I believe in doctors & medicine more than I don't

That's been a mantra of mine lately. I don't have a lot of respect for the business of medicine. My mom was diagnosed with breast cancer at 32. She knew something was wrong with her body, but no one would give her a mammogram because she was "too young". By the time she finally had the mammogram and the subsequent biopsy, the cancer had already spread to her lymph nodes. My mom caught staph infection from the hospital and nearly died 2 weeks after her double mastectomy. Her cancer came back 5 years later. She thought that a bone marrow transplant was still an option. My mom was the one to determine she couldn't have bone marrow transplant because it had already hit her bones. She discovered this, not her doctors, because she was looking over her medical records and found it on previous body scan that was looking at her organs. Not a single doctor noticed in her bones because they weren't looking there. Then there was the doctor that prescribed a medication to my mom despite my mom's own protest due to possible allergies. This drug caused a severe allergic reaction that caused so much pressure in her brain on her optic nerve it essentially made her blind.

Despite all of this, I do recognize the medical profession as an essential part of our society. I just don't think they are the end all solution. I was more than willing to embrace doctors and medicine when I had Piper, no hesitation whatsoever. I had never stayed overnight in a hospital or even had stitches until I had my c-section with Piper. Fortunately, my husband and I are quite healthy and rarely get sick.

So to get to the point of my post, I had to take my daughter in for her 12-month immunizations yesterday. One of the shots she received was the infamous MMR. Many moms with autistic children blame this shot for their autism. I only just received my MMR vaccination prior to getting pregnant. I didn't know if I had even had it. Apparently Idaho didn't require it when I was a baby, because a blood test said I had it. My doctor recommended it because Measles and Mumps can be quite serious when pregnant. I didn't know it was "the autism shot" until after I was pregnant. Damn those pregnancy magazines anyway.

You now read about it in all of the parenting magazines, Oprah has done more than one episode on the topic, it's everywhere. It's hard to ignore. 1 out of every 103 boys are currently being diagnosed with autism. Girls odds are much better but WTF is going on? The CDC for the first time EVER, finally issued a statement that they are going to take a look at these statistics and the correlation with this vaccine. They have never acknowledged even the suggestion of a connection of autism to the vaccine. They still aren't admitting anything, but the arrogance, the "we know better than you" attitude so prevalent in the medical profession backed down just a bit here.

A recent lawsuit against the pharmaceutical company that makes the vaccine was recently settled. The company's claim was that the autistic girl had a medical predisposition to autism that the vaccine triggered. So they are essentially saying that it wasn't really their fault despite the fact that the girl had never been diagnosed with any kind of condition. What a great and legal way for them to get out of admitting wrong-doing. Funny thing is, a lot of moms with autistic children will tell you the very same thing. Jenny McCarthy's son has autism. She believes that vaccine did cause her son's autism, but she doesn't believe that it will cause it in every child. She thinks that some children just have a "autism switch" that gets turned on by the vaccine. Maybe vaccines shouldn't be one size fits all.

Despite my apparent rant leading up to this, I really do feel I am more in alignment with the medical profession than I am not. This was just something I've been playing with in my mind the last few months knowing that I was going to take by baby in voluntarily and give here this vaccine I reminded myself of all of the kids that have had the vaccination and are doing just fine. I reminded myself that girls had better odds. I reminded myself that vaccines serve a great purpose. I reminded myself that doctors do more good than bad. Anytime I found myself imagining myself in the situation, I was quick to turn that thought off.

I do feel at peace with Piper having this vaccination. Sometimes those pesky "facts" just have a way of making you question what you feel is true.