Well that is the last time I brush something off as media hype... (but probably not)

Alternately titled, "I survived H1N1 and all I have to show for it is this lousy blog post."

What a week. Last week all the norms of our house were broken. The tv stayed on for several hours a day, no one wore anything other than pajamas, orange juice consumption was at an alarming high (I even handed out some undiluted juice to the children... how about that?), Mommy didn't work, Daddy didn't go to school, Laundry piled past our heads, we cleaned out bottles of tylenol and Gabriella even took naps.

Saturday (10/10/09): I first started feeling ill late Saturday afternoon after a very normal and lovely trip to the pumpkin patch with some friends. During the day I had a bit of a dry cough and tight chest, but once we got home it just hit me like a ton of bricks. I was up that night shaking and shivering with a high fever and then sweating... this would become what the next three days would look like.

Sunday: Sunday was much the same. Shaking, sweating, aching, bemoaning the fact that I felt like I was dying, etc...

Monday: Monday morning Jonathan took Gabriella to her preschool class field trip (to another pumpkin patch) and when he got home he was not feeling so good. *Perhaps I should purpose a theory that pumpkins are a catalyst for swine flu. Anyhow, by Monday afternoon I was ridiculously sick. My muscles were exhausted from the shaking chills, I was dizzy, short of breath and felt awful. I called the advice nurse who forwarded me to the on call doctor. The on call doctor said I probably had pneumonia and that I should go to urgent care. As much fun as that waiting room sounded, I decided to stay home in my bed. Although, Jonathan said that at some point in the night I told him that I thought I should have gone in. I also said a lot of other things that made no sense. Mostly, I scared the bejeebers out of Jonathan by laying in bed shaking and sputtering absolute nonsense. Oh yeah, and vomiting. That was fun too.

Tuesday: Tuesday morning I went to the doctor. He asked a bunch of questions and announced that I had H1N1, Swine flu. He actually had a very nice movie-esque spiel for me. When the nurse came back in and I noticed that the nurse was now wearing a second mask over the mask that he was wearing when he first brought me in. He gingerly picked up the pen that I used on my patient questionnaire with his gloved hand and tossed in in the trash. I couldn't help but chuckle, but you know... I was wearing a mask myself so I could keep my bemused status to myself. I was swabbed for the flu (they confirmed the H1N1 diagnosis the next day), had blood drawn and went off to the hospital for a fun chest x-ray. Jonathan and I were both able to get on tamiflu (antiviral meds) right away, but I spent the rest of the afternoon on the phone trying to work out how to get a compounded liquid version of tamiflu for the girls (trust me, it was way more complicated and frustrating than it needed to be.) Gabriella was falling ill literally before my eyes. By Tuesday night Gabriella was 103 degrees and Jonathan was feeling pretty awful himself.

Wednesday: Juliana developed just a bit of a fever, Gabriella and I were still feeling awful and Jonathan's fever broke. We were finally able to start the girls on tamiflu Wednesday afternoon.

Thursday: Jonathan was feeling much better, still tired. Gabriella was still at 102 and was a couch fixture. Juliana felt fine and I felt a bit better, but was still running a fever.

Friday: I woke up and my fever seemed to have broken. The kids had a touch of fever and Juliana was a cranky pants, but otherwise it seemed we were all close to getting over it. Then my doctor's office called. My strep culture came back positive. I actually laughed at the nurse. She called in antibiotics for me and told me to continue to stay out of public circulation for awhile. I called the pediatrician to make sure the kids didn't have untreated strep. Their office was booked, but we got an appointment at another location so we schlepped all four of us across town for strep swabs for the children. The children were given giant masks that covered their entire face. Juliana's covered her eyes and so she refused to keep it on. Gabriella decided to wear Juliana's mask as a hat. I really wish I knew how to get that picture off of my phone. Anyhow, we were ushered out the back door of the across town ped's office and then Jonathan had to head over for his very own strep test. I started on gianormous antibiotic horse pills four times a day that I'm not supposed to take during meals. Fortunately, everyone else was free and clear of strep.

Saturday: By this point we were all feeling more or less better, but Saturday night Gabriella and I STILL had a bit of low grade fever.

So there you have it, we lived and we're now allowed to circulate amongst the general population. It wasn't much fun though. I don't remember ever feeling so sick and Jonathan (who had the tamiflu reduced version) said the only thing he could think of that might compare was the intestinal virus that landed him on the hospital in junior high. I'm so thankful Gabriella made it through so well and I'm even thankful for the cold she caught earlier this fall that caused a severe asthma attack and prompted us to put her on daily inhaled steroids along with her oral asthma medication. I think those two things plus the tamiflu kept her from having more serious lung involvement.

Now, go get yourselves vaccinated.

Dodging the flu... and DHS.

The other day I took the girls into the peds office to get the flu shot. The plain old regular (preservative-free version) flu shot. I'm a little cold and flu nervous this year. Not because of media-hype, but because of Gabriella's lungs. A little cold can turn into pneumonia so quickly for her and watching your child gasp for breath... well, it makes me a little teary just thinking about it to be honest.

So we get the girls into the exam room and Gabriella, who had been pretty worried about this shot situation, went into complete hysterics. It took Jonathan and I to hold her down while the nurse gave her the one tiny poke. When Gabriella was done I looked over at Juliana to see how she had fared watching her sister through what must have appeared to be an excruciating, horrendous ordeal. Juliana was sitting quite unphased, in a chair by herself and she had managed to pull one pant leg all the way up and was holding it up, ready and waiting for her own shot in the thigh. That girl will do anything if she thinks it makes her a big girl. And let me tell you, she took that shot with only one little grimmace.

Gabriella, on the other hand, limped pathetically down the hall and told me she needed to use the bathroom. I went in with her, while Jonathan and Juliana waited outside. Once in the stall Gabriella resumed sobbing about her shot. She wailed, "I don't like shots! I don't want anymore shots! I just don't want to get hurt anymore!" We emerged from the bathroom and Jonathan gave me a funny look and asked if a red haired woman had been in the bathroom with us. I said that I thought a lady had gone in right ahead of us and asked why. Apparently, the red headed woman had come out of the bathroom ahead of us and told her companion who had been waiting for her, "There was a little girl in there that was just sobbing and sobbing! I think she told her mother that she didn't want to get hit anymore!" So... umm... if child protective services comes knocking on my door... You'll all help me clear that one up, right?

(This photo is from last week, but I figured I'd throw it in. I love these blue flowers. So vibrant... and this photo has very very little processing and no color alterations. Too bad Gabriella threw on her "I don't really like pictures" face. Sigh... I hope I'm not painting her as an uncooperative child, but she draws lines with pictures and shots. and dogs... but that is another story)