Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP
Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!bellcore!decvax!linus!philabs!cmcl2!harvard!seismo!umcp-cs!aplcen!osiris!jcp
From: jcp@osiris.UUCP (Jody Patilla)
Newsgroups: net.kids
Subject: whooping cough (personal horror story)
Message-ID: <678@osiris.UUCP>
Date: Thu, 13-Feb-86 19:27:08 EST
Article-I.D.: osiris.678
Posted: Thu Feb 13 19:27:08 1986
Date-Received: Sun, 16-Feb-86 05:14:59 EST
Distribution: net
Organization: Johns Hopkins Hospital
Lines: 22


	I'm 28 now, so vaccines have changed alot since I got mine but
when I was a kid I had very unpleasant reactions to my DPT boosters -
fever, aches, etc for about 3 days every time. So the last time around
my folks and the doctor thought it would be ok to skip the Pertissus
part and just shoot me up for tetanus. Consequently, when I was 12, I got
whooping cough. I was incredibly sick for a couple of weeks, struggling
for breathe and "whooping" constantly. The night that I couldn't get my
breath at all and went blue was probably the most frightening experience
my parents and I ever shared. I really thought I was going to die (they
did too). It was like drowning with no water. I did finally recover but
we never figured out where on earth I was exposed to it in the first place.
On the basis of this experience, I would say, get your kids innoculated.
Catching the disease is so much worse (and probably absolutely terrifying
for very young children) than the prevention that it is worth the risk.

-- 
jcpatilla
..{seismo,allegra}!umcp-cs!aplcen!osiris!jcp 

"Not faint canaries but ambrosia.."
(name the original source)