Whooping Cough and Your Genealogy…

Some weeks ago, I posted on this blog wrapped in a blanket and coughing, coughing, coughing. I thought I had a bad cold–wrong!  I had adult whooping cough

Like oodles of other people in America, I was immunized when I went to grade school.  And then in my early adult life, I was immunized again because we had a root cellar that flooded.  And we wanted to clean it out.  My doctor said to be sure that our typhoid immunity was current.  We got the DPT shot, siphoned out the cellar, and went on with life.  Never occurred to me that I would need an adult version of the child’s immunization later in my life.

In late October 2010, I had a runny nose and coughed and coughed and coughed–just before the Family History Expos Research Retreat.  When the cough did not stop, they put me on antibiotics.   So I could consult and teach at the Retreat.  Presenting my classes was a trial  for all of us–me when trying to speak while coughing and the attendees when listening to me cough.

I coughed and coughed.  What soothed my throat most were licorice sticks and milk shakes.  Cough syrup and lozenges just stuck in my throat.  And believe me–I tried everything I knew about and the attendees shared with me all the stuff they had brought with them.  Nothing worked well.

When I got the stuff a second time, it took stronger antibiotics and full bed rest for over 10 days before I could stop coughing.  The first bout in October, I continued my regular routine–blithely exposing others around me to the same disease. Thank goodness I did not come into contact with babies!

Whooping Cough and Your Genealogy

In my former life I was a Registered Nurse.  And I knew how contagious whooping cough was–just never knew that adults could get it.  And certainly, that I could get it twice.  Wrong both times.  So the second time around, I stayed put–at home.  I did not fill orders nor work on my research reports.  The second time around, I knew better than to send out stuff that I had coughed over.

So it probably was a blessing in disguise–when several of the things I shipped during the first illness disappeared and were never delivered.  That way, you did not get exposed to the illness through me.

And now that I am better, and feeling better, I’m re-filling the orders that were lost.  Many thanks  to all of you who have called or sent emails or written to determine where your stuff is.  Many thanks!  How else would I know?

Books and Genealogy Reports

Dear readers, if your order for books or research has not arrived in a reasonable time, will you contact me?  Go to http://arleneeakle.com and let me know.  Email link direct to me and addresses and phone numbers are all there.

There is a pre-epidemic of whooping cough in my county–school children who have been sent home from school with a bad cough.  And babies in the hospital on breathing devices and one little infant a few weeks old who could not be saved–and I may have done my part to spread this bug.  [What is a pre-epidemic?  With a contagious disease, you are usually in a full-blown mess.]

Whole populations died when your ancestors confronted the disease.  Here’s the thing–I did not whoop when I breathed in, just wheezed.  And since I have asthma, I sometimes wheeze when I breathe in–that is a signal that it is time to repeat my medication–which I take daily.

All of this may be more than you wanted to know this morning.  However, these diseases spread from sea to shining sea and if you get a runny nose with a cough–head for your local clinic pronto.  Or if you wheeze when you breathe in–trot off for help.  My experience with it is not unique.  I learned that it is from adults who already have the disease that babies get it from! 

So if you are missing your stuff, let me know.  And I will ship another set or copy or whatever.  Your favorite genealogist, Arlene Eakle

PS  Whooping Cough–a big loss in time and in product for me.  And I have now doubled my commitment and my time spent to ensure that my work and my research reports are delivered on time.  Takes about 3 weeks from exposure to get sick and it takes about 3 weeks to be completely free of the disease.  It will take much longer than 6 weeks for me to catch up completely–I am quite efficient, just not super-human.  I’ll appreciate your allowing me to do my best work for you.

This entry was posted in Blog. Bookmark the permalink.

Leave a Reply