Tuesday, October 20, 2009

Swine Flu

Annie has been sick the last 5 or 6 days. It has been the most pleasant illness we have ever experienced with her. Usually when she is sick she refuses to walk and insists on laying on me and moaning the entire time. While there have been dramatic hours like this during this stint, most of the time she has been a pleasure to have around.

I think she has a mild case of the Swine Flu, though I haven't needed to take her to the doctor to confirm. It has been making the rounds and she has all the symptoms, though they are mild. One of our carpool friend got the same symptoms the day after Annie's fever started. Her parents took her to the ER one night because she was having trouble breathing. The doc said it was Swine Flue and gave her medicine. She is doing much better.

I am hoping that this really is the Swine Flu and it has hit us softly. None of my other kids have shown any signs of sickness yet. I guess we will wait and see. And Ann Marie is fever free today and will be back at school tomorrow. I will miss her. She is wonderful to have around. She is the best cleaner helper for me and the most fun play mate for Lauren.

We love you Ann Marie and we are glad you are feeling better!

20 comments:

Rhonda said...

Lucky! I have 6 kids and 5 have had the flu, prob swine. Two got better w/o medical attention and the other three are still very, very ill. We've been to the Dr's office twice, ER, have two of them doped up on steroids (max dose) and still....no sleep, just coughing and struggling to breathe. We're going on 5 days for these two now. UGH!

I'm glad it's looking mild at your place. I hope nobody else gets it! It sure can be ugly!

Carolyn said...

Oh man! I do hope you guys don't get it hard! I had it the worst at our house. And it was the pits! Maybe because I'm pregnant too. I took tamiflu and that really helped. Get better soon Annie!

Katie said...

They say if you get Swine Flu from someone, you'll get it within 24 hours. So that would be why the girl in your car pool got it soon after. If none of your other kids have it, they probably won't get it from her. :)

Anonymous said...

You really shouldn't send her to school unless you know she is better, you would hate to spread Swine Flu!!!

Anonymous said...

Before returning Anne Marie to school, shouldn't you take her to the doctor and confirm if she does or does not have the swine flu that way she does not go back to school and spread it to her class mates?

Also, given the fact that she did have a fever the past few days, why did you let her go to church and expose the other kids to whatever she has...whether that is the swine flu or any other flu?


This flu season has been the worse we have ever seen, and we should all do what we can to not spread it around.
Taking precauations wherever posssible.

I know many children that have been spent many nights in the hospital due to the flu this year...

Anonymous said...

regardless of how mild it is if you thik it is swime fle you should take her to the doctor. My ped had made it VERY clear to take my kids in at ANY sign. GOOD LUCK!

Stephanie Waite said...

Dear Anons,
Let me address a few of your concerns. I went to the CDC website to check out what to do. I am following their guidelines. I kept her out of school all the days she had a fever. She has been fever free for about 24 hours now but I kept her home today just to be on the safe side. I will be sending her back tomorrow.

As for church - that was a tough call. It was the primary program and Annie had worked hard to memorize her part. She had no other symptoms other than a low fever that was gone with ibuprofin. So I took her but kept her with me in the pew not up with the kids during sacrament. I sanitized her hands several times during the meeting and only sent her up to say her part and come back to me. She did not go to Primary.

As for whether or not to take her to the Dr. -- If I took my kids to the Dr. every time they had a fever I would live there. If she had had a hard time breathing at any point I would have taken her in. But really this has been a very mild sickness. As long as she has had tylenol or IB in her she felt fine.

loves,
stephanie

Anonymous said...

I also disagree with taking her to church.

Regaurdless of having her fever gone with ibuprofin she was still sick, and risking others around her for swine flu. We go to church with infants and expect it to be safe, it is a shame that on a nursery door there has to be a flyer about not bringing your kids with a fever and runny nose. That parents bring sick kids to church that they don't even send to school. Your daughter would have been sad for a little while about not getting to do her part, but would have gotten over it. And you could have chosen a good FHE where she got to pick songs from the program and do her part for your family. With planning and imagination, you could have made it HER special FHE and she would have realized she could always do a part next year in church. Or you could have asked her to be able to do a talk in sacrament when she was better if she got hung up about Sacrament.

Take precautions... maybe for everyone around you as much as your family.

What a sensitive subject this is, because how many of us have had well children, take them to church and have them get ill because of some other child who was on the tail end of whatever they had.
I never take any of my children to church if they even have an inkling of anything, I do it because I have had my kids get very very sick from something that was no big deal for another mom & her kids.

