Influenza 2011

And its attacked our house, influenza A has officially set in. Thomas came home from school on Wednesday very pale and grumpy. He was complaining of his back hurting, then being dizzy and his head hurting and finally of stomach pain. I thought he was just trying his best to get out of helping to clean his room. Later that night he came to sit next to me to cuddle and then next thing I know he's throwing up all over me. That started it all. He threw up off and on for about 24 hours. I thought that we might be lucky enough that whatever was ailing him would pass all of the rest of us by. I was so wrong..... On Friday evening at about 6 PM Jack was with Paul and I at the wrestling tournament where we were attempting to sell some T-shirts. He was being awfully quite and sweet, just rocking in his swing. Paul picked him up as he started to get fussy, and wham, vomit all over Paul's shoulder. I took him home and the fever started. He slept really soundly through most of the night, just whimpering when he hurt. He woke up once for about 3 hours and couldn't get comfortable. His fever finally came down and back to sleep he went. Amelia was still symptom free so her wonderful Aunt Jaymi and Grandma Jerri came and took her with them on Saturday so that the boys and I could rest at home. Thomas was still very feverish and lethargic, but seemed to be over the nausea and vomiting. Jack just cried and slept most of the day. Chari and Gus came by because Paul had to go back to the wrestling tournament. Chari held the baby while I showered and ran to the store for food and medicine. Jaymi and Chari were going to keep Amelia for the night and take her to church the next day. But you know how well layed plans go.... down the tubes. I got a call about 5 PM on Saturday night from Jaymi saying that Millie was glassy eyed and feverish. Millie came home that night and cried and cried from pain and achiness. I finally put her in the bath. Between the warmth of the water and the ibuprofen she finally started to feel better and wanted to know if she could go back to Jaymi's house. That night Millie "bomited" about 4 times and continued to be feverish. Jack also was very feverish and the only thing that would help calm him down was ibuprofen and me singing "How Great Thou Art" to him. It occurred to me yesterday (Saturday) that I'm fairly sure that my family has the flu. I knew that if the patient got started on Tamiflu within 48 hours of starting a fever it can shorten the symptoms of the flu by a significant amount. I took Amelia and Jack into the St. Alphonsus Ontario E.R. and they were tested for the flu. They both came back positive for having influenza A. Oh joy. My poor babies. At least they were both able to start on Tamiflu. Thomas is still lethargic and running a fever. I'm hoping he'll feel better with in a day or two and can return to school. I promise, promise, promise myself that we will get our flu shots next year.... all five of us. Now Paul and I both have headaches, back aches, sore throats, and muscle fatigue. It should be a lot of fun in the Jensen household over the next week or so. I'm also very sorry to those families that we've been around in the last week, Megan Moeller, the Hyde's, and my entire family that lives in this area. I hope they can miss being hit by this awful infection. It's definitely not fun, and NOT cheap.