Swine Flu Fun

Last Sunday I started to feel a weird cough. I wasn't thrilled about it. By Monday I had an awful sore throat and headache to add to the vicious cough. Taylor came home from work, I took nyquil and slept about 14 hours. When I woke up it was worse. The same thing happened on Tuesday expect for Taylor stayed the night in Ogden and I practically passed out trying to get the kids to sleep. I had lost my stern voice and my patience.

Wednesday Kyle woke up with a raging fever. I immediately took him to the doctor (InstaCare as we don't have a pediatrician in Sandy) following the HHS directions for children under 5. The lovely doctor told me I had a cold and Kyle had a slight virus. He did a strep test (negative) and said it wasn't swine. I was to sick to have the consciousness to ask why. I told him that it was the worst cold I had ever had. He didn't seem to care.

Kyle got worse on Thursday and so did I. At one point I texted Taylor and told him that since that was apparently not swine flu I had already determined that if swine did come along I would sit in the cold until I had to be hospitalized rather than have to be sicker than I was and still take care of the children.

Claire woke with a 99.9 fever Friday. After Kyle's nap, and 40 minutes after his ibuprofen his fever was 103.5. I decided to forget what the first doctor said and take him to another InstaCare clinic. After waiting 90 minutes to see a doctor---NO ONE else was even there---this one did a strep on Kyle (negative) then did a swine swab (up the nose, not pleasant) on Kyle. She prescribed Tamiflu even though it was most likely more than 36 hours since he got sick. I called Claire's Logan pediatrician would not prescribe Tamiflu for an unconfirmed case and as he foresees an upcoming shortage. He cited the fact that she was older than Kyle and would fight it better. I begged. I was denied. I was too sick myself to try another doctor. Taylor was still gone at this point---working on the house.

Whitney and Rob moved out (of their own house that we share with them) that night to avoid possible contamination. Good thing too, because on Saturday we found out that it was in face H1N1. I will be writing a very strong letter to the first doctor. Both of my kids could have had Tamilflu in plenty of time had he just listened to me and swabbed Kyle or me.

Today I'm finally not miserable. Kyle hasn't had a fever for two days. Claire is still burning. Taylor is still praying to not be infected. We decided that as long as we had to remain isolated we might as well isolate ourselves in our own house, so we drove up to Ogden and spent the day working on the shower. I was still in recovery, but it was nice to have the work to keep my mind off of my symptoms. And now today I have my sore, sore muscles to help me forget my lingering cough and sore throat.

Here is Taylor installing backerboard. He is an expert. Kind of. He rigs it together at least.


Kyle is becoming a wonderful helper. Miserable as he was, and scared of the drill as he was, he stood guard over the screws and handed one to Taylor whenever he needed them. You screw it in every 8 inches, so that was often.

Here I am swine flu and all. Taylor does the backerboard and cuts the tile. I do the mud and set the tile. It's a dirty job, but I love it. I'm not motivated enough to turn the picture. Sorry.

Our poor kids (who NEVER nap) napped most of the time we were there. Claire relaxed in "her" room for hours. Kyle took THREE naps that day tile saw, drill, hammer and all. He slept through it. Just so you don't worry, the heater was on, and the were bundled up good. They had all the comforts of home. Well, an empty one, but they were fine.

We returned to Whitney and Rob's (minus Whitney and Rob) to find a delicious dinner in the fridge and presents on the counter. My mom and Suzy brought dinner and bags of presents, three for each kid to open, one each for the next three days. She also packed in craft projects and other comfort food. (THANKS GUYS!). What a relief!

So this has been hard. I hope we never get anything like this again. It was so hard to be a mother and sick at the same time. Whitney helped out, and so did Taylor when he wasn't at work or working on the house, but it was so hard. I was sick 4 days before the kids were, that was the hardest because they were rambunctious as ever, and I was dead. My mom did come take them to dinner Tuesday night and I got a little rest (and thankfully she didn't get the flu from their evening out).

I'm looking forward to next week and when we can all be better. However my cousin Shayna tells me that she had it 3 weeks ago and is still coughing with a sore throat.

But I FINALLY found my camera charger. So that's happy. Wish us luck. Don't come over.