The Flu

The flu. I say it and you cringe, don't you? I sure did even though we are getting over it. 

On January 22, we decided to have my son's second birthday party. We have a few friends that have children and those kids were at our house playing with our son on his birthday. He had a great time! Then Monday evening came around and I got "the call." Here's how it went down. 

"Hey, thanks for inviting Ethan (name has been changed for privacy) to Harrison's birthday party! He had a great time! Say, how is Harrison feeling? Well, I just wanted to let you know that Ethan tested positive for Flu type A today. So be on the lookout for Harrison to get sick!" 

Great. I wouldn't have been so concerned if I didn't have a 5-month-old that was 9 1/2 weeks premature that is getting a series of six $1,000 shots (each one costs that much) to prevent RSV. We were told she needed to be a bubble baby at church and in public to prevent her from getting sick. And here we go, we invited sick in our own house. Excellent. 

I was happy on one hand. My son was having his 2-year well baby appointment the very day after I received the flu phone call. Perfect! I thought it was going to be nice because then I could just have him tested then and we could avoid paying two co-pays to see the doc. That would have been the case in the perfect world but of course it didn't really work out like that. 

He tested negative on Tuesday. I thought that maybe, just maybe, he wasn't going to get it. In the meantime, I started feeling bad and figured that I probably had it. 

Wednesday around noon, I knew he was getting sick. My son is a rebel these days and doesn't like nap time any more. So when he fell asleep on the floor at noon last Wednesday, I knew he was getting sick. What was to follow confirmed. He woke up from his nap crying. I went to pick him up and felt his forehead. He was burning up. I started to carry him into my daughter's room to take his temperature when he threw up all over himself and myself. Fabulous. To make this story even better, my husband was leaving for Las Vegas the very next day for four days. AWESOME! I promptly called my pediatrician to see if she could get my son in and I was told that it would have to be first thing Thursday morning before she could get him in. No bueno. So we waited all day Wednesday with my son sick as a dog. I tried to keep him away from my daughter as much as possible but as any sick child does, he wouldn't let me go.

Thursday morning rolls around. We get to the doctor. She looks at him and wants to test him for the flu and strep throat. Sure enough, he has both. She wants to look at my daughter to make sure she isn't sick. Sure enough, she has the flu too. And my husband was already on his first plane to Vegas. Great. 

My son got Tamiflu to help but my daughter was too young to get anything to help. The only thing I could do to help her was give her Tylenol for pain and fever, Benadryl to dry up her mucus and lots of love and prayers. 

Just as a side note, my son did get a flu shot. I have heard of a lot of people getting flu shots and them still getting the flu. I'm not sure how well the shot worked this year. The flu is everywhere in Oklahoma this year. It is spreading like crazy and closing down school systems across the state. 

So here are my flu tips if your child comes down with the flu. 

What do you look for? The flu that has been so wide spread is the flu that is most similar to a cold - not the pukey flu. 

Look for:

• Fever
• Tiredness
• Loss of appetite
• Ear pain
• Chills
• Headache
• Muscle aches
• Cough
• Sore throat
• Runny nose
• Diarrhea

So how long does it last? That's a great question. If you can get Tamiflu, it cuts the flu down to about 5 days. My pediatrician said it is normally about a 10-day bug. However, on this website, it says it can last up to two weeks for young kids. Which means my daughter probably still has it. 

What I did to get rid of the germs in the house. You need two things: Lysol spray and Clorox wipes. For surfaces like door handles, faucets, drawer pulls and appliances, I wiped them down with Clorox wipes at first. Then I went back and sprayed everything with Lysol. Wash your hands frequently! Wash your children's hands frequently! For all of the toys in our house (which is a TON) I cleaned what I could with Clorox wipes and then went back over everything with the Lysol spray. I also washed everything in our house on sanitize mode in our washer. That included blankets in the living room, all bed sheets and comforters. Don't forget to either wipe down or spray your car(s) (inside and the handles outside too). After I wiped everything down, I just went around the house spraying everything in sight - light switches, the computer keyboard and mouse, pens, appliance buttons, children's books, toys, bathrooms, the doorbell, etc. Everything that came in my sight was sprayed. Don't forget to run things like pacifiers and/or bottles through a high temp wash. As much as it sucks staying at home, please spare everyone else and stay at home from all activities (including dinner out) until everyone is better. We all thank you for it. I'm sure you would thank me for being in the house now for 6 days straight, right? (PS - I'm now going crazy and need to get out but no... It had to snow!)

We are in the process of getting better. I would venture to say that my son is 90% better. My daughter isn't that well yet. I, too, am much better but still have that annoying cough. 

Just know that at the first sign of sickness, spray your house down and take your child to the doctor. It helps. There is life after the flu!