Flu Days

Swine flu has struck! Or possibly swine flu, they don't tests for that specifically, just whether it's actually flu and which type, A or B. It's A type, the type associated with vomiting and diarrhea. Swine flu is one of the A type flus, so it could be.

Lena is just coming out of it, Amy and Erica seem to be just starting. Looks like I might get some respite today, a kind of bridge between illnesses, then it'll be back in the deep end tomorrow and Friday. You know how toddlers are when they're sick - cuddle cuddle cuddle!

We first heard on Friday that some kids were out of Lena's class with the flu. Because of that, her folk dancing event on Sunday was canceled. By Sunday night, we had heard from the school that a few more were down, so her class was canceled until Thursday. So we took her temperature then and there just to see and it was 37.7. It's important to keep a record of their temperature, as they don't test for flu until they've had a high temperature for at least 12 hours, preferably 24.

In the morning she was up over 38, so we took her in and got her tested, it's wasn't quite the 12 hours or more they want, but when I told her some of Lena's class was out with the flu they decided to do it.

The test is HORRIBLE! A super-extra-long FAT cotton bud shoved up the nose and I mean RIGHT up in there, I couldn't believe the thing was still going in! We waited for the results, and saw Jiichan at the hospital, getting his liver scanned (he has hepatitis).

The test was positive, so we got a prescription for Tamiflu and came home. She ate some lunch and jelly for dinner, but she started to really sink by evening, and her fever rose to over 40. She got disoriented and said she didn't know what was happening, and that everything was getting bigger and smaller. Several more times she got a bit of fever psychosis. In the middle of the night she woke up and babbled and shook and just stared, with no expression in her eyes, not even seeing me, not really responding to me as I tried to get her to settle again. Then once more on Tuesday afternoon, she became really disoriented and tried to get out of the room (I wasn't in the room at the time). She opened one of the doors and started climbing out over her desk! I can't help but remember the stories of people throwing themselves off balconies while on Tamiflu, though I am more inclined to believe it's the fever itself causing the disorientation.

She ate a little vege soup and jelly on Monday, but nothing at all on Tuesday except a few bites of plain bread and a slice of pear. She asked specifically for the pear, said she wanted something cool on her throat and for some reason a pear was what came to mind!

She mostly slept, thank goodness, as she was in pain when she was awake, with a massive headache, and a very sore tummy on Tuesday. She would wake up even now and then to moan and I'd go to her, try to feed her a little water, take her temperature, give her medicine if it was due. She lost a few lots of medicine, not straight away, so I imagine a little bit got in somehow.

Her asthma held up fine, she managed to continue having a few puffs of her preventer inhaler and continued her other oral meds. I just put them all together in a cup with some chocolate powder and a little water to make a paste.

I knew she was really sick when she refused to watch TV! She's happily watching TV today though, as well as eating and drinking plenty, so she's on the mend!

Now, I just have to nurse the other two, and hope I don't get much worse myself. I just have a big head cold and fatigue, I am due to go to work tomorrow, but my poor students might find themselves doing loads of quiet written work while I snooze at my desk!