Swine Flu, Tamiflu, Sleep...boo hoo!
So my youngest succumbed to H1N1 early this week. And because we are givers, we likely exposed our entire kids program at church to it as well.
It was so weird. Peyton felt just fine all the way to church. Ten minutes later, one of the moms who volunteers with the kids came and found me saying Peyton was sick. I go upstairs and she's laying across two chairs and rocking the "sick eyes" (those of you with kids know what I mean by "sick eyes"...and it's never a good feeling to see it)
We went home and I gave her some Benedryl sinus since her only symptom was a headache. She slept for about 5 hours and when she woke up...102.1 temp. Oh joy.
Daddy took one for the team and stayed home with her on Monday so I wouldn't miss a work meeting. He got her into the doctor promptly. Given her fever, the nurse met him at the door with a mask and quarantined he and Peyton to the "icky germ" side of the waiting room.
The doc initially tested for Influenza A, but it came back negative. So he tested for H1N1, and ding ding ding....we had a winner. Sigh.
Then came the fun part...finding Tamiflu. One pharmacy warned us there was none to be found in a 3-4 zip code radius. Thank goodness my husband called BS on that ;-) and went to another pharmacy in town because they had it. But the catch was, it was a liquid compound they made up. The directions were literally hand written on a Post It note. I was not amused for some reason.
Peyton ran a fever all day Monday...and then, that was it. I know. I'm stunned too. I don't know if this redneck version of Tamiflu was just that good or God knew anything else might send me over the edge into full on insanity...but Peyton had swine flu for literally a day.
I kept her home from school until today. And that was a beating, let me tell you. She felt fine and was sooooo bored. And another fun detail? Tamiflu hyped her up like no other. She didn't sleep. No, really, SHE DIDN'T SLEEP. And since she didn't sleep, she couldn't understand why we did either. Here's a scenario of the last 3 nights of my life:
11pm
(Mom asleep)
Peyton enters the room..."MOM!!!! Can I have a popsicle?"
Me: No. Go to bed Peyton.
Peyton: PUHLEEEEEEEAAAAAASSSSSE. What if I'm dehydrated? I had a fever yesterday!
Me: Fine. Go to bed.
2AM
(Mom very asleep)
Peyton enters the room..."MOM! I just watched the funniest 'Full House'. Guess what Uncle Jessie said?"
Me: Peyton, WHY ARE YOU STILL UP? Go to sleep!
Peyton: I'm not tired. And I'm so bored. Want to play Phase 10?
5AM
(Mom not as much asleep since now I'm jumpy and can't get into REM)
Peyton enters the room..."MOM! Can we go get McDonald's for breakfast? I'm really hungry and we're out of cereal."
Me: Dear Lord, thank you for sparing my child this awful flu...but seriously???
Repeat this scenario 3 times, and welcome to my life.
In all seriousness, I'm glad she's okay. But man, I so need a nap...
11 comments:
I'm laughing and crying at the same time...we've been going through the same thing in our house this week.
Thank goodness my son is better and back to school, but I thought I might lose my mind once the fever was down and he needed 'entertained'.
Wow, now I really wonder what was in that Tamiflu. Here in my neck of redneckland, any homemade drug includes crystal meth. That would explain the lack of sleep...
And now I really think we had swine flu when I posted about it this spring. Same symptoms, same duration. But without methiflu, we were all also exhausted.
Get a nap soon!!!
Actually, I use a medicine every day that my pharmacy "home brews" for me and it's WAY better than the $400+ alternative version that I can't afford. Seriously.
Methiflu...snort!
Arent' kids great? Rachel waxed poetic to me in the car about her preference of diarhhea to vomiting. On our way to dinner. Glad Peyton's feeling better.
yeah we just got confirmed that the baby has swine flu. Most likely all of us have been thru it now. I'm so happy. They gave us a prescription for something that only one pharmacy carries and many insurance companies don't cover it. It costs $100 but fortunately out insurance is paying.
I have a little home brew recipe that we use around here for when the kiddo can't sleep. Take this down, you might want to use it in the future: Rubber mallet. I'm tellin' ya, one good whack to the middle of the forehead and the child will be catching some z's immediately. Don't say I never gave ya nothin'.
Methiflu! Ya kill me Steph.
Sarah...and what is this "home brew" you get? I'm worried...and intrigued...
Nick, I'm so sorry about piggies coming after you too. I'm praying is as non-cliamtic as ours was (TWSS!)
And Kat? I'm with Rachel.
Wendy, what would I do without your wisdom? S'cuse me ya'll, I have to run to the hardware store for a minute...
I am glad she is feeling better. Sorry she didn't let you get any sleep. Couldn't you take a day off today.
Wouldn't the powers that be accept....
"I need one more day offf, just to make sure that I don't expose y'all to the swine flu now that I have been caring for a sick child day and night..."
Just biding my time until the vaccine comes out. Yes, I'm that girl. Glad everyone's better, but I might have gone the rubber mallet route, too. Or repeat that Benadryl next time. Love these stories - been there, done that, got the puke on the t-shirt. Did they prescribe oinkment?
Candy, I think all medical professionals, teachers and emergency responders should get this vaccine first! You guys are exposed to it far more than the rest of us. I'm glad you'll take it when they offer it!
I thought about the Benedryl thing. Trust me! But she didn't want it. It wasn't worth the fight.
We did get oinkment, but man was it redneck! Kat wants me to take a picture of the "homemade Tamiflu" the pharmacist made up, complete with directions on a Post It and then blog on it ;-) Of course, you know me remembering to take the picture, is going to be half the battle here!
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