jabs simultaneously - Covid right arm, flu left arm. (Last time I had Shingles within ten days of having my Covid jab - there is evidence which suggests that a certain proportion of folk will get shingles after the Covid jab) so I decided to have the covid jab in my right arm as Shingles affected my left side.)
I told the nurse giving me the Covid one how I didn't I really feel the needle break the skin and she said that the covid needle is extra slim.
Having a time to arrive makes everything work like clockwork. It used to be that the surgery opened at 8.30am and you just queued - sometimes for half an hour, then trecked through the building - Enter at A and Exit at B. Now just a steady stream by appointment - and no waiting at all - just straight in and out.
How lucky we are. People complain about our Medical Centre. Perhaps I have just been lucky but I have been going to the same medical practice for over thirty years and I don't have a single complaint. The doctors are all pleasant, caring and helpful. We have a succession of Junior Doctors passing through on their 6 month's attachment to General Practice and I have to say now I am almost housebound it is a special treat to have a handsome young man or a pretty young woman call in - like a breath of fresh air and the addition of a keenness and enthusiasm and without the slightly jaded attitude which inevitably tends to creep in with age in any profession.
My parents refused the Smallpox vaccination for me in childhood for some reason, and I was a child before the MMR vaccine was introduced (1988) so I had all three - Measles, Mumps and Rubella (German Measles), along with Chicken Pox and Whooping Cough. I missed Scarlet Fever although several friends had it. They were just the hazards of childhood.
But the real scourge that bedevilled the age in my childhood and adolescence was Tuberculosis. Almost every family in the Lincolnshire village where I grew up was affected by the disease. It was spoken of in hushed tones as "Consumption" and there is no doubt it was feared. The nearby village of Bracebridge Heath had a large Sanatorium and patients would be confined to bed undercover but out of doors during the Summer months.
Then in 1943 Streptomycin - one of the first antibiotics- was developed and almost overnight it became a treatable disease.
My mother's answer to illness was to feed the person up with what she called 'good, wholesome food'. And this she did with me. And I escaped it. Or did I?
When I had my medical examination on entering teaching the doctor asked me, "When did you have TB?" I replied that I had never had TB and he informed me that my lungs on the X-Ray were covered in 'TB Scars' - so perhaps the good food had helped after all.
But let's be clear about things. We in the Western World are incredibly lucky where illness is concerned. No trecking across hundreds of miles, a very sick baby on one's back in the desperate search for medical help. No awful tropical diseases - Malaria, Beri-beri, Cholera and the like (all of which appeared on the Medical Discharge certificate of my first husband, invalided out of the East Surreys after three years on The Death Railway). We bask, unworried, safe in the knowledge that most trips to the doctor are treatable.
Here's to the future when hopefully the same will be able to be said for MND, Cancer, Dementia, Parkinsons and the other scourges of our age.
So Good Health everyone and if you haven't already done so, please pop down to the Surgery or to the Pharmacy and get your Winter jabs. They don't always protect but they go a good way towards doing.
See you tomorrow.
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26 comments:
Alan's had his flu and Covid jabs, but he gets put into the over 65's and vulnerable group as he's diabetic, I have to wait until it's the turn of the over 60's or which ever age range is next. I didn't know that the Covid jab can exacerbate shingles, Alan had a nasty bought of it last year and he had never had it before, I wonder then if it was linked to lasts years Covid jab?
As I'm from Manchester all babies were routinely vaccinated against TB from the early 1950's until quite recently, my son was vaccinated in 1981 as soon as he was born. We all have the little round scar to prove it, although Simon's school nurse didn't believe me and still gave him the BCG ... which he was a bit unhappy about!
My appointment for the flu injection came yesterday but no Covid injection yet, except a list of pharmacies in the district to go to, so I shall wait till they come to the doctor's practice. I remember having the polio vaccination (it was on a sugar lump) but for some reason a few days later developed signs of polio, though it never developed to its fullest extent and cleared.
I so wish that I could talk about doctors and doctor's surgeries in the way that you do, getting to see a doctor, or an appointment to see one, is something we dream about down here and to be honest, I just don't go through the stress of it. When I get something wrong with me, I just live with it and hope it goes away. I did manage to get the two jabs last week but not at my surgery.
We have appointments early next week, hubby will only have the covid jab, his choice I shall have the covid and flu jab.
On September 9th, I got three jabs: flu and Covid in my right arm; the new RSV one in my left arm! The flu injection stung going in, but a walk in the park otherwise!
My appointment is booked for 15th October, so I'm on the list. Medical care had to be paid for when my grandparents had young families. Both grandmothers became adept at treating minor illness and injury. We are so fortunate today even though the NHS is in such a state.
We have had our jags as they call them here.
My paternal grandmother died as a result of being weakened by TB in 1935...and her father in law died of TB in 1951.
People don't realise that a drug resistant strain of TB is spreading
Sue - I tried to leave a comment on your post but it wouldn't allow me to - so hope you read this. Shingles occurs when you have had chicken pox as a child - the virus stays in the body and can then occur at any time as shingles. If you get symptoms of Shingles (red marks and a very sensitive skin down one side of your boy it is important to contact the doctor quickly as tablets taken within the first three days can halt it in its tracks - after that they don't work.
Had flu jab today, but despite having a set time there was a 45-minute queue outside the surgery because of a late start due to a computer problem. I went away and returned a couple of hours later and "only" a 15-minute wait. Booked covid jab elsewhere in a week's time to play safe.
