Trying to move on...

We switched peds and it was the best thing ever. She had not a doubt what happened to Angelica. She did admit to me that when she put Angelica in the ambulance that night ot transfer that she never expected to see her again. She never thought she would be able to pull through. I knew she was pretty bad off when we transferred but I had no idea it was that bad.

We quickly came up to her vaccines once again and obviously I was very nervous but there were several factors leading to the decision to continue vaxing. I really didn't know it was a choice. It was certainly never presented as a choice. It was always made out to be as though they were mandatory. They weren't giving her the Pertussis vaccine so I figured it would be OK. Also, I had seven children. Not many people have large families and there is a llot of negativity towards them. Thougts that you can't care for that many and other stupid things. Also, DSS was still following us after we got out of the hospital. All I needed was for them to have something to hold against me. And lastly, I really had no support in case we did decide to buck the system.

So, I was a wreck. I had learned that the most dangerous window for a reaction is 72 hours (notice I said most dangerous window-later reactions are possible as I learned later) so I was crazy with worry and after she got them I could not sleep and I think she was in my arms for almost a week. But all was well. We weathered a storm and like after a hurricane, we were badly damaged but we will move on rebuild. In this case we needed to rebuild everything, her brain, her development, hers and our lives.

We also, finally, completed and got the results from the last blood test the neuro wanted to rule out any other disorders and, once again, it was negative. So, I started searching the internet about the vaccine compensation program. I felt that I needed to understand the program in order to find the right attorney.

I learned that it was created in 1986 as a result of the National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act. It was encaated in order to limit the financial liabilities of pharmaceutical companies from lawsuits resulting from vaccine injury claims (which were on the rise). It was designed to decided by Special Masters within the United States Court of Federal Claims. It was designed to be a no fault system, which means that nobody is at fault, not the doctors, parents, and most certainly not the pharmaceutical companies.

This all happened because in the 1980's there were so many severe reactions to vaccines, mainly the Pertussis, that lawsuits were going in the favor of the victims and the pharma companies were stopping production of some of the vaccines. The government feared outbreaks so they did this to protect the pharma companies so they would continue producing vaccines. They couldn't just put a stop to the lawsuits because people, mainly children, were really being injured and if compensation of some sort wasn't available, then people would stop vaxing by the masses.

So the Vaccine Court had a beginning. The Vaccine Injury Compensation Program is run under the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS, for short). Compensation is designed to cover all legal and medical expenses (legal is not a % of award but a seperate claim so victim does not pay or lose money at all), loss of future earnings, and a pain and suffering award of up to $250,000. In the event of death, the maximum award is $250,000. Of course all of this is for the victim, regardless of when the victim dies or how much you have already spent on the victims medical care.

Well, that will have to be enough for today.

Talk to everyone tomorrow.