Influenza

February started off pretty uneventful. The cold weather kept us all inside, and other than our weekly activities, we didn't have a whole lot going on. A week into February Brandon started to get sick. Brandon likes to always think he is dying ( Man flu) yet, much to his disappointment very rarely has a fever to go along with his illness. This time was different. He couldn't breathe, he had a high fever that wouldn't go away he was coughing and otherwise just miserable. He went to work on his Monday and was miserable through the whole thing. It was clear his cold was getting worse fast so I said  maybe you should actually go to the Dr. to see if it is the flu. He got in the same day and much to both of our surprise he actually tested positive for influenza A. He was able to get on Tamiflu which helped his recovery but he spent several days sick, chilled, fever ridden, and generally miserable. It was a good thing he went to the Dr.!

Brandon went to the Dr. on Wednesday, by Thursday mid day Annie was laying on the couch with a 103 fever. We called our Dr. but she was out of town and all appointments full..Great! After talking to the nurse, who we have gotten to know really well, because...well 5 kids , one of the other Dr. in the office agreed to prescribe Tamiflu to Annie without seeing her based on her symptoms and Brandon's diagnosis. I got home from CVS around 6 with both prescriptions and noticed Samuel was at 99.5. It was too late to do anything for him so our plan was to call right away in the morning since we obviously knew where this was heading.

The next morning Samuel was burning up and a hot coughing runny nose mess. I was able to get him in at 2 but at 10:30 he had a seizure so into the ER we went. They tested him for influenza, which *shockingly* he tested positive for. We got more Tamiflu and told to come back if he had another seizure, which was unlikely. 

Around 1 we forced the worst tasting medicine in the world down his throat and try to keep his fever under control, since that is what causes his seizure( well, the two he has had in his life). Around 3, he had another seizure and was taking a long time to breathe normal and come out of it. We didn't feel we could safely transport him in the car in his condition, so on the ambulance he went. He was completely out of it for almost an hour. While in the ER, his heart was going crazy and his fever wasn't coming down with medicine so they decided to keep him overnight. 

 Samuel had to get hooked up to the worst heart monitor ever!!Well the stickers were the worst ever, they ripped off skin and the residue took weeks to come off. He also had to get an IV in which was traumatic to say the least. While all of this is going on, Nicholas and Benjamin are now showing signs of influenza and Brandon is at home taking care of everyone while being deathly ill himself.  

 After several hours, we were finally moved up stairs, in for the night and attempting sleep. Samuel's fever was still being difficult to control but somewhere around 4 am it broke and he started doing much better. Thanks to lots of fever reducing medicine, several doses of Tamiflu, cool clothing and lots of cool washcloths, he didn't have any more seziures and we were released the next morning. 

 We spent the next few days ripping blankets off of Samuel when he fell asleep and pumping him full of medicine to keep his fever under control. The family was finally back on their feet after about a week or so. I will say, I never got it. That's right I am a superior human being because I beat influenza 2017. It is ok to be jealous of my awesome immune system, go ahead. 

Thank you to all the grandparents who help take care of kids and cook food for us during this awful illness! Here is to hoping we never have to deal with THAT again!