Your kid has fever/diarrhea and you are up with them all night…. while they are snoozing in between episodes you can’t sleep… mentally listing all the foods they ate in the last 4-5 days, which might be suspect…. organizing the list of differentials in your head…. and determining how high E. coli O15:H7 is on it. Even though you logically know that the number of cases of O157:H7 is very, very small, compared to all the other potential causes.
Luckily this morning she is feeling much better. I’m trashed, but I don’t care- because she’s better.
Blue Lab Coats 
Bullshit! You know you are a microbiologist mom when you are motherfucking culturing the shit!!
C PP- Honey- It’s totally hilarious that you think that I HAVEN’T tried that. But since I don’t have a protocol for human subjects I probably shouldn’t be talking about it on the web. 🙂
And, I can’t even think of the biosafety implications.
well, I do that most of the times… especially last week when I turned sick and all the other people who ate the same food as I did, weren’t. I thought that was a bit strange… Glad to hear though, that little one is better!
So this is what I have to look forward too? I guess I’m not surprised. I’m already this way with my pets and yes, I’ve attempted culturing. 🙂
Now that I’ve worked with epidemiologists, I wish I had the discipline to track my kid’s food intake and friends’ absences from school, since most diseases onset period exceeds my memory abilities of 2 days or so.
My husband had a good laugh at me yesterday over something similar- A friend of mine (also a scientist) was over visiting with one of her sons. We were complaining to each other about the inevitable burst of illness that comes with the start of day care (which I’m facing for my second daughter in a few months). And then we were griping about the tummy bugs and how they are the worst. So I told her that we use Culturelle to help combat the tummy bugs and also to speed recovery after any course of antibiotics. She asked what it was, and I said “lactobacillus”, to which she replied “oh, hmm, maybe I’ll get some.”
And my husband cracked up because he thought it was ridiculous that the explanation I offered was just “lactobacillus”. Apparently he has to explain it a little further to his friends.
I drop a comment each time I appreciate a post on a site or I have something to add to the conversation. Usually it is triggered by the fire displayed in the post I browsed. And on this article Maison Atlanta Blog » How do you say Glamour? We say Dorya.. I was excited enough to leave a comment I actually do have 2 questions for you if you don’t mind. Is it simply me or do a few of the responses look like they are left by brain dead individuals? And, if you are posting at other online social sites, I’d like to follow you. Could you list every one of all your community pages like your Facebook page, twitter feed, or linkedin profile?