WordEGirl

Are you angry at your parents for not vaccinating you?

I would LOVE to see you on a show like Ellen or one of those sharing your story. I think hearing from someone who has lived with one of these preventable diseases could make all the difference for some people (my own husband had pertussis -- while not as physically disfiguring as polio, he was a mess for about six months -- coughed for six months. It was hell on earth for all of us).

Willful ignorance is a frustrating thing. I work with a lot of families, and a lot of the children I see are not vaccinated by choice. I've managed to get a few vax'd for pertussis with the story of my husband and how horrid it is to watch a grown-up, strong, healthy man fight for his breath.

I think sometimes we all forget the ravages of polio and some of the other diseases that have been "eradicated." I'm a bit younger than you at 41, and honestly I've met no one in my life younger than probably 65-70 that was ever touched by polio (and that was probably nearly 20 years ago). But I did grow up hearing stories, pictures of the iron lungs, people on crutches, etc. It's hard I think for the ones younger than us who haven't seen these diseases at all to understand what it puts a person through, much less really understand the percentages/numbers of people affected.

Thank you again for doing this AMA. You have definitely helped cement my belief in continuing to talk openly with families about vaccination. It's outside my scope of practice, but parents ask. I will continue to give them the best information that I can and encourage them to educate themselves with accurate, well-done studies.

THANK YOU! :)

Please would you do a rehabilitative medicine related video (i.e. speech, OT, PT, etc)? Something about patient compliance, anti-vax parents (in the spirit of your anti-vax video), etc etc etc.

That being said -- totally love your stuff, and have been following your for what seems like FOREVER!!! Love the practice you're building.