My now-becoming-regular-flu-reading-ideas

From: Mercedes
Sent: Saturday, September 19, 2009 1:48 PM

Long time no see. Hope you're doing well.

This morning I decided I'd expand my circle of contacts and pass on to you some of the links I have found interesting or somehow
useful regarding the new H1N1 flu.

Some of you probably already have plenty of information about the flu from the media and your own institutions, and some already
know of this flutrackers.com website, which is visited and contributed to by medical personnel around the globe. So, this might not
be much of a contribution to your tools and knowledge.

Anyhow, today's site has contributions form infection control staff in medical facilities, which to me is a indicator of the way in
which CDC/Gov/medical institutions are handling the pandemic and consequently, us the public. But also thought it might be useful
to you as a resource on specifics related to you or your family or work place. If you are new to flutrackers.com, note that
"Florida1" is the username of the administrator. I kind of follow his/her lead as he or she seems to be pretty sensible,
non-sensationalist and strikes me as very knowledgeable.

Two of the most informative threads to me this AM were:

http://www.flutrackers.com/forum/showthread.php?t=120892 Emergency symptoms.
http://www.flutrackers.com/forum/showthread.php?t=120753 On incubation periods

Or this one, the main NEW POSTINGS site on several topics/up dated (medically related) info re H1N1.
http://www.flutrackers.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=1531

Two other interesting threads were on the effect of vitamin D and one on asthma. Seems vitamin D might help mitigate symptoms. Let
me know if you come across confirmation of these ideas from legitimate sources.

Reading the emergency thread it occurred to me that many of us have probably never discussed our medical preferences in case of
emergency. I've been thinking about this a lot, considering my medical care preferences in case of severe illness. Yup, some of
which may require immediate use of extraordinary measures (like very invasive procedures) from resuscitation, to intubation for
breathing and cardiac support, to extra corporeal oxygenation of the blood (like a form of dialysis discussed in the new postings of
flutrackers) that help the lungs and heart while they recover. Recovery from these procedures is lengthy, the shortest being a few
weeks but too often lasting months and sometimes years. Sometimes there is not recovery. What decisions would you consider making?
What would you like done or not done to you? What if you had to decide on DISconnecting a loved one from a support system like
this? Just some food for thought.

I was enlightened this week by a YouTube on how to wash hands properly. However, the overwhelming majority of the demos are
incorrect. This one was the best I found. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vYwypSLiaTU because of how it illustrates the finger
rubbing techniques, the duration and how to turn off the faucets. Just remember to touch nothing else in the bathroom with your
bare hands before you leave the sink/bathroom to go to your next task; otherwise you just nicely recontaminated your hands. In
public places I use a foot, or a clean paper towel to turn the knob or hold the handle and push the door open with the paper,
disposing of the towel outside the bathroom if necessary, making sure not to handle it any further before I get rid of it. At home
I clean door knobs regularly.

And just for kicks, this is one is on IMPROPER hand washing by a nurse instructor who thinks she is doing it correctly
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SG1uui3hslA&NR=1&feature=fvwp. Do not wash like this.

Happy reading, and stay well. As always, let me know if you want NOT to receive this kind of emails. My purpose is only to keep me
informed about the flu, understand what I can, and stay healthy for as long as I can. In the process, I've thought of people who
might find this kind of stuff useful in some way, and is why you just got this note.