The Face of Swine Flu

That's right...swine flu has hit our house.

So far, it's just Brenna (knock on wood!). There's a lot of it going around this town and its even hit as close to home as at Brooke's school. So I figured we were doomed at some point.

Brenna woke up early (about 7:30, which is really early for her..normally would sleep till 8:30 or later) Friday morning, screaming. I gave her a minute, but she wasn't calming down. So I went in and picked her up and she was burning up! Covered in sweat (I think). So, I stripped her down, changed her diaper, and checked her temperature. 100.5...at 7:30 in the morning. Now, I know from past experience, her 'normal' wake up temperature is 96, maybe even 95. So, I just knew she was going to be at 102, 103 by afternoon. And I just knew it was going to be the flu. Mommy instinct maybe? Or maybe the fact that we've had a few friends with it. I don't know. Anyways, Brooke was totally fine so off to school she went.

I monitored her the rest of the morning. All she wanted to do was lay on my shoulder. She just looked sick (see above picture). I couldn't put her down at all. Extremely snuggly, hot, and just overall feeling bad. After her normal afternoon nap, her temperature was 102.3, so off to the doctor we went. Had a standard rapid flu test, which she tested positive for. The doctor explained that they don't test for swine flu anymore b/c it takes 5-7 days to get results and all the cases in our area were turning out to be swine flu. So now they just assume every positive flue test is swine flu. I'm sorry....H1N1, to be politically correct. ;-)

We did get prescribed Tamiflu and were told that if Brooke should get sick over the weekend, running a fever or something, we could just call and they would call in some Tamiflu for her.

We had to call around to find where they had Tamiflu and ended up having to pay FULL PRICE for it. Because our insurance supposedly wouldn't cover it. WHAT?!?!? $94. You have got to be kidding me. Come to find out, they (this particular pharmacy) didn't really have the kid's version of Tamiflu, but were/are compounding the adults' version into kids liquid and the insurance will not cover a compounded prescription. Grrrrr!!! Plus, we asked for it to be flavored and they told Brad that it just 'came in' cherry flavored. I was skeptical b/c I knew of a friend that told me it was bitter tasting. But ok. Cherry is fine. He gets home and it is bitter. She took one dose and now we have to hold her down screaming for her to take it...or even to take Tylenol or Ibuprofen. One dose and she now refuses to take all medicine. When she used to ask for it! (I mean, face it, kids medicine tastes good). Long story short...come to find out, when they compound the meds, the have to mix it with something so this pharmacy mixed it with a 'cherry syrup', which isn't really cherry flavored. Think yucky cough syrup or something. But now that it has that 'tint' of cherry, there's no fixing it. Not like you can add grape or bubble gum to cherry, ya know? So we are stuck holding her down and forcing it in her every time. Not to mention, they did not supply us with a syringe to administer it to her, nor the cool little top to be able to get the medicine out, etc etc... I guess I am definitely spoiled by the Target pharmacy. (they were out of the Tamiflu) Arg!

Anyways, she's now had 2 doses of "Tamiflu" (I put it in quotes, b/c I'm bitter...its not the 'real' Tamiflu...they made it) and woke up this morning with only a fever of 99.9. I'm not too optimistic yet. I still expect her fever to go up and down, as well as her mood and we should expect the coughing stuff to be coming on too, along with chills and body aches. Poor thing sometimes is just shaking b/c of the chills. :-( But hopefully the "Tamiflu" will help subdue the normal hard symptoms the flu can give. And praying the rest of the family stays well through all of this.