Our new normal (it would seem)....

If you have not heard, talked about and worried about H1N1 I'm sure you must have been living under a rock on a remote island. We have be inundated with news reports from almost every angle. I must admit at the beginning of it all I had taken the stance that I was not going to immunize my family with the new vaccination that has been made available to supposedly help fight this deadly form of the flu.

After I stopped listening to the media and our top health officials I started to seek out people I know personally in the medical community that would give me very honestly answers to my questions. For a multitude of reasons I have changed my thinking with regards to getting the vaccination. It is a very tough decision to make (honestly one of the toughest as a parent) and not one that we came to lightly. But in the end Laila and I are both listed in the "high risk" category and it has been suggested all along that we indeed should be vaccinated.

I know being pregnant with my other two kids my immune system was always severely compromised and I still have 2 months left before our 3rd baby is born. One of my biggest fears was actually being in the hospital during the Christmas season when they expect the pandemic to be at it highest. While I could keep Laila and I house bound for a few months we still have two other family members that need to be out on a daily basis so that really won't help us.

We went on two different days to get the shots for our family and both days have been turned away from the clinics because their were already too many people in the lines. I'm not prepared (possibly not even able) to stand in a line for up to 8 hours either by myself or with my family. There is no need of that and I truly feel that our provincial health officials have totally failed the citizens of Alberta. They cause this panic in everyone and reassured us that there are shots for every person in the province only to now tell us there will be a shortage (temporary we hope but still a shortage). The clinics are closed today and will re-open early this week and I have heard that it will only be available to the "high risk" group.

I will be in line once again this week and try to get the shots for at least Laila and I. I can only hope that the people that have made such a mess out of this whole situation pay the price down the road and not be re-elected into office.