Evil pig flu

(cue dramatic music)
Been there... Done that... Still doing it...?

Starting from the beginning. Last Sunday it was a beautiful day here in Ann Arbor, so despite Josh being gone in DC on his internship, I opted to walk to our 9am church meeting with the kids. Everything was great, until the second hour of Church, when Anna opted to stay with me and lay down on the pew to rest rather than go to Primary. She fell asleep, which is definitely out of the norm, but not unheard of. When she woke up, it was time for the third hour, and she wanted to go to her Primary class. I figured she was fine, and had just needed a break from the world more than anything. So I let her go (more like I turned around and she was gone). Well, okay. So after Church, she started complaining again and didn't want to walk home. She seemed sincere enough that she didn't feel good (rather than just empty complaining, which is certainly not unheard of), so I got some friends to drive her home (thank you Gublers!). After a little consternation from little brother and sister about not getting to go with the Gublers, we made it on our way with the trek of Mormons walking from our chapel to Northwood student family housing (truly a sight to behold, as the entire distance is along one road, and you can get quite the wagon train of families).

Anyway, back to the evil pig flu. We got home, picked up Anna from the Gublers, and at some point that afternoon, it became quite apparent that she was really sick. I took her temperature - 102.7F. Hmmm. She spent the rest of the day laying around, sleeping, feeling lousy, and with a headache and stomachache. Oh, except for a few hours when she was dosed with ibuprofen - that did wonders, so much so that I was worried about her getting rest to recover! (Though her temp was still over 100F with it in her.)

New scene: Monday morning. With no ibuprofen in her, I checked her temp in the morning, and it was still at 102.7F. So, we scheduled a doctor's appointment. I'd read a bit about the flu (okay, swine flu) Sunday night, and the quick onset, fever, tiredness, headache, all fit the bill, so I figured we should go in. But first, we were going to need some back-up. We made a quick trip to pick up a stack of DVDs from the library (I've already packed our movies). That was my saving grace for the next couple days. All you Ann Arbor-ites can thank me for being aware of the germs we carried, and not letting the kids play on the computers.

After 2 hours at our pediatrician's office (11am-1pm, yes, over lunch-time for the kids, and I had all of them!), we had a negative strep diagnosis (can't say I was too surprised about that one) and a swine flu test in the works, with results expected before 3pm on Tuesday (the next day). Meanwhile, between waiting for the doctor/assistants to come and go with their tests, I'm starting to feel achey in my lower abdomen and legs. Being pregnant, I try to stretch a little and don't think too much of it. But after getting home and getting the kids really fed (emergency pistachios and raisins from my purse at the doctors office weren't quite the nourishing lunch I was hoping for), I was starting to feel pretty wiped. And thence began my adventures.

Oh my goodness. I don't know when the last time was that I felt so awful. I had heard a snippet on NPR about swine flu a few weeks ago, and the reporter (who was suspected to have it herself) said she felt like she'd been hit by a semi. I thought she must be grossly exaggerating. Nope. That's what I felt like Monday afternoon. Yowsers. I was on the couch all afternoon and was glad we'd made it to the library!

Oh, the doctor had asked if I wanted a prescription for Tamiflu for Anna, being unsure if she had swine flu or not but with nothing else to go on. I was happy to take her up on the offer, but in my going downhill state, managed to lose the prescription until 8pm that night. (Remember, we'd just spent 2 hours at the doctors, and I didn't think the kids would last, waiting for a prescription to be filled.)

Let's see. We're going to have to hurry this up. Well, I became convinced of the need to get the Tamiflu started in Anna and finally found the scrip and had a friend fill it (thanks Spencer!) Monday night. You're supposed to get it started within 48 hours of onset of symptoms, which meant the sooner the better. After getting it and dosing her, I did some reading and discovered that 1) there was more in the 2 25mL bottles prescribed to Anna than she was going to need for her full dosing, and 2) there was enough leftover for me to have 2 doses at adult strength. Being pregnant and only a few hours into it, I figured it would be wise to start dosing myself, hoping that I could get my own scrip on Tuesday.

Wow, Monday was long. Tuesday is more of a blur. I called my OB's office. They suspected a virus, but Anna wasn't a confirmed swine flu case yet, so they recommended rest and fluids. The golden news (which vindicated my mother's intuition) came around 1pm when Anna's doctor called, letting me know that her illness was, indeed, swine flu. She offered to call in scrips for Melanie and Jonathan, since Tamiflu can be taken as a preventative measure. (Well, technically she called them in just in case they got sick so I could start dosing them, but I wasn't interested in getting to that point, being a single mom at home and sick myself with one kid already sick. Tamiflu's website gives the preventative dosing, and I was ready to start that.) Unfortunately she couldn't (wouldn't?) call in a scrip for me.

But my doctor was MORE than happy to oblige when I told them 1) my daughter has confirmed swine flu, and 2) I'm pregnant. Those are like magical words. (Incidentally, Tamiflu is recommended for pregnant moms who get swine flu, since the complications can be SO much worse than any unknown side effects to the baby. Especially since I'm past the first trimester, but even if you're in the first trimester, you're supposed to take Tamiflu.) Anyway, golden words said, I've now got a scrip to finish my dosing on Tamiflu, because, let's face it, I've got it too now.

I sent an email to Josh letting him know what he was missing out on. Credit goes to him for emailing our parents, and Tuesday night my parents called and we decided (with Josh prodding me on the wisdom of it) that my parents would come up to help out. I am so glad I agreed to that. Mrs. Capable that I am, I felt like I could do it on my own, especially since Anna was through her symptoms in 2 days. But pregnancy really does pay a toll on the immune system, and it ended up taking me 5 days to work through it and feel pretty much back to normal. The fact that we're moving this Saturday didn't escape anyone, and though I've worked at getting things packed mostly, there was still plenty to do. I lost 5 of my 10 prep days before Josh gets home (to pack up the truck) which is, well, pretty significant.

Mom did WONDERS painting our walls back to white so we can move, and mom and dad were both SO helpful with the kids, cooking, and letting me sleep LOTS. I cannot believe how much time I could spend in bed!

Anyway, only a couple more thoughts. My OB asked me to schedule a follow-up with my primary care doctor now that it was pretty certain that I had swine flu. I scheduled it for Thursday (my parents got in Wednesday night) since I wasn't about to ask anyone to babysit my kids for me. (The contagious period is one day before symptoms to 7 days after symptoms start.) Funny thing, my OB didn't want me coming into their office and exposing all the pregnant ladies. Well, my primary care doctor wasn't too enthused about the idea either, and canceled my appointment.

But all's well that ends well, right? I'm doing well now and Anna is all better.

Now if only Jonathan hadn't woken up with a raging fever this morning...