At Home With Swine Flu

On Monday night we went to a Boy Scout Meeting. It was an award ceremony called a Court of Honor. I had seen an email earlier in the day from one of the boys parents saying that he was sick with what appeared to be the flu and would not be there. I thought 'aww, to bad he is going to miss it', and never gave it another thought. My husband, my son and I went to the Court of Honor, got our awards and went happily home. On Wednesday my son asked to go to a friends house after school who also happened to be part of the Boy Scout Troop. 'Sure', I said, 'no problem'. He went, had dinner with their family and attended church on Wednesday night with them.

When he walked in the door about 8:30pm Wednesday night he said 'mom, I don't feel good'. I touched his forehead and knew he was hot with fever. I took his temperature it was 101.5. I gave him some ibuprofen and told him to go take a cool shower. About 10:30pm I sent him to bid with two Nyquil capsules and a glass of water. The next morning he was still feeling very achy and running a fever of 102. I gave him Dayquil and had his grandma agree to offset the Dayquil and Motrin every two hours throughout the day to control his fever.

It had rained last weekend and he got wet in the yard, so I assumed this was a cold and not much to worry over. I left my son at home and went on to work. I got a phone call a few hours later that he was complaining of a sore throat, aches and pains, was still running a fever and was unable to hold anything down, not even water. I called and made a Doctor appointment for the following morning on Friday.

We arrived at the Doctor's office at 7:30am, signed in and sat down. The nurse took us back a few minutes later, took my son's temperature and weight and checked his blood pressure. Then we were left to wait for the doctor. The Swine Flu, otherwise known as H1N1 never even entered my mind. The doctor came in and looked in his ears and throat, listened to his breathing, which was now very raspy due to the congestion that had been forming since Thursday morning. She turned to me and said ' It appears to be the flu, it's going around. I am going to swab him for H1N1.' She took a long Q-tip from a sealed bag and stuck it in one of his nostrils. She told me we'd get a phone call with the results in an hour or two and left.

I took my son home and left him in the care of his grandma and went on to work. Before I even got there the nurse called and said he tested positive for H1N1. 'What do I do?', I asked her. She told me she would call in a prescription for Tamiflu at the local pharmacy for both of my son's grandparents who live with us. As for him, all I could do at this point was to continue to treat his symptoms. It had an eight day incubation period and should run it's course within a week. If anyone else in our household were going to get sick, they probably would within the next week.

When I got to work and told my boss what was going on, she sent me home. I called my husband to find that his boss had done the same thing. I called and notified his school and found out that his was third case they had had. The other boy scout who was sick on Monday and another boy that my son knew from school.

We stopped on the way home and picked up a bottle of bleach, Lysol, hand sanitizer and disinfectant wipes. Once home, I began to vigorously clean my home, and encouraged my family to wash their hands frequently. I made sure my son did as well, and tried to keep him as isolated as possible. I repeatedly reminded him to cover up when coughing, then would have him wash his hands afterwards. I sprayed every surface he touched with Lysol, washed his clothing and bedding and sprayed down all the furniture.Our efforts seemed to have paid off.

Today is Monday, and my son has been sick for 5 days. I have since found out that four other boys in his Boy Scout Troop are ill. I do not know if they have been confirmed with H1N1. As of today, my son has been fever free for 24 hours, but is still coughing and has a lot of congestion. We are continuing to treat those symptoms. But it appears as though he will be okay. No one else in the house is showing any symptoms.