What a week!

Hubby hasn't been to work since Tuesday morning. My house is a wreck. And I think my sister-in-law hates us.

Last weekend, my parents were here visiting. They came down to see J-Mav's soccer game and Keeper Boy's hockey games. Soccer was cancelled for the second week in a row due to rain (and tomorrow's not looking good, either). They saw Keeper Boy play on Saturday. Uncle Hooter (Hubby's brother, who is STILL stuck at Walter Reed) was here during the days all weekend, too.

Keeper Boy was complaining that the cough that started on Saturday was hurting his chest and that he had a sore throat. Didn't think TOO much of it. My parents left Monday morning. Monday afternoon, Keeper Boy texted me when he was off the bus and on his way home, as usual. But his normal, daily "On way" message was quickly followed by "Don't feel good." Uh oh. He called when he got in the house, as he does each day, said he didn't have much homework and that he was going to lie down and take a nap. That's when I knew SOMETHING was wrong. "Nap" is a dirty word to my children.

I was going to the Skins/Eagles game with BFF on Monday night, so I told Hubby that Keeper Boy wasn't feeling well and that maybe he should take him to the Minute Clinic to get the cough checked out. So I went to the game and Hubby and my two awesome kids went and waited TWO AND A HALF HOURS to see someone at the Minute Clinic, only to be told (basically) he has a cough; give him cough medicine.

Tuesday morning, I had two pre-op appointments in preparation for my foot surgery on 11/6. I had to take J-Mav with me to the first one. He was whiny and coughing when I got him up, but I figured he was just tired from being up later than normal the night before. In between my appointments, I took J-Mav to school. When I went to drop him off, he started crying that he didn't want to go to school. But he also told me nothing hurt when I asked him. So he pulled himself together and went into school. I went to my next appointment.

While waiting for my surgeon to come in, my cell phone rang. It was the clinic at J-Mav's school. He was sent to the clinic because he started crying in class. He had a fever of 100.7 and he was in the isolation room and I needed to come pick him up. I told them I was at a doctor appointment myself and that I'd be there as soon as possible. My doctor came into the room and we were discussing the surgery. My phone rang again. It was the clinic at Keeper Boy's school. He had briefly felt sick in class and had gone to the clinic. He had a 101 degree fever and I needed to come get him, too. I told them the same thing... that I'd be there ASAP... and finished my appointment.

I picked up Keeper Boy first because I figured he could sit in the car while I went in to get J-Mav. Keeper Boy was fine. Just a little tired. Didn't feel sick anymore. He said it passed very quickly. (Might've just been gas pain. Who knows.) We went to get J-Mav and my poor little guy looked so pathetic when I walked into the "isolation room." He was draped over a table with a surgical mask on, sleeping. He was very lethargic. As we walked out of the building, he said he felt sick. I got him in his seat and gave him a bag. He vomited on the way back to the house. (But that was the only time he ever got sick.)

J-Mav immediately went to bed and slept for more than three hours. Keeper Boy was fine. He worked on homework and projects most of the afternoon, and his fever was gone by dinnertime. I called the pediatrician and they wanted to see J-Mav because of his history with asthma. But they wanted to wait and see him the next morning to make sure the flu swab would come up positive when they gave it to him (if he had the flu). Then they could give him Tamiflu because he's considered "high risk." Keeper Boy didn't qualify for the medication, so I didn't bother making an appointment for him. They said fluids, rest, etc.

J-Mav was better after his nap, but still kind of lethargic. He ate a normal dinner, but not much of it. And he went to bed right after dinner. And after dinner, Hubby's eyes started looking glassy and he said he felt achey. Ugh.

