Category Archives: pandemic ahead

>Pandemic Preparedness without panic

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>I can’t prevent swine flu, or any other illness for that matter.
We have travel plans for the summer, Amigo has summer school/camp plans, and La Petite will be hopping on a plane for Italy in mid-May.
We’re not canceling anything.
We can, in the good Girl Scout way, Be Prepared.
If Amigo becomes ill, we’ll bring him home and isolate him. Swine flu hadn’t reached Italy yet last time I checked, and no cases had been confirmed in my area – yet. La Petite’s trip should be relatively uneventful. Our own trip is still in the planning stages: we might be wise to check cancellation policies on everything from Amtrak to hotels to flights.

In the meantime, I just went over the informational newsletter for Public Health volunteers. Most is consistent with the publicity in the newspapers and online. Stock up, take basic precautions to prevent germ spreading, etc.

Store a two-week supply of food. Okay, consider it done.
Select foods that do not require refrigeration, preparation or cooking. No preparation or cooking? Nothing spoil-prone, I get that point. But no cooking? Are we expecting the power to go out, too?
Plan for your pets as well. Done. I usually buy two bags of rabbit pellets and hay whenever I stock up. Their main food is hay, green veggies next, and pellets last. If we run out of fresh foods (and the neighbor’s dandelions are all eaten by the wild ones), our bunnies can eat pellets. They’ll be fine.
Store a two-week supply of water, 1 gallon of water per person per day, in clean plastic containers. Avoid using containers that will decompose or break, such as milk cartons or glass bottles. This makes sense if there’s a hurricane or ice storm on the way, but a pandemic? Will swine flu prevent our water system from working? If worst comes to worst, I could boil what’s in the rain barrel. Oh, wait, that would require cooking and preparation (see above).

After sifting through the advice and visiting the Red Cross disaster preparedness site, here’s my plan:
Keep the pantry stocked. We keep a fair supply of canned and jarred food (and coffee, of course) along with basic baking goods. I can make everything from a chili to bread to a fruit cobbler with the contents of our pantry.
Water? I won’t store any extra. We keep plenty around the house in one form or another.
Keep bunny litter and food handy.
Stock up on firewood in case of….in case…oh, what the heck, just stock up on firewood.
Plant a garden! Fresh food! Little or no preparation! Bunny food, too! Now there’s motivation to start planting!

Can anyone answer my questions above? Would basic utilities be at risk in a pandemic? In 1918, the last killer pandemic flu, did the water supply get interrupted? Electricity? Gas? What do you think, knowledgeable readers?

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>Will swine flu fizzle or present a pandemic?

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>Timing is everything, and “shoulds” are bogus, even when a pandemic is threatening.

I should make sure our medicine cabinet is stocked.
Reality: I usually buy over-the-counter meds when they’re on sale, especially vitamins & supplements. They run 2 for 1 specials so often I never want to pay full price.
End result: We have lots of some meds, we’re almost out of others.

I should make sure our cupboard is stocked.
Reality: Fear of Mother Hubbard Syndrome is alive and well, and we have plenty of canned and frozen foods – including the beef stock I made last night after grilling steaks. That will be one. good. soup.
End result: We’ll be able to last a few weeks if we’re quarantined. A month? That might be tougher.

I should go over my files and records from Public Health Training.
Reality: I barely have the time and energy to get my school papers corrected and recorded.
End result: I’ll pull the files when the first case gets reported in my state or in town.

Heck with all this! I should be gardening!
Reality: Wisconsin weather is fickle, and there’s still the potential for frost later this week.
End result: Planting will wait until the end of May.

I should write a knowledgable post about swine flu.
Reality: Swine flu posts abound, as do up-to-date articles. Search any reputable news site for swine flu and you’ll find updates.
End result: I think I’ll go check the medicine cabinet and see if I need to make a stop at Walgreens!

In between writing the rough draft and hitting publish, I received the latest newsletter for public health volunteers in my fair city. The advice is routine, and I hope the situation remains so. ——->Prevent germ transmission in standard ways, stay home if you’re sick, etc.
–>Store a two week supply of food and water and pet supplies, stock up on nonprescription medicines, and keep prescriptions current.
–>Keep a good supply of basic health supplies such as thermometers, gloves, soap and hand sanitizers, and cleaner/ sanitizers such as bleach.
–>Plan ahead: know how family members will be cared for if they’re sick.

