To Swine, or not to Swine?

I have gone back and forth so many times about what to do with regards to the H1N1 vaccine. It seems like everywhere you turn there is someone saying something negative for every positive thing I hear. But we have decided to get it. Here is why:
1. We have small children – under the age of 5.
2. Although they are not sick and most likely would have no problem dealing with a bought of H1N1 if they got it – we have no idea what is going to happen tomorrow – one of them could get seriously sick and then they are even more at risk of not just getting the flu but much worse.
3. Could I live with myself if I choose not to get it and heaven forbid one of them got it and died?
4. When you look closely at the numbers there is a much, much higher chance of them getting H1N1 than them having an adverse reaction to the vaccine itself.

So, not that our mind was made up – we still had to figure out how to get it. Friday afternoon I stated calling friends and seeing who wanted it, who would be willing to stand in line with me while our husbands stayed at home with the kids and then came when we made a phone call at the front of the line.

I had 3 friends in: Meg was amazing, I picked her up at 6:15 – and we hit the LONG line at 6:30 (we were guessing 600 – 700 people ahead of us already) – she headed off right away to the very near by Tim Horton’s for coffee (waiting over 1 hour in line there), Lisa joined us very soon, dropped off a chair and then searched for parking – parking was horrific at this point, so she headed home to have her hubby drive her back and drop her off.
Janice – a Mom friend of mine who is single with a little girl the same age as Jackie – I called all day with updates, and she kept offering to bring us coffee or whatever we needed – but that would mean another bathroom visit – the first for me almost ended in a phone call for more pants…. (so bad I had to beg to cut the line – yeah – 1000+ people, no port-a-potties – Shell and Timmy’s were lined up forever), anyway – I called Janice in the same time I called Adam in with the kids – there is no way a 2 year old could handle even 1 hour in line.
Then we met a super nice guy right in front of us in line – Chris.

So Meg, Lisa, Chris and I hung out in line – arriving at 6:30am – getting our needle at 2:45pm.

We made the make by 45 minutes – they closed at 3:30 – and we found out later – they are closed for at least a week since they have run out of vaccines.

Overall, I could think of a million other / better ways to spend a Saturday – but I had 2 girlfriends with me – we chatted all day, had no kids with us, and mission accomplished – we were lucky though, if we had shown up 15 minutes later I don’t think we would have gotten in – you should have seen how many people were in line 15 minutes after we arrived.

This is a photo of the line - taken at approximately 12pm.


Myself, Lisa and Meg