That Nasty Swine Flu

One of my kids has had a sore throat and a fever since Sunday.  He woke up today feeling miserable so, I decided to take him to the doctor because I had a feeling he might have strep throat.  They swabbed him for strep and also for the flu. 

When the doctor came back in the room he asked me, “well mom, what do you think he has?”  I replied that I thought it was strep throat.  Nope…the strep test came back negative but he tested positive for Influenza A.  I immediately asked if he had swine flu and the response I got was that they can’t specifically test for the swine flu but, more than likely, that’s the strain he had.  The doctor quickly put my fears at rest and told me the strain is probably a mild one and can be treated with Tamiflu.  He had already diagnosed 6 other kids with the same thing this morning and it was only 10:30 am.

Unbelievable, my kids take vitamins every day, get plenty of rest, eat fruits and veges and a good diet.  How the heck could this happen?  My son then told me that one of his friends, who also happens to be in his class, was sneezing and coughing all over everyone last Friday.  Ding, ding, ding, must have been where he caught it the doctor said.

My orders were to keep him out of school at least until Friday and try to isolate him as much as I can away from my other three kids.  No problem, I would do the best I could.

Off to the pharmacy we went for his prescription of the liquid suspension of Tamiflu.  Wouldn’t you know it, the pharmacy, and all the other pharmacies around town, did not have the liquid form for kids.  And worse yet, the manufacture of it was, and has been, out of stock for about three weeks. 

So let me get this straight, this flu is expected to run rampant in the schools this fall, the vaccine won’t be available until mid October and the liquid form of the treatment for kids is unavailable.  Call me crazy but this whole swine flu media debacle is a bit fishy.  I’m thinking conspiracy theory here but I’ll spare you all my opinion because I could write all night!

Thank goodness they had some of the Tamiflu in the pill form, not enough for the full prescription, but enough to get him started.  I tried to assure him that swallowing a pill was not a big deal and he seemed cool with it.  That was until he actually  attempted it. 

Once we got home, he put the pill on the back of his tongue, threw some water in his mouth and tried to swallow.  The gaging started rather quickly and he spit the pill half way across my kitchen.  After I located the pill on the kitchen table, he tried again.  At least this time after the gagging he spit it into his hand.

I needed another tactic and quick.  I grabbed an Oreo out of the cookie jar and scooped off the creme.  I rolled the pill in the creme and told him to just eat it.  No problem, the pill went right down.  The only issue was, he needed to take another one.  I did the same thing with the Oreo and the second pill went right down.

I made him some chicken soup, put on a movie and he laid down on the couch where he would remain for the rest of the day.  I hope he starts feeling better soon.