Excellent rant / prayer request / information post.
I love it and I concur as well as share the same pet peeves.
I prayed for your friends (if God has not written me off
due to lack of faith or worse) He should have already
received my request. Be well El. Have fun.
Take some Airborne before the outing.
And take probiotics.

Holding your friend in my prayers, Miss Ellie and wishing him a speedy recovery. Please do take care of yourself, and your daughter. =)xxx

I've not had the immunisation yet, and yesterday saw me wake with an aching lower back (still present) and this morning with a sore throat...maybe I'm also being paranoid and it's simply a cold, but...yeah...

Hey B. and V....I swear I'm not stalking you!!

I have a friend in Ireland, where they have socialized medicine, and he purchases his own private health insurance so that he can see the Dr. when he needs to and not 3 months later.

I don't have the answer, but I don't think it's socialized medicine. Maybe a little regulation on the insurance companies, like is on banks. Something that caps the premiums at reasonable level or allow those who aren't covered through work to pool together as a group like companies do.

Hope everyone stays well. If I find out someone on here gave me the flu, I'm gonna be really mad!!

I just washed my hands, too, B! Scary stuff...take good care of yourself. xx

Thank you for your prayers, V! God will NEVER write you off! You can be sure of that :) I just got off the phone with two friends who were hacking the entire time we spoke...Lord help them. Airborne, that's right! THANK YOU, I forgot about that! Probiotics? I've heard that word, but don't remember what it means??
I will be well (cuz I'm mean and ornery) and you take good care of yourself, too! xx

Bia, thank you for your prayers! H, M and I will do our best to avoid this nasty flu. I haven't had my flu shot, either...guilty. But, I'm taking my kids with me to our doctor early next week! You will be fine, stay home, rest, plenty of fluids and wash your hands as much as you can! Praying for you, Bia. xxx

Still praying...

Hi MC, Thanks for your visit and for your comments! Welcome :)

I liked what you said about what we could to the insurance companies, it's damn time. They just can't run loose with no supervision! It isn't working and millions are without health insurance which is a sin and a disgrace for a country such as ours.

I never had to wait more than a week to see a doctor in Belgium, but British and Irish friends weren't as fortunate, but they got seen! Thanks again for your comments, made sense to me!

Thank you so much!! Maybe I'll run for office next time...can't get any worse than it is, right!!

Girl, go for it! I'd vote for ya!

Yep, it's running rampant around here too. 200 confirmed cases in just ONE city!!! That's only confirmed. That's not even a real big city! I don't know, but I've been pretty sick as of late. Hope it's not that! Hugs:)

asked my wife about this.. she's a microbiologist. and it's not as easy as it seems. it can't be mechanized.. and there must be extreme levels of quality control at every step. the possibility of accidently creating a mutation is ever present. and temperature, environment and purity must be stringently controlled.. it takes very expensive equipment and a very high, and expensive, level of expertise. but she says the beaurocracy could do much better..

I wash my hands like it's the new trend! Hand sanitizer sits on my desk at work, have some in my purse, and anywhere else I think it may be needed, never can be too careful! I've already gotten the flu shot, but not yet the H1N1. Have fun at the Food Expo, that sounds like a grande time!

In this country we are no longer testing for H1N1. Correct hand washing technique.... did you know we had lessons on it in uni? Perhaps everyone should!!!

I do not understand your health care system. Lord knows our health care system has big problems and if anyone should know.... it's ER nurses! But EVERY SINGLE PERSON in this counrty is entitled to free health care! It's called medicare!

Stay well Ellie, I'm hoping your friend makes a full recovery xo :)

Hi Ellie, I'm writing this on my lap top propped up in bed suffering from yet another chest infection. I felt so bad yesterday I really pitied all those with swine flu. Our health system provides treatment for everyone but yesterday no one could see me so I was diagnosed by phone and given antibiotics which I am taking although I'm not certain I needed them. It's going to be a long, hard winter and I think we need to keep out of situations which could lead to lots of people and lots of infection. Off to wash my hands!

Hi Miss E, I'm very sorry to hear that you're ill again. You've had a real time this year and I pray that you're up and about very soon! I read your comments and Kaybee's about health care for everyone and I just cannot believe we can put a man on the moon and do all the things that we are capable of doing and have done and yet, men, women and children go without health care here! Just don't get it.
I am rethinking the food expo today...we'll see. Off to walkk Ozzy and then, off to wash my hands! Be well. XX

Ellie, I don't have insurance either and let me tell you it is really scary. If something would happen to me (or you for that matter) we would be either bankrupt or dead. Don't see how that is fair. I want the same coverage the Senators, Congress and the President have. Why are they better than me? They don't pay for their coverage I/we do. Take care, sorry about my little rant there. Off to find my sanitizer.

Hi Charity, I hope as I write this, you are well! 200 in one small city...wow. That's so scary and those are the CONFIRMED cases! Take good care of yourself. XX

Thank your wife for me, Mike. I understand these meds are costly and tricky to make, but I guess my point is that those meds should have been made long before H1N1 hit so hard and in huge quantities way back then. Maybe Viagra and Cialis should have been put on the back burner and Tamiflu, out in front...just saying :) Beaurocracy, I hear you. Thanks for your visit! XX

Good for you, Ash! I think of clean hands more than ever before, too! Got gas yesterday and honestly, wished I had gloves, but glad that my sanitizer was in the car! The food expo should be fun and we're going, but I'm going with trepidation! Have a great weekend :) XX

You and me, both, Kaybee! I just don't get it and it saddens me to no end. Medicare, yes! Australians are more fortunate than we are in that respect. Hope it's a short winter and that we escape this blasted flu...why is no more testing for H1N1 in Australia, I wonder? I remember an Oprah show where she 'taught' us to wash your hands to the complete song "Happy Birthday"! I still remember it when I'm washing my hands! LOL! Be well! Thank you for your good wishes for my friend and me! XX

Hi BJ, Yeah, we would be shit out of luck, so take good care of you! I will, too! I agree with you about our elected officials, damn! I'd forgotten about them, so THANK YOU for adding that! VERY important point, as well! Added a lot to my little rant :) XX

Hi, Ellie!
Here, in Ukraine, all schools and universities are in quarantine for 3 weeks. There are about 100 people already dead due to swine flu... We mostly sit at home, life is like stopping everywhere. Half the people wear masks, another half affirms it's a bullshit...
And still there is no vaccine! Producers of medicine won't have their profit if people are healthy. And it's not only about this flu. There is a scientist who invented the medicine for cancer which really works, but he can't get it licensed, because world makes billions of dollars on cancer therapy. And there was a scientist who invented the remedy for asthma. He cured my grandgrandfather! But now he is dead and his vaccine is lost.
What is going on with this world?..