Introduction

[Guest guest]

Hi there. I just joined. I'm in a tough spot. This issue fills me with

such fear and anxiety I almost didn't join this group because it turns

me into a crazy person. The " experts " i.e. the folks with medical

training, my doctor, say that the vaccines are needed. The

" alternative folks " say that they are dangerous. Naturally I want to

do the best for my son. My solution (don't slam me for this, ok?) was

to walk the middle line...we refused the Hep B vaccine that they give

at birth, and for all the others we not only started them late, but we

have given them one at a time. (except for those that are combined

into one shot, like DTaP). As a result, our son is, by all standards

" way behind " on his vaccines.

I am on a very painful fence. Protect my child? Hurt my child? Which

do I do? Clearly, I NEVER want to hurt him. How can a parent ever

choose, when helping him can equal hurting him?

My issues surround MMR. For some reason I am most scared of that one;

based on what I've read, no doubt. Yet here we are at Age 4.5.....my

" only child " who is about to be homeschooled, may want to take classes

at the local school. You know, so he won't turn out into the lonely,

antisocial freak of nature that people seem to think he will become if

I homeschool him. (Sorry, a little sarcasm there. He is a lovely, very

social child already, but he only likes older kids and adults.) In any

case, it seemed pretty wonderful that a person could homeschool, yet

selectively take part in what the public school offers, like sports

teams or science class. But you know the schools...they're all about

vaccinations! And since I have selectively vaccinated, I cannot (can

I?) claim some kind of religious opposition to them. I feel I've blown

my chances of that.

Not only that, next weekend my husband's friend Mark is coming over to

visit. Mark's wife has Whooping Cough. Mark says he has bronchitis.

Bronchitis is a bad enough thing to bring into the house, but even

so...he's coming from a house where someone has whooping cough and my

son has only had 4 out of 5 of his DTaP shots. I don't know if Mark

can be a carrier without having it himself. It's tough making

decisions without knowing HIS full medical situation. But I want to

protect my son.

Help!? Can you see my confusion?

Thanks for listening.

-Jen