It seems sad that church in the fall is a place mothers like me fear because of the sickness that passes that way. When you have an infant (I do) it is scary to think that they can get RSV from someones cold, or that the Surgeon General said that this flu season people could die, and mothers are being careless and bring their sick families to church.

No one gets a free pass on this one. No matter what the reason.

Rach said...

I've had 10 children in my fifth grad out with H1N1. Some of them missed only two days, some more than a week. It seems to affect everyone differently.

Here's hoping your darling is in the first group and this is over and done with quickly.

HUGS!

Amanda said...

I hope she's feeling better soon and that none of the rest of you get sick!

Alisha said...

I won't be anon for this comment. You probably shouldn't have taken her to church...it is great that she has such a strong immune system but the baby or elderly she might have come in contact with might not have such a strong immune system. However I doubt she has swine flu...especially as you said she stayed home from school and was your 'helper'..I bet it was just some flu strain. I also agree with you...that you don't need to take your children to the doctor for every fever. Typically they will just tell you to keep the child comfortable, give em Tylenol and it will work itself out. I think the anon comments were a little bitter (if you will) on your post because (and this could just be me) but it came across as if you were somewhat bragging (again this could just be me) and I am aware that people may yell at me for this comment...thus the reason the other people comment anonymously...but I will just take my chances =) Just my thoughts...glad she is better!

Stephanie Waite said...

Alisha,
Thanks for not being Anon. I totally did not mean to come across as "bragging" in my post. It is funny because as I was writing it I thought "hmm. Swine Flu is such a hot topic I bet there will be some backlash to this post." But then part of why I write my blog is to record a history of our little family. And Swine Flu has been a BIG story of this year. I wanted to record our "run in" with it for my children. I thought maybe in 10 years they could look back and say "hey remember when Swine Flu was the big worry. Hey mom did we ever get Swine Flu?" and then I could point them to this post.

I am really sorry if I sounded like I was bragging in anyway. I only wrote about how easy this sickness has been because it is so NOT the norm for any of Annie's illnesses to be easy. It is kinda noteworthy, at least to me as her mother, that she was so easy this go round.

As for church. you can all know your objections are noted. Please know that she did not come into contact with any elderly people or babies (or anyone else outside our family.) The people in front of us and next to us knew she was not feeling well. I told them and they didn't mind sitting in front of and next to us. And I literally kept her away from everyone. No one at church is going to be getting sick from her being there because she didn't touch anyone, had no cough, no runny nose, no sneezes, and clean hands.

I know there are still people who will think I am terrible for bringing her along. I guess I will have to live with that. Seeing my kids say their parts and seeing Lauren and Sabrina sing the songs with the other kids was priceless to me.

Alisha said...

I am sure you are right, motherly instincts usually are. Again, glad she is feeling better...a sick child is no fun. My thought is...how did anyone know you took her to church? You didn't post about it....so are those commenters disgruntled people in your ward? hmmmm...not that it matters...just my thoughts (again). Thanks for sharing your stories and not having your blog private...even if it means annoying commentary from people like anons or non anons =)

Janae said...

Steph,
It sounds to me that you took every precaution so that no one was exposed to anything by bringing your child to perform her part in the program. I think it is wonderful that you were so thoughtful about it and that she did not have to miss her part or expose anyone by being there. Being the counselor over the program I know the difficulties in even having one child gone. It sounds to me like you found the best of both worlds there:) Also, being on the tale end of the illness there is just no possible way that she would of been that contagious anyway. I agree with not taking her to the doctor if she is doing fine. Our doctor's office here will not even test the kids for swine! They say the test is too invasive and not necessary. I would urge those with great concern to get the vaccination:) the fact is the media has blown swine flu into a craziness that has some people being a bit over bored. Yes, people are dying from it and it is serious. In fact, I personally had myself and children immunized because it is serious. Now, so is the usual strain of influenza that goes around every year. People die from that also, it's just a different age group that is at risk with H1N1. Good luck with everything! Sorry to go on and on, I was just extremely surprised by some of your anon. comments. I am afraid the media has over done it's job!

Stephanie Waite said...

Alisha,
Thanks. Yes your thoughts echo my own. I did not mention anything about going to church with Annie because I was trying to avoid this reaction and I didn't want to have to explain all about how I kept her away from everyone.

