It happened. The Ebola virus finally came to the United States and ended up in Dallas of all places, right in my backyard. Of course, we shouldn’t be surprised, seeing as the DFW area is a major hub for internationals coming from all over the world, including West Africa.

It was just a matter of time.

I’m a little worried, I’ll admit. Because I’m a worrier, it’s what I do, and it’s something I have to war against every day. So yes, I don’t love that there is a patient with Ebola 30 minutes from my house.

But y’all, we all need to take a deep breath {sigh} and keep things in perspective. The first thing you need to understand:

The media’s number one job is to sell newspapers/get TV ratings so they can sell commercials. Their main job is not just to keep me informed, make me feel better, help me to keep things in perspective. They want me to watch their station instead of that old West Wing rerun on Netflix.

The other thing you need to understand:

Every hospital, government organization, and politician has a public relations person who is employed to help his or her boss get media coverage. It’s what I did for 10 years. Was there an ice storm? I pitched a story about ice-storm related baby booms. West Nile Virus? I found an infectious disease physician to conduct TV interviews. Major Texas heat wave? I pitched stories about how to recognize symptoms of a heat stroke and hosted reporters in our ER.  Ebola? PR PROFESSIONALS ARE BRAINSTORMING WAYS FOR THEIR HOSPITAL/DOCTOR/COUNTY JUDGE/GOVERNOR TO GET A PIECE OF THE PUBLICITY PIE.

This combination of reporters who are HUNGRY for Ebola stories and PR folks like me who are happy to feed them stories means that there will be STORY AFTER STORY AFTER STORY this week about Ebola. Every single angle will be covered. No stone will be left unturned. Fear will be spread and spread and SPREAD.

It is going to make people nervous wrecks because it will be all we think about. Unless you understand what (and who) is feeding this frenzy. It’s just folks who are trying to do their jobs and support their families. They’re not bad people. But with 24/7 news coverage,there will be speculation, misinformation, and missed context.  There will be people who mean well but misspeak. Know this.

Instead of getting scared, get cynical. We have had one person diagnosed with Ebola, and 23,000+ people will die from complications of influenza this year. Which one brings better ratings?

As for me, I’m going to choose to turn most of this coverage off and go back to my reruns of West Wing and my copy of Gone Girl on audio book. And take a big, deep breath.

(PS – For a great article with basic, non-scary facts from an infectious disease physician, check out this article from a fellow Fort Worth Mom Blogger).

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In the past 12 months, as a family we have experienced:

• Mr. Right had a major bicycle accident, which included a fractured bone and a major injury to his hip that almost required extensive surgery (translation: ER visit + multiple orthopedic surgeon visits).
• I had a pregnancy-related blood-pressure scare that translated to an evening in the hospital and a week on bed rest.
• WE HAD A BABY. (Yea! But that also means hospital stay + 8 million doctor appointments/vaccinations)
• Wrenn and I had Hand, Foot, and Mouth Disease (most glamorous week of my life).
• Wrenn and I had RSV.
• I got tendonitis in my wrist.
• I got a benign tumor in my back.
• Mr. Right and I had the stomach bug.
• Mr. Right had another stress fracture in his foot.
• I had an ear infection so severe I spent a weekend doped up on major pain medicine and the ear drum eventually ruptured.

Each time you read these, I want you to hear “Cha-Ching!” in your head. Because that’s the cost of doctor visits, hospital visits, prescriptions, shots… not to mention stress, trying to quarantine one or both parents from our baby girl, sleepless nights, trying to juggle childcare duties…

It’s been quite a year. No wonder I’m so tired.

Let’s add one more to the list – Mr. Right got shingles last week. On his face. Actually, on his eye and cheek. We started out thinking he had an allergic reaction to something, but I’m so thankful that Mr. Right followed that “something’s not right” gut feeling he had (he NEVER has that). Turns out that shingles on your eye is, like, the WORST PLACE TO GET IT, but thankfully we caught it within a few hours of it appearing. Two ER visits + two doctor visits + one week on quarantine to protect Wrenn from catching the chicken pox virus+ one trip to the store to buy Lysol wipes and hand sanitizer to wipe down everything in our house + a lot of pain and suffering by Mr. Right.

So yeah, it hasn’t been our best week.

But in my tendency to remember all of the random sickness/injuries we’ve faced in the last year, as I look over that list, I’m reminded of God’s grace, his healing, and his answered prayers.

• Doctors told us surgery on Mr. Right’s hip was inevitable – his type of injury never improves on its own. We prayed like crazy people, and six weeks later, his hip had improved enough to avoid surgery. Praise the Lord.
• My pregnancy blood-pressure spike was a one-time thing, and we had a healthy baby girl just a week later. That was just one of SO MANY MIRACLES we experienced during that very difficult pregnancy.
• Wrenn had RSV, but she had a mild case, and never experienced the complications that make so many babies so very sick.
• My tendonitis was treated with just a steroid shot, and my back tumor was benign and probably will never require surgery.
• Mr. Right’s shingles never spread to his eyeball, which is very, very good news.

It’s easy to see all of the difficulties of the past year, but in retrospect, I see so much goodness. So many little miracles… reminders that God is our healer and our protector, and he is worthy to be praised regardless of our circumstances.