The good story is about the lottery. The bad story is about the swine flu.
First the lottery:
What would you do if you bought a lottery ticket as a gift and the person you gave it to won two hundred thousand dollars? Would you want them to reward you in some way? What if the situation was reversed and you were given the winning ticket? Would you reward the giver? And how would you reward them?
From AOL.Com. Paraphrased.
"A lottery ticket given to Patricia Gray of Wichita, Kansas by her mother-in-law turned out to be a whole lot more than a mere token: It was a big winner. Patricia Gray and her husband James won a $200,000 cash prize they won from a Powerball ticket that was given to them by James' mother. "
"If it weren't for her, we wouldn’t be here claiming this ticket," Gray told a Kansas lottery official. "She's the kind of person who always thinks of her family first. She is excited for us and told us to keep the money. We've been struggling financially for a long time." Gray says she will use the prize money to pay bills and help family members."
I hope Gray at least buys her mother-in-law something nice.
On to the Swine Flu:
The local paper here, The Oregonian, did a pretty good summary of what the Swine Flu is. You can read the complete summary at Oregonlive.com. The flu is a disease caused by influenza, a virus with eight genes made of RNA. The Swine Flu is viruses that live in many animals, including people, birds, and pigs. There are signs that up to half of the U.S. Pigs have been infected with some form of swine flu. Pandemic flu is a germ that spreads easily from person to person and has hit has hit a least two regions of the world. The current swine flu is not yet considered pandemic. How often does a pandemic flu happen? An estimated ten pandemics have hit in the past three hundred years. The most recent being the Honk Kong flu in 1968 that killed 34,000 U.S. Residents. The worst pandemic flu was in 1918, the Spanish Flu, that killed an estimated fifty million people.
Now what to do. In another article in The Oregonian, that you can also read at Oregonlive.com they had a list of things to do:
Have a week's supply of water, food, vital medicines and some cash on hand.
If you get sick stay home. Drink lots of clear fluids, call your doctor for advise, cover your cough and sneezes with a tissue. Before making an appointment with your doctor make sure you tell the doctor that you have flu like symptoms.
How to avoid getting sick? Don't have close contact with anyone sick. Wash your hands. Wash them several times a day.
I'm going to add something here that wasn't in the article since a lot of us care for elderly parents. The elderly usually don't have the best of immune systems. Take extra caution with them. Maybe even make them wear a mask when they go out. If the elderly get the flu it could be deadly, turn into pneumonia, or result in serious muscle or joint pain. Make sure they take extra showers, wash their hands a lot, even spray their house with Lysol. Make their living area as germ free as possible. If they have visitors make sure the elderly parent wears a mask during the visits.
What are you doing to prepare for a possible invasion of the swine flu in your area? Does it scare you?
May this be a lottery winning day for all of you and may you be disease free!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
4 comments:
First, and from yesterday's blog, so far, the fingers are only bothersome first thing in the morning, but I'll keep the pain creams in mind if it gets worse.
Now the Lottery. If I won $200K on a gift ticket, I'd offer to split it with the giver. If they didn't want/need it (Ha! Nobody I know), I'd at least get them a terrific gift.
As to swine flu, at the moment, I'm thinking it's being a bit over-hyped. But I'll stay away from anyone who seems ill just the same, plus wash my hands often and use one of those antibacterial thingies when away from home. I asked at Las Casitas if they were concerned, and nobody is as yet, with the possible exception of the chef. He also supervises the kitchen at a prison, and says such things can be BAD. He makes everybody in the prison kitchen wash their hands often and has one guy run around disinfecting doorknobs and anything else that's touched a lot. They feed 10,000 people there!!!
One encouraging thing I've read about the virus is that these viruses usually attenuate over time and travel. The more they get passed around, the weaker they become. As a general rule, at least. So time is on our side.
Hi Pat
I would also split my winnings if I was given a winning lottery ticket and if they wouldn't take it certainly a nice gift. If I have a ticket as a gift and it won I wouldn't really expect anything but might be disappointed if I wasn't offered something.
I am on the opposite end of the swine flu as you as I think it might be under hyped as not to create a panic. I know I've changed some things as a precaution. Avoiding group things in close quarters like the comedy class.
Bill
Neat story about the lottery. Like you and Pat, I think I'd first offer to split the winnings. If the person giving me the ticket didn't need or want it, I'd spread the wealth among family, with some going to local charities.
As to the swine flu... I'm not overly concerned, although certainly watching the news. I saw the Sunday briefing and am fairly confident CDC and Homeland Security and other agencies are tracking it closely. The media is trying to hype it, from what I saw in the press questions following the briefing -- everything from are you hiding a pandemic to isn't this possibly a case of bioterrorism. The acting director of CDC was very factual and very up front with what they're seeing and doing. He, and others at the briefing, warned that we'd see a lot of media news that sensationalized the possibilities and also assured that, given everything they knew at that time, this strain could be controlled/ cured with anti-viral medications they have on hand, over 50 million courses stored federally, as well as other courses stored at state and regional stockpiles. He recommended that anyone with concerns check at www.cdc.gov on a daily basis, as they will provide uptdates daily, more often if warranted.
They did emphasize individual responsibility. Washing hands frequently, true at all times, I think. If you don't feel well, stay home! If your children exhibit signs of illness, keep them home! They also emphasized the virus is not caused by pigs or eating pork, but is passed from human to human, as are most flu infections, by unthoughtful or irresponsible actions like going to work sick or sending sick kids to school or not washing hands as often as we should.
I am, perhaps, overly optomistic or a risk taker. I go to the grocery, I plan to go to line dance, I continue to teach my class. I am not going to cancel Mom's reception on the 9th, although that will be a limited number of people. I'm not gong to cancel reservations for Mother's Day at the Hilton. Unless, of course, I see something on the CDC site that says this thing is going out of control. I will continue to listen to briefings and check the CDC site. I will watch Mom closely for anything unusual. There are a couple potential cases in a small town about 200 miles from here, where a class group went to Mexico a week ago, but they're monitoring those very closely, have closed the school and isolated all those who were on the trip.
The 1918 pandemic was brought up by the press and the CDC director pointed out that we've made huge strides and, again, emphasized that we've had no deaths in the US and that the currently available anti-viral medications have successfully treated the hundred or so cases that have thus far been identified. Obama also addressed the issue in his "100 Day Speech" last night and recommended preventative measures as mentioned above. The briefing team also pointed out that the cases cited thus far are way below the standard reports of severe flu, which are common at this time of year, although the season is winding down.
I guess I've reached the point in my life where I don't trust the media to give us accurate information, but do expect them to hype anything that will create sensationalism and sell papers. I've been through the eras of we have to build bomb shelters in our back yards, the US is going to be wiped out by some virus, cranberries cause cancer, etc. and so on. Maybe I'm jaded but, as we've discussed before, the media is the last place I'm going to go for information and facts from other sources, while taking normal precautions against any type of flu.
Hi Dr
Depending on how much I won in the lottery millions or thousands I'd set up a charitable foundation in the name of my parents and disburse funs for womens' issues, abused children or women, cancer research, dementia research, local issues, and organ transplants among other things.
I'm actually getting more concerned as they just closed a college not far from here for several dues to to one possible case of the swine flu.
There is also now one reported death in Texas.
Oh, I remember the bomb shelters too! Also cranberries and hot dogs both causing cancer.
Great post, DR
Bill
Post a Comment