Influenza A, subtype H3

I did a big blog update Sunday night thinking I was nearing the end of my sickness.  I spent Saturday night into Sunday coughing and miserably awake.  I thought surely that was the end of sickness.  However around 3AM Jim woke me up and said "I need you to come take Lilly's temperature."  I knew immediately that it was not good, because Jim is perfectly capable of taking a temperature.  I took her temp and it registered 106, I took it again and it came up 105.8, and then 106 again.  She was burning up and completely miserable and slightly delusional.  I gave her Tylenol right away and sent Jim to the grocery store to buy another thermometer, because surely there is no way her fever was that high.  He came back with two more thermometers and her fever was indeed that high. We debated taking her into the emergency room immediately and then we remembered when Jack had a fever of 105 the advice nurse told us to give him a warm bath and rotate meds.  That is what we did and her fever slowly started coming down, by 7AM it was 101.  Poor girl was singing songs and humming to herself like a mad person.  She was jabbering on about the clothing store Justice and a funny shirt she saw there, meanwhile we were trying to remain calm as we checked her temp every 20 minutes until I finally had her come to sleep in bed with me so I could monitor her more closely.

I knew immediately it was the flu and I knew that what I had was the flu too, despite the stupid doctors. My two little nephews, whom we had just seen the week before, were diagnosed with influenza A, and we had been exposed.  I took Lilly into our clinic and she was so sick she couldn't even walk.  I carried her everywhere.

Her hair was crazy from her 4am bath and then to bed without a good brushing because she was in so much pain, and I did try to brush it for her but she was so miserable that we let all personal care and grooming fall to the side to leave the house. Poor baby.

Our hospital is a teaching hospital and when you call in for a last minute sick appointment they torture you by making you see the medical student, then the resident, and then if you're lucky you see an actual doctor.  I found out later that you can insist on going straight to the doctor, which had I known that I would have done that.  My poor baby had to be examined by the incompetent med students and then completely condescending resident.  Then the attending came in and they all talked down to me and told me that parents really overreact to high fevers and she actually said to me "106 fever isn't going to cook her brain."  I told her I clearly wasn't worried about that nor was I overreacting because I didn't rush her to the ER at 3AM.  I took care of her home and then brought her into the clinic.  I could tell none of them believed me about the flu because at that point in time she had no other symptoms.  They tested her for strep throat which was unnecessary and cruel and I should have fought them.

In the end they tested her for strep, flu, and a few other respiratory diseases.  The flu test is horrendous, they stick a tube up and down your nose and poor Lilly cried a lot which made me cry.  She never cries at the doctor's office and is always very brave, it just absolutely broke my heart.  I cried the same way I did during the first time she had to get shots as a new baby.

 I found out later in the day that she tested positive for Influenza A, subtype H3, which is the strain of flu that is out-breaking all over and the results were reported to the PA department of health.  I found myself quite vindicated and secretly wishing that those stupid doctors, who didn't wash their hands with soap, only anti-bacterial gel, all caught the influenza A since they doubted me.  Of course I immediately regretted that hateful thought and vowed to never repeat it out loud.  Except for on my blog, for all to read.

Here we are on Wednesday night still sick.  I am still exhausted and achy and Lilly, who I thought was doing better, spiked a 103.7 fever out of the blue this afternoon.  She is actually developing more flu symptoms as the week goes on.  Jim and Jack are still holding strong, so we'll see what happens.  I just hope Lilly can go back to school next week and that I might be able to leave my house again.  At least in time for her 7th birthday which is next Wednesday.  This is not the year of good health for us, we had a similar year of sickness 2010-2011.  I guess we're lucky if we have one year on and one year off.

In the mean time poor Jack has been cooped up in the house with us.  I tried to take him outside yesterday morning but it was too cold, he even layered up on hats.  I think he has really enjoyed hours and hours of movies and iPad time since no one is well enough to actively play with him.

We had two really great friends surprise us with dinner Monday and Tuesday night, and many people have offered to run errands for us.  I was so grateful for the meals because poor Jim is in school, working, and trying to do dishes and laundry for a sick house.  We had been surviving on frozen pizza and french fries and a real meal was so delicious.  We have watched movies and shows together and despite all the sickness and misery it's been nice to spend time with my children with zero interactions from the outside world.  No where to go, no one coming over, no friends, just us and the movies.  I might be losing my mind a tad, but it has been a little enjoyable to just be home and take care of ourselves for a full week with nothing else to do other than get better.

That's all for now from our house of sick, hopefully all will be better soon.