shots in the dark- thankful

Hopefully (cross your fingers!)my boys are getting the H1N1 vaccine this afternoon. Finally. Luckily, we haven't had it yet. Asthma doesn't really mix all that well with this version of influenza and we just don't need a hospital visit this winter if we can help it. And we can. I know there is lots of controversy about vaccines but I am so grateful. So grateful that my children will never get polio, meningitis, tuberculosis or any of the other nasty illnesses covered by the standard round of shots. Maybe they wouldn't have died or lost their hearing if they had gotten measles, but I prefer not having to worry about it. I'd rather worry about colds and  allergies, what kindergarten to choose and whether or not I offer enough vegetables at the dinner table. For a long time I had no idea how awful some of these diseases had the potential to be. I read a book a few years ago chronicling the experience of one girl as she suffered through polio and I became fascinated. I started asking those in my life who remembered about all these illnesses. They started by telling me that everyone got measles and mumps and whatnot. They followed that up with a laundry list of terrible complications suffered by many of the people they knew, of those who hadn't made it. Those complications and deaths were a minority, but it doesn't make it any better if your child is in that minority.  I have read the research, the studies, the processes that have to happen before these vaccines make it to market. I have talked to every Doc I know (and weirdly, I know a lot) and I believe, along with the AMA, that these are safe. That they are life-saving. There are lots of bad things that could potentially happen to my little ones but I am exceedingly grateful that I can shorten the list, at least a little.