I had bearly all those illnesses when young, but not FB as the BCG jab has arrived in time for me. But I was told that whooping cough at 6 months old nearly killed me.
Yes, we in parts of the world where doctors and vaccines are easily available are lucky, indeed.
I had both Scarlet Fever (my friends had to take medicine!) and chicken pox.
One thing about Shingles, it can also present as scattered red patches that don't particularly hurt as my sweet AMIL had Shingles that looked like this. The linear kind of Shingles follow a nerve from your center front to you center back and hurt like stink.
Hugs!
I was delighted this morning when I was having my flu jab and she asked me if I would like my booster Covid jab as well.
Another job done!
I was so vain at 13 years old when the smallpox jab was offered that I asked for it on my leg as I reckoned a "hole" on my upper arm would not look nice!
I'm amazed that the doctor agreed.
Polio was a big worry in 1950s Ireland; nearly every year group in school had an unfortunate victim although the girl in my class recovered completely.
My husband and I had our flu jabs last week. Our health centre had a drive through between 8-10 am. So quick and easy, Windows down, produce the letters, jab and drive off.
We were advised not to give our children the whooping cough vaccine as both mother in law and my husband's twin sister had epilepsy, our daughter caught it aged two and was quite ill.
We are very lucky with our health care locally, no complaints.
I had my flu shot this past week, and plan to get the newest Covid booster soon.
We're so lucky and so spoiled with decades of good medicine and vaccinations that some fools now refuse to vaccinate their children and refuse all adult vaccines as well. Thanks to these idiots, we now have infectious diseases returning that we thought had disappeared forever. It's disheartening how many people are now proudly anti-science.
Congratulations on getting vaccinated! Our place recommends doing Covid and flu at least 2 weeks apart so we would have had to make 2 trips, but as it turned out my husband had an eye test right about at the 2 week mark and they were able to take us then. There is a great carry out place close to the medical center so we try to time visits to pre-meal time so as to have an added incentive. Now we just need the RSV shot and we will be done for the year.
Interesting about the TB; my mom's sister died of it back in the 1930s and when I was in high school in the 1960s we had a classmate who was exposed overseas and got it so everyone in the school had to be screened for exposure. I actually turned up as having been exposed even though I had not been anywhere near the kid who got sick, but it was determined to be a false positive.
As you say, we are very lucky to have such care available!
Ceci
To my knowledge I didn't receive any vaccinations until I turned 17, when I began working in a hospital. Since then I've only had very few. X
Shingles vaccinations don't cost much for older people here, but husband has a number of health issues, diabetes, leukemia treatment, heart medication, long Covid, and has to have a special vaccination that doesn't react with his other drugs.
Two injections at $350 each. Better than shingles, which I've had in the past, but does hurt the hip pocket as we pay for the most expensive health cover, of which refunds vary. Not a good return on this one.
Over various years ads for Whopping Cough vaccinations are featured, as it is heartbreaking to see babies and very young children suffer so much with it. It can be cruel. - Pam.
You didn't mention polio . That was a bad one when I was a kid.
Red has beaten me to it. Yes, Polio was the dreaded illness of my childhood too. I know a few who caught it and were left disabled. I go for my Flu jab on Tuesday; I'm not having another Covid one.
The big polio outbreak in the UK was in the early 1950s by which time Weave was an adult and married. Perhaps why she didn't mention it. In 1955 we were saved by the vaccine and we celebrate and are thankful for it daily. I think all of us remember queuing to be vaccinated. I certainly do.
I had the flu and covid jabs last weekend, and developed covid 2 days later! I must have been incubating it already. Hoping for a negative test today or tomorrow so that life can resume!
My younger brother ended up in hospital after one of the vaccines in the 50s, so when I was offered the BCG sometime later Mum wouldn't let me have it!
Thank you for that reminder Rachel. Digby in Lincolnshire had one of the first major outbreaks - within twenty miles of where I was brought up (Washingborough) - I remember it well, although as you guessed I was married and had moved away by then.
Sore arm thismorning but so far otherwise unscathed. Thanks everyone.
I was born in 1968, and was vaccinated against polio and probably other illnesses. But between being 3 and 9 years old, Imhad chicken pox, mumps, measles and rubella - all part of being a child, and none of it dramatic. My parents dealt with it, my sister and I missed a few days of kindergarden or school, and that was it.
As for TB, it wasn‘t an issue anymore by that time.
My employer offers flu and Covid jabs this month, and I am going to make an appointment next week.
My first memory of a vaccination was being around five and being taken to the local health clinic for a polio jab (pre sugar cubes) and being so scared at the sight of the needle that I hit the nurse in the face. She immediately slapped me around the head and stuck the needle in at the same time, could be why I still dislike having injections to this day.
Can also remember lining up for the TB injections in our classroom at school when I was about 12.
Also interesting to see Rachel in her latest blog posting today, describing similar failings with her local health regimes to those that I attempted to describe in my earlier comment here. Clearly not all is as good as the treatment that Pat seems to experience.
Had them both last week and like you I was in and out in a few minutes. For some reason though the vaccination centre in Cambridge is not operating this time so had to go to Biggleswade.
You are very lucky to have excellent medical care. Not everyone has your experience. There seems to be pockets of excellence but not excellence throughout. The shingles from the Covid booster is new to me. That said, a friend has vasculitis from the new booster and required prednisone to counter the reaction. The vaccines are doing their job but the reactions are still being discovered. Most US docs do not provide Covid shots/boosters (and other vaccines). Our pharmacies (aka: Boots) took this role to reduce pressure on the docs.
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