I loved Dr. Sears book, The Vaccine Book. He has an alternative and selective schedule for vaccinations. (both of which we will be altering and using for the decisions we have made in regards to all the vaccines) I have written up a summary of some of my notes that I have been taking down while doing this research over the past year. If you want details on what I have found, click
HERE. But a few big things I have learned:
1) As parents, we have the responsibility and RIGHT to make the best decisions for our children. We cannot do that if we are uneducated and uninformed. I have come to realize and witness that doctors do not know the answers to the questions when it comes to vaccines. They are trained in how to treat the diseases and that starts by giving the shots. They trust the people that did the research on them, but don't know themselves what the ingredients are or how safe the side effects are. No matter what your decision about vaccination is, I HIGHLY recommend that every parent research and read up on the particulars....learn about what the disease is, what the vaccine is made up of, and what warning signs to look for. I gave two links to my favorite books in my summary page above.
2) One of the main things I learned is this: THERE ARE SOMETIMES SEVERAL VACCINE BRANDS TO CHOOSE FROM. This can make a HUGE difference when giving your child vaccines, especially if you do more than one or two at a time. Some brands do not contain the controversial and harmful things such as high Aluminum levels and animal-human contamination. MOST of the time your doctor will be giving what they have the best supply of or what they are using as a trial or what was the cheapest. Do the research and request the kind you WANT....it is safer all around! (don't use combo shots...in my opinion)
3) If you don't mind an extra trip to the doctor's office between well child checks...space your child's vaccinations out so they are only receiving ONE aluminum containing shot at a time and limiting the number of shots and amount of chemicals being put into the immune system at one time.
Learn as much as you can, be confident in your decisions and remember that any doctor that isn't willing to hear your concerns, discuss them and work out alternative options that satisfy you and protect your children...well you need a new doctor. Dr. Sears website,
www.thevaccinebook.com has a neat link that shows vaccine friendly docs for each state that he knows about.
www.cogforlife.org also lists updated vaccine info on its site to keep people aware of changes taking place. This has been a long and big decision process for us....but we have learned so much and feel so much more in control about the healthy decisions being made, scares me when I think of how I was at first with Angelica and just took the docs orders and recommendations and trusted that they knew best! I am still looking and hoping that Parenting Instruction Book falls into my lap and gives me all the answers!
I have been waiting until I had more information to pass along, but we are asking everyone to please add to your prayer lists my mother-in-law, Mary Hartsell. A few weeks ago she was diagnosed with breast cancer, infiltrating duct carcinoma. She had found the lump herself and had a biopsy done. The doctor thinks he got the whole thing but the margin of healthy and cancer cells is so small that he will be taking more tissue out. Mom also just got the results of her MRI and it showed two spots, one in each breast. So she will be having more tests done soon to determine if these spots are false positives or cancer. Depending on those results will determine which course of action with the surgery that they will take. When the doctor does the surgery he will also do the tests to see if the lymph nodes have been affected at all. We of course are hoping for the minimal invasive treatment possible, just some more surgery and the cancer meds would be nice....but depending on results she might have to have radiation, chemo, mastectomy...some or all above. Mom sounds very positive and kept telling me that everything is in God's hands and plan. She is a strong woman and I know with all of our prayers and support, she will get through this hard time. We will keep you posted and thank you so much for adding her to your prayers, can never have too many of those!!
