Matters Medical

For five years, I worked as a PA-C in a family practice clinc, in Baton Rouge, Louisiana -- the upper respiratory illness capital of the country. (I was the second PA certified in the state, and would have been the first except for that Air Force guy who beat me to it by a week.) During that time, I was expose to all manner of infectious diseases, from the common cold to meningitis to Dengue Fever to ... well, a bunch of things. During flu season, we would typically have as many as two hundred patients with influenza passing through the place on a given day.

I never once got sick. Not one time in five years.

Nary a sniffle. Save for the epidemic-that-never-happened, the Swine Flu -- I didn't take flu shots, either.

Oh, I banged myself up from time to time. Badly sprained an ankle, pulled a few muscles whilst jogging or lifting weights or catching fainting patients. I had to be sewed up a few times for various lacerations -- dropped a samurai sword on my foot once, stepped on some glass, like that, but I never caught any infectious diseases.

I have a theory as to why. First, I was pretty faithful to practicing sterile technique. Washed my hands between every patient and didn't let them cough in my face. Second, I think the constant exposure to stuff helped my immune system. Yeah, I was a jock, worked out, did martial arts, and I took vitamins and ate pretty well, didn't smoke or seriously drink, but I think the main reasons I stayed well were these two things -- hand-washing and low-level exposure.

Today, I am nursing a nasty cold, sniffling, sneezing, all like that, and I generally develop one every winter. I think the reasons why are that I'm a stay-at-home writer who doesn't get much exposure to what's going around, and thus my immune system is weaker. Plus I have five grandsons who bring home what's going around and when I visit with them -- my little walking petri dish lab experiment boys -- I am more exposed to viruses than I was in the clinic. I pick 'em up, hug 'em, and even though I know I should go wash my hands after I do when they have colds, I don't. Of course, I am older, and that might play a part in it, but I still eat well, take vitamins, and work out.

Oh, well.

Second matter medical: In a couple hours, I have to take Layla, the puppy younger, to the vet to be spayed. She isn't going to be a show dog, and were she to get pregnant and have puppies, that would be bad, because we wouldn't be able to give any of them up. Spayed female dogs tend to live longer and are much less likely to develop certain cancers, so it's for her own good, but she's the baby and so little I cringe at the thought. Better for her in the long run, I know, but until now, she's liked going to the vet's office. And since she can't eat anything, she's curled up in her bed, hungry for breakfast, looking pitiful.

Just another perfect day in paradise ...