Are we exceptions?

Well, it's very hard to get a doctor to issue an exception to the rule of vaccine even when an adverse reaction has occurred. There's a lot of banter going on over the MMR vaccination and the outbreak in California right now. Today a supposed friend listed an article that called all parents who elect against any and all vaccines dummies.

Insults, threats, disparaging words... it gets really, really hostile and aggravating. If we were friends who saw each other in person everyday... or ever (social media makes connects between folks who might likely have never spoken again), would you still be my friend? Would I want to still be friends? If you're going to resort to name calling, then the answer is a definite "no."

So I feel the need to be defensive of the choices we've made for our family. Yes, we vaccinate, but we do so on our own timeline. No, there's not a lot of "credible" science to support our timeline because nobody is studying alternative routes and procedures other than the one issued by the CDC. However, given that we've experienced adverse effects while following those guidelines, and others have accomplished more positive outcomes in taking a more cautious pace, we've chosen to delay and space out our vaccines. We've chosen to be more cautious in hopes that we can achieve the desired outcome without the negative adverse effects. Because, the autism issue is only getting worse. 1 in 50... or some crazy  number like that is a lot of disabled future adults, and comes with a lifetime of consequences our society isn't prepared to deal with... at.. all..

Sometimes it's a gut inclination and sometime it is simply fear that causes us to decide when administer a shot and when to abstain. But it's a personal experienced based fear, for the most part. Yes, childhood disease of the past were awful and also left thousands of children damaged, scared for life, or dead. Nobody wants to go back to that. However, there's no such thing as a risk free vaccine, and unfortunately not everyone can have them safely. Sadly, they won't work for everyone either, as growing evidence is demonstrating that the immunity can wear off, or the virus mutates so that the immune response is insufficient.

My firstborn had every single shot on the very first day possible throughout the first 18 months of his life. Yes, on his first birthday he received an MMR and varicella shot. Over the next three weeks he had unexplained fever spikes, higher than he'd ever experienced in his short life. One of these spikes in temperature caused him to have a febrile seizure, which at the time I believed to be a benign childhood experience that wouldn't cause any harm. From that point on whenever he began to approach 103 degrees he would begin to seize. My view on anti-pyretic treatment at that time was in line with what I'd been taught; fever was good, because it helped the immune system kill the germs. Eventually, things seemed to return to normal...except as my son's development stopped progressing as it should.

So in all earnestness, we're not sure if the MMR shot caused a problem or not, but it was very suspicious. My son had his shot in June, and aside from the weird fevers never developed any other signs of infection or symptoms that would point to why he was having some sort of inflammatory response. The spinal tap after his first seizure, along with his blood work was all clear (for all they tested it for). Yet, his body was obviously having a bought of inflammation (as immunizations are suppose to cause...that's how they work). At this time the CDC handout on the MMR vaccine acknowledges that in some "rare" instances children will have febrile seizures from the vaccines (though I'm not sure if they advised that back in 2002 or not).

My son went on to have his 18 month shots, and it was after this time we began to seek help and evaluations for his speech delay. Motor skills seemed to be within target, but if he had been evaluated today he would have certainly been targeted as being autistic and having sensory issues. As he aged the autism diagnosis eventually found him, though before that he was labeled with Global developmental delay, "retarded", and eventually PPD NOS with auditory processing disorder.

Was he born this way?  I didn't think he was abnormal as an infant.
Was it how he was born? (Pitocin induction) (I'll never do that again)
What I ate? (There's a lot I didn't know and I eat more nutritious foods now)
Genetics? (Well, with two cousins also on the spectrum, born about 10 years later, it's something I wonder about)
Environment? (God only knows)
My parenting skills? (Hopefully, we've stopped blaming moms by now)
Vaccines???? Well, nobody knows for sure. Some think they can safely write off vaccines, but I'm not convinced it can be ruled out completely. My son DID have a strange reaction after his MMR and Varicella shots (both of which are also derived from aborted fetal tissue...what if we could at least eliminate the use of aborted babies, at least most moral objections could be also eliminated).

I've changed a LOT of things to try and avoid whatever it was that sparked my son's issues as his sisters and brothers have come along. And I'm cognizant that there are risks to every decision we make.  We do a lot of self imposed quarantine around here, so I can be confident we're not spreading our germs. If I register so much as a 99 temp I cancel appointments and we stay home. All the vitriol over those "nasty" unvaccinated kids risking everyone else's lives is not warranted towards us, but it doesn't seem to matter, as it seems as if they'd rather see our children sacrificed for their sake then risk their sense of security. When we've been to the store, doctors' office, or speech and occupational therapy, we use hand sanitizer as soon as we've returned to our car to ward off anything we might have picked up while out and about. We're certfied germaphobes. We're on multi-vitamins, probiotics, omega fatty acids, and have been working on making ourselves more healthy overall, for all our sakes.

Eventually, I have allowed two more of my children to receive the MMR shot, when I felt they no longer seemed to be at risk for developing developmental issues. I would have administered another, but said child had a cold at the time and will wait for another opportunity when there's no other issues. Thankfully, those (much older children) seemed to do just fine with their shots and have not displayed any adverse reactions.

So if you don't want to be my friend...or if you think I'm "stupid" or whatever, then I guess we're not friends. I value your health, and the health of your children. So we pretty much never go out when someone is sick, and I wouldn't risk exposing others if I knew for certain we had a virus or infection that could infect others. As it is, being that we also homeschool, we're hardly a risk for the rest of the community, still some persist in their assertion of our ignorance. When it comes to vaccines, if something might have caused my child permanent injury, disabling him for life, and you still think I should subject my children to that substance again for your sake, then I guess that's a price I'm not willing to pay. I'm not willing to intentionally harm my children for your sake. What kind of friend would demand that from another?