This Little Piggy Went to the Market...

Sure this pig looks cute and yes, it's funny when you feed them the kind of firecrackers that you pull apart because they pop in their mouths and smoke come out of their noses but what you can't see in this picture is that they're FILTHY ROTTEN FLU CARRIERS!! Yes, kids, the beloved adventure known to smart people as H1N1 ("Swine Flu" to us commoners!) has graced us with its presence.
Friday night Jack and I were eating dinner and as I looked closely at him, I noticed he had "sick eyes." The thing with Monsieur is that he goes a million miles an hour no matter what. This is the kid that had both feet cut open, ligaments and tendons cut and 2 days later wouldn't take his pain meds because he felt "great!" So the only way we can tell he's sick is that he has droopy eyes. He never stops running and he never has a fever...anyway...so I take his temperature and it's 102.4!! What the...? So I just thought it was a cold or whatever and he'd be fine with time. He ate a great dinner and I thought that was that. The next morning, his temperature was 100.something so we knew to watch him and keep him hydrated. By the afternoon it was pretty clear that he was not feeling well. He wouldn't eat, he was mopey and his poor eyes were all puffy and watery. We gave him some "purple medicine" and loaded him up with Powerade. Sunday morning, Scott left for Minnesota and Jack's temperature was down to 99.1. He still had no appetite and by around 3 that afternoon he was really lethargic and his temperature was 102.4. I started to get a little worried--he NEVER has a temperature and this just was not him. Later that night, Lisa and Brandon came over and when Jack (who was asleep on the couch) woke up coughing and crying because it hurt so bad, Brandon suggested he could maybe have strep. I took his temperature again and it was 102.9. That was just too high for my comfort so they stayed home with Lizzy and I took Jack to the After-Hours clinic. He was so upset at the idea of leaving home, Brandon had to carry him out to the car and I had to bribe him with a Frosty. When we got there, he was ornery and wouldn't even stand on the scale. This is not my Jack! The strep test came back negative and the doctor said they were going to test him for the flu. My heart just dropped. I know how serious H1N1 is for children, especially asthmatics and with a 4 month old at home and Scott just having left for Minnesota...it was not okay. So she comes back in and says it was positive and that the CDC is saying if any flu results come back positive they're just calling it Swine Flu because that's the only strain out right now. I protested saying he'd gotten a flu shot and she said they're worthless right now because they're not resistant to H1N1 and that vaccine has yet to be released. I told her I'd never seen him this sick in his entire life and she told me to get used to it--it takes about 2 weeks to work through the system so it would more than likely get worse before it got better. So I got a prescription for Tamiflu and we were on our way. I was trying to be brave for Jack (although he was so out of it he didn't really know which end was up) and called Scott's mom to see if she'd come get Lizzy so they weren't in the same house. I knew she'd already been exposed but hoped separating them would help her not get it. She (MIL) suggested she take Jack and at that point I just wanted him to be somewhere where he could recover. We agreed on that and she headed for my house. We came home and our new Bishop and one of his counselors came over and gave Jack a blessing. Then gave me a blessing because I was a sobbing mess. Jack went home with Nana, Brandon and Lisa went home and I drowned my sorrows in Cherry Coke, Milk Duds and Heritage Makers projects. The next morning (Monday) when I called to check on him, Colleen said his fever seemed to have broken in the middle of the night. His temp was down to 100.something and he told her he was hungry for breakfast. Amazing. He has been slowly on the mend for the last 2 days and I'm so grateful for the power of the Priesthood. I know it's a miracle that he's getting better so fast. I am being cautiously optimistic because he's not entirely in the clear and MIL is still staying on top of his breathing treatments. It's weird that he's there and not here. I mean, I'm not offended that he wanted to be there--I'm the girl whose grandmother is her best friend in the world--but I just feel like I'm shirking my responsibilities as his mother. Really, when it comes down to it, no one knows better than I do that sometimes Grandmas are just the best ones to make it better.
Unfortunately, today, I noticed that Lizzy felt a little warm. She woke up at 7:30 and drank a bottle which is normal. What isn't normal is that she went back to sleep and slept until almost 1PM without eating anything. This girl eats every 3 hours on.the.dot. So she'd eaten a lot less and slept a lot more than normal and that concerned me. I talked to one of my wonderful pediatrician's FABULOUS nurses who gave me some tips and told me what to look for and when to be worried. Well, that time came a little before 8P tonight when she still felt warm and vomited. Not like her usual "I'm possessed by a crazy spitting up monster" but actual stinky vomit. I called the pediatrician back and she said if her temp was 102 or higher or if she gets worse in the night to take her to Primary Children's. Otherwise, bring her in first thing in the morning. I didn't know WHAT her temp was because I sent our thermometer down to Salt Lake with Colleen and Jack. I made a few phone calls and got ahold of wonderful and terrific Kelli (who Lizzy LOVES by the way. I think it's because she's one of the few people as animated as I am when she talks, which Lizzy digs in a big way!) who came right over even after the full disclosure. (She'd be exposed to this crap and could take it home to her kids who, as it turns out, were exposed to it yesterday.) But I digress. Her temperature was only 100.7 so I gave her some Tylenol and a bottle and put her to bed. She's been sleeping okay so far--I'm going to go in a second and take her temperature just to make sure she's okay. We'll see what tomorrow brings. My doctor said she's not sure but she thinks she remembers hearing that they only use Tamiflu for kids older than 6 months so she's not sure what they'll do but hopefully with her being a chunky monkey (I told the pediatrician I'm sure Lizzy weighs more than SHE does!) it's possible they might give it to her anyway. So them's the bucks. Not great, but it could be so much worse. We'll see what tomorrow brings. I'm praying like CRAZY that I don't get it because the worst possible job to have when you're sick is "Mommy." We don't get sick days! Plus, I have a ton of really awesome Heritage Makers stuff coming up that I will be so upset to miss. Anyway, thank you to all of you who have prayed for us and offered meals (and the cute Taggart family who baked cookies and drew pictures!) and brought thermometers and just everything else. It's been hard to do this with Scott out of town but it's so comforting to know that I could have a little army at the drop of a hat willing to be exposed to this crap in an effort to help us. It's really given me the desire to do a little bit better and be a little more thoughtful to those around me. Pay it forward, people! The blessings are tremendous.