Hmm…with aging parents and a kiddo in college, the last item on the list isn’t as easy as it sounds. Maybe I “should” make a few phone calls.

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>Not exactly a slow news day

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>Several years ago I had a bad sinus and ear infection. I remember watching the fall of Baghdad on CNN. I couldn’t hear a thing, thanks to my fluid-filled head, but I saw the huge statue of Saddam come down and its head get dragged through the streets. Nothing that dramatic is happening today — or so I hope.

Morning news highlights:
Local street to be reconstructed with six, count ’em, 6 roundabouts. Excessive? Merchants on the street think so.
National news is more sobering. Chairman of the FDIC talks about how ‘nationalizing’ banks doesn’t necessarily mean the gov’t will take over and run them.
Reviews of the Miracle on the Hudson continue to repeat how lucky everyone was, how professionally the crew reacted, and how the people on the plane and on the ground and in the river did everything they could – and it worked.
North Korea is launching a rocket. They won’t say what’s on it, and that’s more cause for concern.
Mardi Gras goes on, and that’s a positive. People in the USA need opportunities to celebrate.

Watching this kind of thing doesn’t help me get healthier, even when I balance bad news with good. I’m glad the extent of our local news is the decisions on roundabouts and traffic lights. Stress and anxiety certainly must lower the power of my immune system.
I think I’ll flip the channel to the Food Network. Rachael Ray’s making chili and hash browns with grated cheddar cheese! Yum!

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>Not a pandemic, just a bother.

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>Evidence that I’m feeling under the weather:

  • There’s a beverage bar at my side: a cup of coffee, a half-full can of Fresca, and a just- started bottle of water.
  • I have two boxes of tissue within reach: one plain, one with lotion.
  • It’s 2:00 on a weekend afternoon and I haven’t logged onto Plurk yet. No energy.
  • The floor is a mess with stuffing from the footstool cushion (rascally rabbit), and I don’t care.
  • One hearing aid is out because the ear is so fluid-filled it hurts.
  • I’m curled up on the couch next to a vaporizer, and I actually watched a cooking show. Now I know some new tricks for cracking and separating eggs: if and when I get the energy to cook or bake.
  • I haven’t opened my schoolbag to take out the spelling tests or other goodies I have in it. If I rest enough today, maybe tomorrow.
  • It’s snowing heavily outside, and I don’t really care. As long as I don’t have to go out, all is well.

Evidence that Husband is a tolerant soul in the face of illness:

  • He cleaned the rascally rabbit’s litter box – without being asked.
  • He brought out the perfect blanket so I could make myself at home on the couch.
  • He bought me a box of tissue with lotion. He hates tissue with lotion. This is purely for me.
  • He carried all the laundry baskets down to the basement. He knows he’ll probably have to carry them back upstairs. With my complete lack of energy, folding is as far as I’ll go.
  • He is willing to go to a hockey game with Amigo and leave me home. It’s Teddy Bear Toss time, and they’ll have a blast, but it is more fun with all three of us. I’m sure they’ll come home with stories for me — if I’m awake, that is.

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>What else can go wrong? No, don’t answer that.

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>I haven’t cooked all week, except for oatmeal, and that really doesn’t count. When I’m feeling sick, I know I have to feed the family, but I’m so tired I just want to collapse on the couch and nap instead of making meals. Our menu has looked something like this:
Monday – frozen pizza (with apple rhubarb crumble cake for dessert)
Tuesday – tuna casserole
Wednesday – Pizza Hut delivery
Thursday – toasted cheese with baked beans and canned fruit on the side
Friday – brats (under the broiler, the grill is buried in snow), a can of soup, and yogurt.

Breakfast was a little easier. Amigo isn’t fussy, for a teen. I threw oatmeal or toast at him each day and sent him off to school with a pocketful of cough drops so he wouldn’t feel left out of the cold (virus). Lunch? Leftover chicken soup on Monday and Tuesday, after the morning nap. The rest of the week, I tossed a PBJ and an orange in my lunch bag to eat at my desk while I caught up on plans and my gradebook.

