Have I had a Meningitis Shot? **EDITED

Those were the words my DD asked me last night when she called ..4 days after I'd last heard from her. WHAT?? She said she was on her way to the hospital since she had shared a water bottle with a girl that was now in the ICU with Bacterial Meningitis. OMG!!

Lets just say that the next few hours were a blur as I waited to hear back from her. I questioned myself a thousand times whether I should make the trip to the hospital but she assured me she had a room full of friends with her and so I waited by the phone.

As far as we know she is OK. They gave her an antibiotic and told her to come back if she had any symptoms. A boy that had also been with the girl had to have a spinal tap and we don't know the results yet. There was a small article in the paper this morning but unless you were looking for it you might have missed it.

The thing that amazes me is that they asked everyone that had been in contact with the girl to come forward and be tested or get a preventative treatment...but they didn't give the girls name. I'm sure that the information has spread to the entire student body by now but you would think they would give the name if they expected people to know who they should be concerned about being around. I understand HIPPA , I work for the State of Florida & the Department of Health for goodness sake, but you would think they would worry about the health of the students before worrying so much about the privacy of the girl. Maybe I'm wrong and would feel differently if I was THE girls parents, but I'd also be very upset if something happened to my child because they remained silent and we didn't know she was possibly in danger.

Anyway....how was your Saturday night?

WAY TO GO BULLS......they just showed them ranked at number 18 so we broke the Top 20!!!! Plus the Bucs won again..!!!!! Speaking of which..I'm missing the NASCAR race so will say bye for now.

Don't forget to keep my family (& the families of all the kids involved in the meningitis scare) in your thoughts and prayers over the next few days. It couldn't hurt.

Til later.................

*****We learned alittle after 6pm that the girl has died. Please keep her family in your prayers. I can't imagine what they are going through. As you can imagine my DD is very upset. Three days ago they were laughing and sharing a bottle of water. Tonight one of them is gone and the other one has faced a reality that no one should have to face so young.***9/24/07 the news was still reporting her as alive until 10am this morning when they finally confirmed it. According to my DD she was on life support while they tested her organs to see if she could be a donor. I'm not sure if they found she could be but she did pass away yesterday afternoon as my DD had told us. Thank you for your prayers and thoughts so far. ****