Wednesday, August 6, 2014

Still in a strange place

I am feeling better in some ways, but very sad too- and like I am on the verge of tears much of the time. I'm not sure it is a bad thing. It will be if I get stuck here, but not if I can pass through it eventually.

This week I am desperately trying to get caught up on paperwork, but there are only so many hours I can stay at work. I did get some big things done but I am still behind. I think it is getting better. No, it is getting better. But it is taking so much of me that there isn't time for anything else- yet. When I get caught up- and I will- I think it will get better.

My IBS continues to be to be better- just some stomach pain occasionally, but no diarrhea. I am continuing to eat the modified diet. It is a pain sometimes- not so much when I cook but when I just want to grab something to eat out of the house- but it is doable.

My obsession right now is the Ebola virus and the Americans who have been brought back to the US and given the experimental serum. Will they live? Was this the right thing to do? Will we learn anything from this? You are supposed to do clinical trials with any new drug- you want to know how effective it is- and the only way to determine that is to give it to some and not to others. You need a control group. If we decide that the serum is helpful- no one will ever agree to be in a control group. You will never be able to do a clinical trial. If you believe in clinical trials- this should be very worrisome. And yet, it is very understandable what was done.

Supposedly the serum cannot be mass produced. Neither could penicillium, initially. If it works, they will they will eventually find a way to make larger quantities- if there is a financial incentive. A big if. The satire magazine "The Onion" had a great headline: Scientists Estimate Ebola Vaccine 50 White People Away.

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