In keeping with my neo-frugal outlook, I’ve made my own coffee many days and filled my mug from the office pot on others. I haven’t visited my favorite beverage kiosks once during the month of January. Oh, no, did I hear they’re closing stores? And it’s my fault for not providing stimulus? Never mind.

Friday, I thought I’d treat myself to a hazelnut at Jo to Go. Then I realized the temperature was a balmy 1 degree above zero. That matters, you see, because my minivan doesn’t like the cold weather. I can’t open the driver’s side window if the thermometer reads lower than 10 degrees Fahrenheit. Already a little down, I made myself a small batch of coffee while I was getting Amigo out the door. Then I realized I’d left my favorite insulated mug at school, and I felt mildly depressed. I filled my backup mug (of course I have a backup insulated travel mug, doesn’t everybody?) and headed out to school.

I sat down at my desk, checked email and reveled in the fact that there wasn’t much, and then started attacking the mess on my desk, when my neighbor teacher came in with a mocha latte from Starbucks! I burst out in a smile for the first time that morning, thanked her, and then told her about my forgotten mug which was still lost. She remembered seeing it in the library next to the computer printer. w00t! I zoomed down the hall to ask the library media specialist, and sure enough – there it was! Oh, the day was looking up now.

So for a short while, my desk sported three coffee cups. Yes, it did. Three.

And the day, although hopeful, did not improve. I remember muttering under my breath (to the same media specialist who’d found my mug earlier in the day) something about the desire to invent the Ritalin Salt Lick.
She didn’t let me hide under her desk, but she did laugh out loud and chase my kids into line so I could take them back to class. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: if I have a rough day, I don’t want to have it anywhere else.

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>random thoughts on a sick day

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>Closed captioning can be fun. The errors in the live captioning can be entertaining.

Constant coughing is painful. Really painful. My chest aches. My ribs ache. My tummy muscles, weak as they are, ache.

An hour of CNN is a long time. Must change channels to avoid growing paranoia. I saw the report on Home Depot cutting jobs and panicked about La Petite’s summer position. Emailed her, turns out the local vendors are okay; they’re not laying off, just not hiring new.

Being out of school is a blessing and a curse. I’m not struggling to teach while I cough, but I am worrying about how my class is behaving and how much I’ll have to reteach on Wed.

Plugged up ears, sinuses, and the works lead to pressure and headaches. Leaving hearing aids out is a mixed shot; relieves pressure a little, but makes the world an auditory blur.

Vaporizer is still kicking out steam. Is that why I slept better this morning? Maybe I’ll move it into my bedroom tonight.

Can you believe Ellen Degeneres is 51? She looks so good!

Books for La Petite ordered from Amazon. I’m sad that my local bookstore didn’t have them; I really like to buy locally whenever I can.

Last night was almost comical. Husband took the time to turn on his new surround sound system for a favorite show, then fell asleep, snoring loudly on the couch. I was coughing in my nearby rocking chair, trying not to laugh because it made me cough more. Too funny.

I’m recovering, slowly but surely. Still need rest, still need fluids. I’ll pack a big water bottle in my lunch and cough drops in my schoolbag.

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>Ah, my generous family, they shared their cold germs.

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>Top ten things to do with a stuffy head, drippy nose, and achy body on a winter weekend

10. Keep tissue box handy at all times.

9. Eat grapefruit for breakfast.

8. Drink lots of liquids (coffee du jour: Harry & David’s Roasted Chestnut).

7. Fill and plug in vaporizer.

6. Tuck in under blanket.

5. Drink more liquids (cranberry grapefruit juice).

4. Take extra vitamin C and Airborne.

3. Plan cold-fighting supper: chicken soup in crockpot.

2. Read blogs while drinking more liquids (orange spice tea).

1. Take a nap. And another nap.

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>Life is NFL football; the rest is just details.

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>The Detroit Lions’ coach talked about three ways to face adversity. At 0-15, soon to be a record-setting 0-16 if my Packers have anything to say about it, he ought to know.
The coach suggested that most people react in one of these ways:
1. Remain oblivious
2. Crumble
3. Embrace it

This philosophy applies to public school teaching as well.