Wednesday morning, I took J-Mav to the doctor, where his flu swab came back positive for Influenze A (of which H1N1 is a subset). They did a strep test, too, just in case. It was negative. We were told to use his inhaler ever four hours while he was awake as the biggest concern with kids with asthma is secondary pneumonia. Great. We left with a prescription for Tamiflu and a suggestion that Hubby not be in the office, either. So, we filled the prescription and went home. All four of us home all day on a week day. How "fun!" J-Mav proceeded to sleep for three hours again. Keeper Boy played outside. He was completely fine, except for a lingering cough, and just waiting out the have-to-be-fever-free-for-24-hours-before-you-can-go-back-to-school period. J-Mav was definitely feeling better Wednesday night, and his fever broke around bedtime. Hubby now had a very low-grade fever and a horrible sounding cough. And we found out that Uncle Hooter had gone to the doctor at Walter Reed after hearing the boys were sick, and he, too, tested positive for the flu. Unfortunately for him, he seemed to have it worse than my three boys. And he was put on quarters quarantine for 48 hours. Hubby was put on guest room quarantine for sleeping purposes. :-)

As a result of Uncle Hooter being sick, my sister-in-law (Jenrie) and nephew (Spidey) went and stood in line for TWO AND A HALF HOURS to get an H1N1 vaccination since Uncle Hooter is supposed to be going home next week and Jenrie is pregnant and Spidey is 4. This was additional stress on top of the fact that they're supposed to be moving to Hawaii in, like, two weeks, and though Uncle Hooter was released from physical therapy two weeks ago, he's still trying to cut through red tape and paperwork to get outta there. He needs a much bigger pair of scissors.

Thursday, Keeper Boy went back to school. J-Mav stayed home to start his have-to-be-fever-free-for-24-hours-before-you-can-go-back-to-school period. Hubby stayed home because he just kind of felt like crap -- and remained in guest room quarantine at night. I stayed home because my boss told me to work at home until I was sure I didn't have any cooties. Uncle Hooter stayed in his itty-bitty room at Walter Reed. J-Mav was DEFINITELY feeling better. He didn't stop talking from the minute he got up until the minute he went to bed. And there was absolutely no thought of a nap. None. At all.

We hemmed and hawed over whether we were going to send J-Mav back to school today. It almost seemed cruel not to. He was SO okay yesterday and his fever would be gone for well over 24 hours by the time he went to school this morning. On the other hand, one of the major things with the flu is lingering fatigue and we didn't want him to overdo it. On the other hand, today was the last day of the first grading period and he missed some quizzes and assessments this week. On the other hand, why not keep him home and make sure he's truly okay before sending him back next Wednesday (the kids have off on Monday and Tuesday). In the end, we decided to compromise. We'd let him sleep in until he woke up on his own and then we'd get him going and I'd take him to school late -- as long as the fever didn't come back or something crazy. Hubby decided he'd wait to see how he felt this morning before he decided if he was going to work at the office or at home (as he'd been doing the past two days, as had I).

The best laid plans do not always occur correctly. J-Mav was up and ready to go at 7:30 and was completely fine. He wasn't even really coughing. I think the inhaler has gone a long way toward clearing that up. (Maybe Keeper Boy and Hubby should be taking a few hits from J-Mav's inhaler!) Anyway, J-Mav ended up going to school on time. Keeper Boy went to school. Hubby stayed home again... more so people in his office wouldn't flip out and treat him like he had the plague than anything else. His fever was gone and he's moved into the head cold stage of this madness. And I... I escaped the House of Swine and went to the office for the first time since Monday! :)

I worried about J-Mav all day -- that we sent him back too soon and he'd be exhausted when I picked him up. No worries. He was running around on the playground when I got there to pick him up from aftercare, and he said he had a great day. Hubby is feeling better, but still has lots of sinus pressure. At this point it's just a moderate head cold, I guess. Uncle Hooter is off quarantine. His fever broke and he's feeling tons better from what he said tonight.

So, I think we have survived our experience with what was most likely H1N1. I think our experience was mild compared to what some experience. I think the kids rebounded faster than Hubby and Uncle Hooter. The doctor at Walter Reed thinks Uncle Hooter's case was worse because he'd gone running on Tuesday night and the virus became entrenched deep in his lungs. See, running is bad for you! ;-P

Tomorrow I need to clean the house. It is not used to having all of us here for so much time during the week (neither is the dog for that matter). I will disinfect all surfaces one last time to make sure we get rid of any stray germs. I don't feel the need to do this again anytime soon!

Somehow I seem to have made it through the week without getting sick (knock on wood), which is crazy because I always seem to get what the kids bring home, even if they don't actually show any symptoms of whatever little bug it is that they bring home. Not that I'm complaining...

I did finally get my flu shot today at the free clinic that was offered at my office. Nothing like being a day late and a dollar short! TGIF!!