Sailor Dad

Recently, I was informed of a significant schedule change at work. As bad as it was before (missing Halloween and my wife’s birthday) now it’s worse since I’m not going to be home for Thanksgiving either now. Where I’m going is not nearly as important as the fact that I’m missing the bulk of the holidays with my family until the end of the year. At this point, I’m beginning to wonder if I’ll even be home for Christmas. I used to think that skipping the surge deployment earlier in the year was a blessing, but since that time I’ve been away from my family more and more.

As I told me wife the other day, “At least I’m not on deployment…” She responded with, “You go away so often, it might as well be a deployment.” And she’s right. In April we left to go to Panama for escort duties; that trip took about a month and a half. Then in June we left again, this time for two months, in order to float around Hawaii for a multi-national exercise. September consisted of a few days each week spent out to sea for training. Earlier this month we went to San Francisco, and now I’m looking at a schedule that will keep me away from home for another month or so more.

If the current trend continues at work, I’ll either end up smoking again or having a heart attack, or both.

Yesterday, we received a notice from my daughter’s school that there was a child who was diagnosed with Whooping Cough and that we should be cautioned about our daughter’s health. It featured the symptoms and guidance if we suspected that our daughter had come down with the illness. Today, as I was surfing the internet, I found a local news story with a bit more information.

From: http://www.nbcsandiego.com/news/17609283/detail.html?rss=dgo&psp=news

A 9-year-old student at Fletcher Hills Elementary School got sick, despite being immunized against the disease.

I was then relieved that since my daughter has no interaction with the student in question, she has a low probability of contracting the illness. The last thing I need in my house is a child with Whooping Cough.

In other news, about two weeks ago, I was exposed to someone who was diagnosed with Meningitis. Of course, while stationed on a Naval Destroyer, quarters are close and that gives the best reason for concern in regards to spreading a dangerous disease. Initially I was concerned primarily with the opportunity of spreading the illness to my wife and/or unborn child, but reassurance from a Kaiser nurse relieved my concern.

As for me and my family, I’ll be siding with the option of immunizations for my children, regardless of their effectiveness. As it has been said, “It is better to act cautiously beforehand than to suffer afterward.”