Seeing Spots

We have struggled with the decision about whether or not to vaccinate, with which vaccines to give the boys and how many at once is ok. Despite passionate pleas on both sides of the issue, we have managed to maintain some sense of equilibrium. We have opted to give the boys most vaccines but at a more spread out schedule, hoping to both protect them from the possibility of diseases that have been successfully eradicated and from the possibility of Autism brought on by the very inoculations that were created to eradicate the other diseases.

I don't know if vaccines cause Autism. I do know, now, that they cause Measles. I know that because those cute little polka-dots turned out to be not the harmless rash Linc gets when he gets a fever, but a case of the measles from a vaccine he got two weeks ago.

So, what's the point of attempting balance, really? It's so much easier to get all gung-ho and become completely embroiled in whatever side you have chosen. See, if I hated all vaccines, then I would be sufficiently smug right now, telling myself how right I was to distrust the whole medical establishment and the poisons they are pumping into my kids. And if I had complete faith in the inherent good of the medical system, I would think how lucky we are that Linc ended up with the minor, non-contagious form of measles instead of the full blown dangerous version he could have gotten without the vaccine.

As it is, I am just irritated that I ended up with a polka-dotted child whose measles-induced fever has kept me up for four nights in a row.