Our General Store…Veggies..H1N1 teasting
Before I discuss our General Store stocking for this week I need to pass along some disturbing information. This is really no surprise to me as I have told you recently that many communities have stopped testing for the H1N1 flu. Did you know that even those who have been tested are often mis-diagnosed?
Forty-five-year-old Francine Rushton went to Jordan Valley Hospital with flu symptoms three times and tested negative three times.
“Being sent home three times, and bed rest and fluids, is what killed my sister. If she would have somehow got treatment, I think she would have survived,” said her brother, Craig Whitehead.
Health officials say testing for flu is only about 70 percent reliable. There’s a substantial chance it will give the wrong answer.
Whitehead told KSL there were other clues doctors should have considered. Her condition continued to decline over time, and she was the caregiver for her own mother who did test positive for flu and was successfully treated with Tamiflu medicine.
Whitehead says he’s learned a hard lesson: “If you really do have this virus, you really do need Tamiflu.”
Eventually a test did confirm Rushton had the flu, and a lab in Atlanta confirmed it was swine flu. By then her body was giving out.
http://www.ksl.com/?nid=148&sid=6815361
AND
The latest information from the World Health Organisation, supported by the US Food and Drug Administration, suggests the newly developed rRT-PCR “rapid” testing method gives only a “presumptive positive” rather than a “definitive positive” result for H1N1 influenza.
According to reports from both organisations, the test can also provide a “false negative” result in cases where the patient actually has the virus. PCR testing is the global benchmark used to identify viruses and is endorsed by the WHO.
In April, the FDA issued an emergency use authorisation to allow a “rapid” form of the method to be rushed to laboratories across the US to combat a potential swine flu epidemic, even though the method had not been fully developed or obtained approval.
http://www.smh.com.au/national/swine-flu-test-results-are-unreliable-who-warns-20090610-c2dl.html
This is just more proof to me that we need to take responsibility for our own family, their healthcare and safety. Quarantine to protect against the flu, is still the best option when we use it as soon as we feel there is a danger. I am hoping you are sharing the information you have received with everyone you know. I know they may think you are a nut but I welcome you into that boat with me. When I began posting and writing magazine articles in November about the threat of a pandemic, most people thought I was nuts too. Please just ignore your critics and listen to that inner voice prodding you to continue.
Now, if we are going to be prepared to spend a month or two without grocery and drug stores, and quarantined, we need to keep stocking our General Store. This week we are adding more veggies. I know right now you are looking at your shelves and thinking you have plenty but, if you can no longer supplement with fresh, those cans will be gone in no time. We are adding 10 (14oz.) cans of vegetables per family member this week. If you prefer frozen, (1) 16 oz. bag of frozen equals two 14 oz.cans.
If you are just joining us or have fallen behind, catch up as items go on sale. As of today our General Store is stocked with the following:
Fruit: 10 (14oz.) cans fruit —6 (64 oz.) bottles of 100% fruit juice
Vegetables: 30 (14 oz.) cans vegetables(after this week)
Protein: 10 lbs. protein
Grains: 12 lbs. grains
Dairy: 4 pounds cheese
6 cans soup (for eating or as an ingredient and some chicken noodle for those who are ill)
6 desserts (your choice)—herbal tea and ginger ale—2 boxes jello, and Baking supplies
Remember all these numbers should be multiplied by the number of people in your family. As an example, for a family of four you would have stored 8 boxes of jello and 24 cans of soup.Our goal, for anyone new, is a three month supply of the foods we normally eat, completed in 52 weeks, next February. To get a more specific idea of what to store in each category, what qualifies as a grain, for example, consult your Mother Hubbard: What She’s Doing Now ebook or go back through our Monday posts, a detailed explanation will appear in the first issue of our newsletter. If you have not already done so subscribe today!
Keep Moving Forward!
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Something I would highly recommended that people check into learning and doing is pressure canning. We just purchased our first pressure canner and this past weekend I canned 5 lbs of green beans that I picked up at the farmers’ market. (The previous weekend I canned homemade chicken stock)
Pressure canning is far easier than I had imagined. Simply follow the directions in the manual. There are also several really good youtube videos showing you how to do it.
If you can’t afford to purchase a pressure canner, ask around. There might be someone willing to share theirs and/or give you lessons.
The canning season is just beginning here in my area of the South. They say corn will be available next weekend. And I’m hoping for more green beans since it’s a family favourite.
I just wanted you to know that I NEVER considered you a nut… I have been reading your stuff since Novemeber and are extreemly greatful!
I find it outragous that, even in my ward, people almost roll their eyes at you if you talk about pandemics… I want to shake them and ask”Have you seen the churches web sight, have you read the scriptures, listened to the prophet????” argg… anywho.. thank you for your voice of reason!
I cannot believe they sent her home with no Tamiflu – what reasoning could they possibly have in not giving it to her… .then she died.. 45 years old… That is crazy and scary!!
My son is flying into SLC this weekend. Any suggestions? He will not wear a mask – I’ve begged. He said he will Clorox wipe down the seat area and be careful to not touch his face with his hands and will not eat anything. Wash his hands as soon as he is off the plane. It makes me really scared that he will be flying there anc back to Boise – then to Idaho Falls the following week. He is 14 years old and it makes me scared when doctors are idiots and not giving the medicine out. Arrrgh!
I’ve joined the “nut” club along time ago.. It is amazing how many people refuse to take this pandemic seriously. I guess we’ll be safe and keep blowing the horn of warning to those who will listen and prepare.
Thanks for the good information.
Two questions:
Would you do an article discussing the issues of self-quarantining your family when one family must go out to work, either because you are voluntarily quarantining and the worker’s employer isn’t going to let them just work from home for a few months because they’re scared of flu, or because they are in a critical services role. How do you best protect that person and the rest of the family in that instance?
Also, you say we’re on track to have our 3 month storage by February. If I want to speed that up so I’m more prepared by the second wave of the flu (which would hit in the August-September time frame if it follows the 1918 pattern, or by October if it waits till normal flu season to reach second wave levels), how many months of food would I have stored if I either:
1. doubled up on all the weekly assignment food amounts starting now
or
2. (harder) went back and doubled everything that has already been assigned and stored?
By the way, I have ordered your Mother Hubbard and other ebook, and perhaps they will answer this question when I receive them.