[Marlene]

This is such a personal decision and we've chosen not to get them. None of John's doc push the flu vaccines for him. Partly because of the nerve issues he has, another reason being that these still contain mercury and since SAA is an "autoimmune" disease, the vaccine can be a trigger for it. Hid doc at Hopkins feels his immune system can fight any cold or flu as well as someone who has not had SAA.

Our strategy over the past years involve lots of hand washing, getting rest, maintaining good eating habit (sugar is no friend to the immune system), lots of vitamin c and this year, we'll make sure that his vitamin D levels are at an optimal level. If we catch a virus, we add in elderberry syrup, which lessens the length and severity of viruses, extra vitamin C and some highly anti-viral essential oils.

John has had the flu twice in 7 years and has done very well in that it never settled in his chest. I think by upping his vitamin D, which we learned he was deficient in the past 7 years, will go a long way to protect him. The odd thing is that when his ANC was at its lowest, he never even caught a cold and he had a very low WBC for the first 3 years after treatment. Go figure.

I know many do well with the shots and get them every year. From everything you hear about the swine flu, it appears to be milder than the regular seasonal flu, especially for those of us over 50.

Marlene