Swine Flu Thoughts

Last Thursday Rose woke-up with a fever of 103. She had been completely fine the night before. In fact, I was just thinking that our family has been so healthy this year. HA!

She was burning up, even with Ibuprofen and Tylenol I could only get her fever down to 101.6 degrees and she complained of a sore throat. I ended up taking her to the Dr. that afternoon. Usually it is my policy to wait 24 hours after a fever to take them in but she had me extremely worried. Mainly because she had been so normal, happily playing without any symptoms the night before.

It was such a good thing I did. Even though at the office they only said it was likely she had a virus. They ended testing her for H1N1 and the next afternoon we got the results. Which was good because I was very, very frightened for Rose. She quickly slipped into being worse that night. She started throwing up and having diarrhea. Rose didn't want to drink anything and just a few teaspoons of liquid would make her throw-up. I was giving her water by drops. She also wanted to be held constantly and gently caressed. My kids usually want to be held and comforted when they are sick, but this was really, literally, constant.

I spent the whole night holding her and most of it upright so she could breathe. This night was so long and painful. Mostly painful emotionally. Ken was in California for a work conference. When I told him about Rose's condition he tried to take an early flight home right away. The only problem was that there had been bad weather in San Francisco the past two days and airlines had been canceling flights left and right, and on Thursday it was the worst--it was a white-out and there were no flights available for him to come home early.

Friday, Rose felt a little better for a couple of hours, but mostly she still felt miserable. After the Dr. called with the results from the test, she and the rest of the kids were put on Tamiflu. Ken and I tried to get some from our Dr's but Ken's won't prescribe it to anyone regardless if they are sick or not if you are between the ages of 5-65 and mine wanted me to go to the Urgent Care.

Friday I started feeling not so great, but I figured it was just because I hadn't gotten very much sleep. By the afternoon I was coughing, which is why mine wanted me to be seen. By 5 pm I had a fever and was wiped out in bed--the swine flu hit me in full force. I spent the next 48 hours with a fever of 103, shivering, aching, and coughing in bed. Thankfully Ken's much delayed flight got him home to us just a few hours after my fever hit.

We are okay now (it's been one week since Rose got the first fever), but still recovering. Basically we have no fever, we are still extremely weak, tired, and without much of an appetite. The swine flu has thrown off our whole household, our house is a mess, our schedules are messed up, my back was totally thrown out, etc. Ken and the boys got a much milder form of the flu because they were on Tamiflu. They had a very low grade fever (100 degrees) and a milder cough but are okay to go back to school tomorrow.

Here are some of my thoughts when I was sick:

My Parents- We have truly been so blessed to have my parents nearby to help my family during this whole ordeal. They were a constant support while Ken was out of town. Taking the boys back and forth from school, making us meals, taking Ginger out so I could care for Rose, checking on us, cleaning my kitchen, cleaning my bedroom, watching the kids, picking up medicines and groceries, etc.

I'm not talking about picking up a little something I needed from the store...I just wrote them a check for $380 to reimburse them for all the shopping. They must have made 4-5 trips to the store for us. I don't know how we would have survived without their help. Even when Ken came home, they came to our home and took care of the kids so Ken could take me to the Dr and take care of me.

The thing I love about my parents is that they don't ask if you need anything (ok they do ask too). But they just do what you need. Does that make sense? They just help where they see that we need help. And with the way I was feeling, that is a really good thing, because I wasn't very coherent.

Vaccinations-Before this experience we probably would have gotten vaccinated. The past 5 years we have gotten the flu shot or flumist, when the H1N1 vaccine came out we just kind of spaced it though (it was the middle of soccer season) and I never took the time to take us in. I keep hearing reports how it isn't that bad, etc. Personally, our swine flu experience was WAY, WAY worse then any flu we have ever had.

I wish we had been vaccinated. It was hard to see my child so sick and weak with something I could have easily protected her from. It was also very frightening to see and feel in very good health, only to have your body ravaged with illness in just a few hours.

Tamiflu I LUV U- Whoever invented this drug is a miracle worker to me. It was amazing how quickly you start to feel better on this! Within just a few hours my fever finally started going down. After two doses by body aches were gone. It's amazing how no one else really got very ill in our family! Ken and I always talk about what it would mean to love a company enough to invest in in individually instead of like mutual funds. Well, this would be our winner!!!

There was also a bonus of finding out our insurance plan must be pretty great! Our pediatrician was warning me that it could be pricey (over $100 per person) to put all of us it, and before I knew how well it worked we were just going to buy the girls prescriptions. Turns out our insurance only charges us $25 per person co-pay. I would have to say Tamiflu would be well-worth the $$$ even if we had lame health insurance though.

Ken- I was devastated that he couldn't come home early. This wasn't the first time he has been on a business trip when we were sick, but it kind of felt like that. It's just that it was so sudden and unexpected and so very severe.

I am so glad he was able to get home to me. He took care of me so much. He spent hours and hours rubbing my aching body, putting lotion on my hands and feet, holding me, warming me up, then cooling me down, getting me dressed, helping my clean-up. He literally spent all of his time either taking care of the kids or making me more comfortable in whatever way he could. Even though I am feeling better he has still been taking care of the all the kids needs, and having me take naps and rest.

This was the first time in our marriage when I have been sick where I suggested he might want to sleep in another room, mainly because I would not wish this on my worst enemy let alone the man I love. But he totally and completely refused. I love that about him-- he never leaves my side when I am sick!

My Boys- So they have spent the past week kind of in a fog of reading books, watching TV, and playing video games. They have been pretty happy about that. But they also helped me a ton when Rose first got sick. They fetched me drinks, blankets, books, toys, whatever I asked of them they did pretty cheerfully. The thing that impressed me the most is that when their sister would throw-up they immediately ran and got towels and cleaned it all up for me. They did this a couple of times. They also took care of Ginger and kept her entertained.

Ginger- This little girl was pretty helpful too. 6 days later when she is hardly sick, her sister, Rose asked Ginger to bring her, her blanket from downstairs. Ginger said, "Okay, Rose I'll go get you blankie!" Then ran down the stairs and brought it to her older sister.

I feel bad for Ginger though, she has been a trooper through this and hasn't gotten much attention so she has been coming and spending extra time with us after all the rest of the siblings are asleep.

Rose- She has really grown-up. She tried to be strong when she was so sick. I was really proud of her. I was happy that she felt some measure of comfort in my arms or at least that she wanted them around her the whole time.

However, doesn't nursing her for 2 days straight grant me extra hugs and kisses now that she is well??? Instead, I'm having to beg for it. Seriously, I love that I can take care of my babies when they aren't feeling well or having a bad day or whatever. I love being their mom! But, at least give me some sugar too!!!

Friends- I dreaded calling and telling the 4 families we had contact with on Thursday about the swine flu. It was ridiculous the amount of people we could have infected. Me and all of the kids had stayed up until 11pm finishing science fair projects the night before. So I let Rose sleep in and didn't discover her fever until 10am. But by that time I already had 4 kids over at my home. I was watching two because their mom was out of town for a funeral and their dad dropped them off at 7am, and 2 for pre-school. Thankfully every family had already gotten (they think) it or they had been vaccinated. Even so they were all very sweet and caring towards my family.

Also, I received so many nice offers of help from so many friends. I truly felt blessed to have so many people care about my family.