H1N1

Yeah, we had it...and what a miserable experience it was. We came out of it (well, we still feel a little gross) fairly unscathed, but it was interesting.

Evan got sick two Wednesdays ago. All of a sudden. He was fine and playing and the next minute his eyes were sunken and he had a fever. We put him to bed and he woke up at 2:30 with a fever of 104.9. Neither of the boys have ever had a fever that high and I panicked. I panic particularly with Evan in situations like this. Aside from him being my "baby," I cannot stomach the idea of him ever being in a hospital again. The mere thought of a simple IV sends me into a tizzy. I took him to the ER where they gave him Tylenol and told us he most likely had H1N1. Keep an eye on him, keep him comfortable and, after about a week, he should be just fine.

I spent that night on Evan's floor because I was terrified that he would have a febrile seizure. I set my phone to wake me up at 3:30 to take his temp and give him Motrin. Eric had had a slight fever going to bed that evening, so I thought I would check the "easy" one first before waking Evan up. When I checked Eric, he had a fever of 105.6. Rob and I got him out of bed, got him into the bath, gave him medicine and waited for his fever to come down. I didn't rush him to the ER because, well, they did nothing for Evan that I couldn't have done. Eric's temp finally came down to a cool 103 by about 5:30 so we all went back to bed. Evan had a slight temp, took medicine and went right back to bed.

The weekend was miserable. Evan went trick or treating (barely) and Eric stayed in. By Sunday, I felt terrible, too. We cancelled everything for Monday and I hoped by Tuesday we would all be on the mend.

We woke up Tuesday morning. I was supposed to have an IEP meeting with Eric's teacher and principle, but he woke up and couldn't walk. So again, to the ER. His regular doctor told us to go to Children's Hospital. We got down there and they did nothing. Never did a pulse ox. Never checked his ears. No one (two doctors and two nurses) couldn't understand why he couldn't walk (he hadn't had any adverse reactions to antibiotics, wasn't dehydrated). Finally, an attending physician came in very nonchalantly, and said this was "common" for 6-10 year old boys to have with the flu. Keep an eye on him, keep him comfortable with lots of fluids, etc. I know I should be thankful for an easy answer, but I was annoyed. My son couldn't walk and they were OK with it.

We got up Wednesday. Evan was finally doing better. Eric seemed better, but by 11 a.m. had a fever again (which he hadn't had since Monday) and was very lethargic. I let him nap, but when he woke up he didn't want to get up. Didn't want to drink. Didn't want to do anything. So, we went to the doctor. They ultimately sent us for a chest x-ray to make sure he didn't have pneumonia. Which, he didn't.

By Thursday, he seemed a bit better, but still sluggish. We were all still napping daily and trying to get better.

On Friday, they both went to school. Eric probably would have done better staying home, but there is no school this coming Thursday and Friday and he had already missed a week because of our vacation.

This weekend was sort of low key--with naps! Though we still have coughs, everyone is (finally) doing better.

Thank God nothing more came of it then a bit of paranoia (and irritation) on my part. I'm glad we have it over and done with, though not getting it at all would have been nice. We better be the healthiest damn family the rest of the winter or I might just lose my mind!