Honestly I didn't think anyone from my ward (except a few friends) read my blog. And I am pretty sure that comment wasn't from one of my friends. But I guess I could be wrong and maybe one of my friends is anonymously upset at me. If so, I am sorry friend.

loves,
stephanie

Anonymous said...

I don't ususally post, just enjoy reading your blog but in my own experience with H1N1, I went looking online for "real info" and what others are actually experiencing - not just what is in the news. So, I'll add my two cents for others in my shoes wondering what this bug is really like. My 20 month old has been sick for four days now. Took him to the Dr Monday just because of all the swine flu hype and Dr. said they don't even test for it because it wouldn't be treated any differently than any other virus. A news story in our area (SLC area) stated, "Hudachko says, "It looks like pretty close to 100 percent of the flu virus that is circulating in the community right now is caused by the H1N1 virus". So I'm assuming that's what he has. Knock on wood, but it hasn't been too bad. Some fever, mild cough, runny nose, (he can't tell me if he has body aches but he acts like he hurts) but the worst has been the vomiting. He hasn't eaten for two days but is drinking and has wet diapers often so the dr said it's okay at this point. I have a 4 year old who has never had more than a runny nose so the vomiting was new to me. I had to change my clothes many times that first night but I got wiser! But, from what I heard in the news, I expected this to be a living hell. It's sucked, don't get me wrong, and I hate to see my little one sick, but it's been okay. I now have congestion, sore throat, sore neck and headache so maybe it's my turn. No fever though so who knows?? Glad to hear Anne Marie is feeling better.

A question for you Stephanie that I've been debating...I'm all for vaccines but I'm not big on any medication, etc that isn't necessary. Are you going to get the H1N1 vaccine for Anne Marie if she wasn't officially diagnosed? Just curious. I'm thinking when available I'll go ahead and get my little boy vaccinated just in case but I kinda wish now he'd been tested so I knew for sure.

--Patty in Utah

Stephanie Waite said...

Dear Patty,
I asked my kids Dr. about getting vaccinated for H1N1 last time i was in a month ago. He said they didn't even have the vaccine yet and that Noble couldn't get it till he had other shots first.

I am not 100% sure about whether I will get the vaccine or not. I am leaning toward not because of this round of sickness with Annie. I have heard the same thing about how most of the flu sicknesses going around at school now is the H1N1. So I probably won't get the shots.

Good luck weathering the sickness. I hope it is mild and short for you.

Loves,
Stephanie

Michelle said...

Wow, it's obvious from your post that the media hype is really freaking people out! People sure do have strong feelings about this.
My 4 year old most likely had it, he had all the symptoms. I talked to his pediatrician though and he said NOT to bring him in unless he starts having complications. Our ER's were so over run with people with flu symptoms that they had to make an announcement on our news that people should not come to the ER for the flu unless they are having serious complications. People who needed to be home resting were taking time away from people who really needed to be seen.
I work in Activity days in our church and one of the moms knew that my son had the flu. Even though he has been fever free for over a week, she wouldn't let her daughter come to my house for Activity days yesterday! The virus only lives for approx 24 hours on surfaces, we were long past the infectious stage! Bottom line, I think people need to chill out. I am not sure why we are so afraid of illness in our country? It's just the flu people. Yes, people die, just as the do every year from the flu. You are more likely to die in a car crash though. Let's put things in perspective.

Anonymous said...

we had a man in our ward die from HINI (the official name for 'swine flu') and I have a co-worker who is now on day 10 of being in the hospital and now a rehab center with H1N1. This is serious. Please take precautions. If ANYONE suspects a child has H1N1, please take your child in to the doctor. The gentleman in our ward died because he did not go soon enough. And to make it worse, the hospital did not take proper precaustions as he was dying and 2 of his under 3 year old grandchildren came down with H1N1.

Vonney said...

My children and I all tested positive for H1N1. My 9-yr old son is on day 9. I am on day 8, My 7-yr old daughter is on day 7. I am a single mom and it has been no fun being sick with this. The chest congestion, the headaches and felling dizzy all of the time has been the worst parts of it for us. But what has been even harder is the fact that people are treating us like we have the plague. It would have been nice if someone (anyone) would have dropped off some soup or jello for us to eat. I know I have a kitchen full of food, but I have been too sick to even make my children anything. Even my own family have not even been over to help because they are too scared of getting it!