Current Mood: Alarmed

Gee, just when we here in Colorado were thinking maybe it was more or less safe to be outside again, a report comes out that 2 cases of West Nile have already been confirmed this season. One of them is right here in the county where I live.

About three or four years ago my son had West Nile. He was one sick puppy, too. It was really weird actually. He started out with a fever and feeling flu-ish, but it never got better. He was 20 or 21 at the time …. it was just a few months before he moved out of the house. I sent him to the doctor, who promptly sent him home saying he had the flu. Well, a couple of days later his gums were as red as red can be and they hurt like hell. I had never seen anything like it in my life! I sent him right back to the doctor — a different one this time — and she took some blood and gave him a mouth rinse to numb his gums so he could eat and brush his teeth. It was horrible. Anyway, a couple days later she calls the house, which really surprised me. Doctors ’round here don’t just call you up, ya’ know? They have their nurses do it. Anyway, she proceeded to tell me that he had West Nile. I couldn’t believe it. Surprisingly, it hadn’t even entered my mind. I don’t know why. Colorado has been one of the hardest hit areas in the country for West Nile. Well, she proceeded to tell me that there was really nothing they could do. I just needed to watch him really carefully for signs of Meningitis or Encephalitis. Yeah, that scared me, too. Fortunately he never came down with either of them, but it took him a very, very long time to get over it. He didn’t get his strength back completely for months. He still has “relapses”. He has become much more susceptible to upper-respiratory infections and has periods of time when he is extremely fatigued. Considering what others have gone through, though, we consider him pretty lucky. The whole thing was quite scary. Stupid mosquitoes.

Don’t ever take for granted that you’ll be OK without repellent. Dave had gone camping with his friends down at the river and didn’t wear any repellent, thinking since it was already late in September he would be fairly safe. Not! You can go here for tons of very useful info regarding West Nile and what you can do to help prevent it from affecting you and your family. Take the time to read it — it’s very enlightening!

Technorati Tags: mosquitoes, West Nile Virus, mosquito repellent