My husband said the coverage of the swine flu outbreak made him think of Stephen King's The Stand (and said he was going to start blaring Blue Oyster Cult's Don't Fear The Reaper). I'm a huge Stephen King fan, so I can't believe I didn't think of the connection myself. If you're not familiar with The Stand, it's about a super flu that wipes out the majority of the population and leaves the survivors to choose between good and evil. I've read the book and seen the mini-series countless times. It's one of my favorite works by Stephen King. I'm not going to say that I believe this flu will mirror the events in Stephen King's story (I don't really think he's a prophet), but it does make you wonder what the world would be like in such extreme circumstances.
I don't want to be an alarmist so I'm trying to keep it in perspective. For a germophobe like me, that's pretty hard to do. There haven't been any reported cases in my state.....yet. Still, I can't help worrying about it, and for good reason. My husband works in a hospital (in a technical capacity, but still, there are sick people coming and going 24/7), my son and his girlfriend go to school with kids who recently came back from spring break in Mexico, and I know that some local families went to Mexico for Easter. Do I think every person who's been to Mexico recently was exposed to the Swine Flu? Of course not. I also know that the majority of the reported cases have not been fatal, but I'm still concerned.
In November, my daughter came down with the flu (non-swine variety) and it took her months to fully recover because she developed some severe side effects to the virus. She came very close to being hospitalized for dehydration and lost quite a bit of weight. She's thin to begin with, so it was scary. I don't want to go through that again with her or anyone else in my family. I don't want anyone, anywhere to go through it. It's miserable.
For now, the best any of us can do is to be cautious. Take care of those you love.
A Shout Out
On a lighter note, I want to give a shout out to Heidi of Tried and True Cooking With Heidi. I bought a huge can of refried beans at Sam's Club so I've been on the lookout for some good recipes. Last night I made the Soft Taco Burgers she had on her blog recently. They were excellent! I did make one small change, I used chipotle peppers in adobo sauce instead of green chilies because I had some I needed to use up.
Thanks, Heidi! Everyone loved them!
~~Note~~ If you haven't seen The Stand and you'd like to, you can watch it here. A word of warning, there is an annoying watermark across the screen. In my opinion, the mini-series was very true to the book. I encourage you to see it or read it if you haven't already.
I'll say it again, I love Stephen King and not because I'm really into the horror genre, but because he has amazing character development. By the time I finish one of his books, I really feel like I know and care about the characters. That's probably why I've read all of his books dozens of times. The Stand and It are my favorites, but for short stories you can't beat Dolan's Cadillac.
8 comments:
I live in California, but I'm not too worried. I wash my hands a lot anyway because of the baby, but I heard that wearing those surgical masks isn't very protective so I'm not gonna go there (you have to change them every few hours and they can actually act like a sponge and hold the virus onto the surface). The regular flu kills 35,000 people a year in the U.S., so the swine flu seems like small beans.
And on a happier note, I'll have to check out the book, thanks for the recommendation!
I am so glad that you liked the taco burgers. Did you have trouble with yours falling apart too? Oh well, the taste makes up for them falling apart on me. I'm excited that someone actually liked something I posted well enough to try it :) I to am worried about the flu. I have a little problem with worring to much. Last year my 2 girls and husband got the flu and was extrememly sick. It took my 7 year old a long time to recover because it brought her down so much she got strep, then couldn't get rid of it and they almost hospitalized her because she was getting dehydrated. They used so many antibiotics on her trying to get rid of the strep that she got C-Dif (all the good bacteria in her intestine and stomach were killed) and she still has mild trouble with that. NOT FUN. I'm terrified my 2 year old will get it and die because he has asthma. I keep trying to console myself because most people are easily recovering. I'm such a super-worry, lysol spraying, hand sanitizing momma.
The Stand has been the only book I've read by Stephen King. He gets into my head too much and I have nightmares (sound like a baby). Anway, I did read The Stand, and was mesmerized and couldn't put it down. My hubby read it also, and we were just talking about that book and what's going on in the real world. We know there is NO coorelation, however it makes you think about things abit.
As a fellow King fan, I'm ashamed to say that I didn't make the connection either! Mainly because I'm trying not to think about it too much...I'm so neurotic that I'll probably have a panic attack if I dwell...even though it's not here yet. I'm not a horror fan either...most of his books keep me awake for days...and not just because they are well written, either. One of my favorites is The Talisman...I don't know why exactly, but I could read it over and over again...not so much on The Black House, but you can't win them all!
I'm not a Stephen King fan (he scares me) but I want to thank you for turning me on to Heidi's blog. I saw many interesting recipes that I may like to try.
I am going to check out heidi's blog :) & the Swine flu is really freaking me out :(
I hope Lissaloo enjoyed my blog :). I left you an award on my site. I feel silly because I have been a fan of your posts and you were my first blog I started following and I didn't know your first name when I went to leave your award!
come by to pick up your award from me too!
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