1. I worked with a principal who remained oblivious to adversity. When faced with challenges, she would spout her buzzwords of “differentiate” and “test scores” without ever answering the questions we raised. She thought she understood, but she was clueless. Simply clueless.
2. It’s easy to crumble as my workload grows and the pay doesn’t, while public support continues to fade. I may react initially with a feeling of failure and hopelessness, but eventually…
3. I work with a group of teachers and paraprofessionals who embrace challenges. The pressure wears on us daily, but we hold each other up and look for ways to meet the challenges.

With a week off between Christmas and the New Year (my equivalent of a Bye week), I can rest and get myself psyched for going back to school. I brought home a little work, but not a lot. I decided to be realistic and not overload my schoolbag. I’ll feel more productive if I complete the small stacks of paper in the bag rather than just make a dent in a larger pile.

Minor injuries? In teaching, that’s more likely to be illness. I had my flu shot, and so did Amigo. It’s the season for keeping hand sanitizer on my desk and encouraging kiddos to wash their hands frequently. And if this preventive maintenance doesn’t work, there’s always the red substitute folder beside my desk.

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>Coping with the Storm

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>Hunker down or evacuate? Depends on the storm.

Here in the Northern Reaches of the Midwest, we hunker down. Our storms are tornados, thunderstorms, blizzards, bitter cold temperatures, and (sometimes) floods. Most of the time, it’s not even enough to cancel a football game. We prepare by having flashlights, fresh batteries, candles, matches, and firewood. If power goes out, we can cook on the grill or eat cold sandwiches. If power goes out in winter, we put the frozen food in a cooler in the snow and all is well. Snowstorms usually leave the house intact.

The main danger in a storm is travel. In a blizzard, we stay home. Schools get cancelled (sometimes) or delayed until the plows can get through. In bitter cold below-zero weather, we dress in layers – many layers — before venturing out to get the paper or shovel snow. We Wisconsin natives pride ourselves on coping with the cold and the snow, but it’s a world of difference from the parts of the country that prepare to evacuate on sometimes little or no notice due due impending hurricanes or wildfires.

In my training as a Public Health Volunteer, the trainers kept impressing upon us that a true pandemic flu could stop all public interaction. Schools would close, most businesses would close, and people would be advised to stay home. Cutting out the outside world can stop the germs and viruses from spreading and potentially save lives. It would be the ultimate in hunkering down. How can we prepare for that?

I guess the best way to prepare would be to stop rambling on my blog and take inventory of the pantry and medicine chest. Here I go…do we have enough peanut butter to bake cookies?

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>NaBloPoMoPhoBia: Germs.

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>(with credit going to Minnesota Matron for the creative phrase in the post title)

Teachers Fear Germs. Illnesses. Sick days. Whenever I’m sick, I have to leave sub plans. Writing lesson plans for a substitute is twice as much work as writing my own plans. Writing sub plans while ill….agony. Simply agony. Catching up when I get back? I don’t even like to think about it. It’s sufficient to say that illness weighs on my mind a lot more than it does for the average middle class working citizen.

Influenza. Training as a Public Health volunteer made me realize that we’re closer to a pandemic flu than I thought. I’ve posted about my training and fears, thoughts for family preparation, and more. Immediate action? Flu shot. Clinic coming up soon!

Cold viruses, bacteria, pink-eye, and other lovely micro-organisms. 1. I wash my hands and teach the class to do the same. 2. Keep tissue boxes scattered throughout the classroom. 3. I don’t touch the doorknob unless I have to! 4. (see #3) Hand sanitizer on desk and at entrance to room.

Head lice. Yes, the unspeakable. I haven’t seen many cases this year, but in other years the need for nit-picking has been outrageous. Prevention: avoid touching children’s heads. If children hug me, avoid bringing hands to head until washed/sanitized.

Oh, yes, I have my share of phobias that are intensified by my line of work. So excuse me if this post is a little short: I need to check my stock of Airborne and echinacea and vitamin C.

Are you sneezing? Does your head itch? You’re welcome.

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