WHOOPING COUGH

I never had any childhood illnesses--no measles, mumps, chicken pox--nothing. Before I started to school we were quarantined because of scarlet fever. I didn't have it, although Norman did! I recall the red quarantine sign on the door and my father and several of my brothers had to stay at Grandma Shirkey's house while Mother was quarantined with the rest of us.

Two years ago, I went to the local nurse practitioners; I had self-diagnosed that I had bronchitis. The nurse gave me two shots and a 5-day supply of pills. In five days I didn't feel better and I returned. After a week, I went to my family doctor and when he entered the room I was having a coughing fit! He said, "Let me get a culture; I think you have pertussis!" I asked, "Isn't that whooping cough?" My doctor told me not to judge the nurses harshly because he would probably have treated it as bronchitis also, unless he'd heard THAT cough!

As a child, the only vaccinations I had were for smallpox and polio. Since my bout with whooping cough, I have had all the preventative shots. I saw on the news that there is a whooping cough outbreak and is the worst in fifty years.

Now I'm scared that I'll be around some kid with chicken pox! On the bright side, I can't have shingles, because I've never had chicken pox.

Read the Yahoo story about whooping cough HERE.