Swine flu at our House

I want to type this all out so I remember this last two weeks and all that it was...

Friday October 30: We are driving home from Ogden and Nathan mentions that his throat hurts, about 5 minutes later he says his shoulders hurt and he thinks he is getting sick. I tell him to come home and get in bed and take it easy. I start cleaning for Kayla's blessing that we are planning on Sunday. Nathan starts having a low grade fever in the evening

Saturday October 31: Nathan gets up feels alright at least better, than last night. By early afternoon he starts to feel crummy again. Fevers starts again. We think about cancelling the blessing, but figure we will wait till tomorrow to see how he feels. I go buy the food for the blessing and take the kids Trick or Treating. Poor Nathan misses it all upstairs in bed.

Sunday November 1: Nathan feels terrible in many ways, still very sore achy, still had a fever, and disappointed that we are now cancelling the blessing. We notify everyone that we will be postponing the blessing for another day. Nathan's dad comes and gets him and takes him to the doctor. He calls me from the doctors to tell me he has swine flu. I quickly start sanitizing the house and move mine and Kayla's stuff out of the room so that he can quarantine himself to our room. He gets home and his Dad feels his prescription for the Tamiflu ($85). We spend the day in our separate quarters him upstairs me and the kids downstairs. Going back and forth to help him food and medicine. I start sleeping downstairs to keep Kayla and I from getting sick. We were glad we had cancelled so no one else would get sick from us.

Monday November 2: I call anyone I can to find out what to do to prevent the kids from getting sick and if they can still go to school and what not. Kids don't have fevers so they can go to school. Drive Elise to and from school. Don't want to carpool in case we get the other kids sick. Nathan still achy and still had a fever. We still spend the day quarantined from Nathan. I just keep hoping and praying that no one else gets sick. Find out from Nathan's Dad that you can go get tickets from the Davis County Health Department for H1N1 vaccinations, at the Davis county fair grounds. Put the kids in the car and head right down there to get tickets. Got three tickets for the next day for 4:00, feeling of relief.

Tuesday November 3: Same thing, Nathan still not feeling well. Take Elise back and forth to school. After school we head up to the Davis County Conference Center to get there for our shots. Meet Nathan's Dad there who is also getting the shot and helping me with the kids. I get my shot, Brycen brave as can be gets his shot. Elise not so brave, and very frightened gets her shot. Super glad Grandpa was there to help me. Elise is then not so afraid of shots, since she didn't even know they had given it to her. That evening Nathan's fever finally goes away we feel like the worst is over for him.

Wednesday November 4: Wake up and Brycen is sitting by me on the couch he is eating a jawbreaker from Halloween I am holding Kayla. He coughs, I don't think much of it he coughs again and something tells me to get up and take his temperature. Sure enough he has a fever and is getting swine flu. I take him upstairs and we put him in his room. Nathan sets up a small TV in his room, so he can watch movies. I try not to freak out knowing he has just coughed on Kayla. I start calling the doctors office get him an appointment. Take Brycen to the doctor. Yep, they figure its swine flu since there is nothing else wrong with him, no strep throat, no ear infection. They tell me they don't recommend giving him Tamiflu since he is not at high risk and they don't think it will do much for him. They give me the prescription but its up to me. The doctor puts a refill on it for if Elise gets sick. Think about keeping Elise home. Her teacher calls and tells me she can come to school since she has no symptoms. I drive her down to school. Go get juice boxes for Brycen, and other supplies at the store realizing that my worst fears are coming true and we are all going to get sick. Go to fill Tamiflu but it will cost $116 dollars I decide to go with the doctors advice and not feel it, plus we didn't see that it did anything for Nathan. Come home and drop my cell phone in the toilet, it fell right out of my pocket. Can today get any worse? I spend most of the evening in tears not knowing what to do. One of the sweetest things that happened that I wish I had a picture of was how Elise would sit outside Brycens door and talk to him and entertain him. They were so sad not to be able to play with each other. We also decided and realized that we wouldn't be headed to San Fransisco on Friday. Nathan cancelled the hotel, I was sad to not be getting out of town, and not being able to see my cousin Kelly.

Thursday November 5: Brycen is really starting to get sick, luckily Nathan is feeling better and has already had it so he and Brycen hang out quarantined together. I drive Elise to and from school and try to take care of my two sick boys. Nathan really helped with making sure Brycen had Motrin and Tylenol in him. That night I also had Nathan give me and all the kids blessings. I knew it wouldn't mean that we wouldn't get sick but I knew it would at least help me through it.

Friday November 6: Nathan was able to go to work, I don't really think he was really ready to, but knew his boss was needing him there. About 10:00 I took my temperature and realized that the itchy throat I had was for real as I was starting to get a fever. So I tried not to hold Kayla which was very hard for me and wore a mask all day. Thankfully all my friends and neighbors helped out. We had, had dinner brought to us Wednesday, Thursday and then they were also doing it Friday and Saturday which was a huge help. They also took Elise to and from school, I didn't feel well and Brycen really didn't feel well and I didn't know how I would get her there and back. I called everywhere trying to find out what I should do to help Kayla from getting it. Most places said the same as everywhere that I had heard all week long. Just wash your hands really well, and keep your Lysol handy. My hands were raw from washing and I smelled like the Lysol can and I was still getting sick. My doctor finally called and talked to me and told me to get on the Tamiflu and to just not have close contact with Kayla. The doctor also reassured me that she didn't think that Kayla would get it since I was nursing her and that it was the best thing I could do for her. So I borrowed another great neighbors pump and started that endeavor for feeding Kayla. I had offers from everyone to help me and come get Elise and Kayla, I just couldn't bare to not have them HOME. Plus I didn't want anyone else getting sick from us. Nathan ended up having to work late because the radios at work hadn't been working because of the refinery explosion at the refinery in Woods Cross. He got home around 7 and then stepped up and took care of Kayla and me. He went and got my Tamiflu ($88) and dinner and all.

Saturday November 7: I woke up feeling pretty good, I stopped trying to pump to feed Kayla and just wore a mask and washed well. It was so hard to pump, and I felt like I was getting germs all over the bottle. Plus I wasn't coughing much. So I wore a mask again all day and had a fever that morning but after that was able to feel a lot better than Friday. That afternoon I took Elise's temperature and sure enough she was getting a fever, she also started coughing, so Nathan once again went and filled the Tamiflu prescription ($120). We got it in Elise as soon as we could and she had the least amount of symptoms and only coughed a handful of times. I was so glad, she and Kayla were the ones I feared the most with getting Swine Flu. Elise had premature lungs so any cold she gets usually hurts her a bunch. I was so blessed to know she was getting sick and to get the medicine in her, so she didn't get so sick. I also remember feeling at peace and not feeling scared and frantic and knowing that it was because of the blessing Nathan had given me.

Sunday November 8: We all just hung around and were lazy all day. None of us really had fevers and I knew we were going to be okay.

Monday November 9: I kept the kids home just to be sure. Brycen also had a fever again so I took him to the doctor worried he had a second infection. He didn't just still the swine flu so we went home and took naps.

Tuesday - till now: We are doing fine and all recovered. Brycen still coughs a bit but doing well. I am so glad to know that we made it through Swine Flu. It cost a bunch with prescriptions and in co-pays but we survived. Now we have met our prescription deductible so that will be good for the rest of the year.

I know that Heavenly Father blessed us and watched over us. I am thankful for all the help we received and all the help that was offered. I am just sorry to anyone else who may get Swine Flu, cause it is no FUN! I know that we were blessed despite the fact that we all got sick, cause it could of been worse.