H1N-da house

We officially have sickness in the house.

Wednesday morning Mr. K woke up feeling pukey and not wanting to go to school. His temp was 100.8, so we figured staying home was a good idea. Steph took the morning off, since I had patients, and we swapped at lunchtime so we could share the sick time at home. The pediatrician had a slot for us at 2:45, so we came home and hung out for a bit, Mr. K feeling and appreciating the effects of Motrin. At 2:15 we left the house for the doctor. Mr. K's temp just before getting in the car was 102.3 Huh. Going up.

By the time we got to the doctor, he had taken a serious turn for the worse. Another dose of Motrin was due, and he was looking miserable. We were waiting on dosing again so the doctor could see the full-blown illness. That may have been a mistake. His temp was at 102.8 when we first went to the exam room. Motrin was administered and he was swabbed for the flu culture. After 30 min or so his temp was at 103.6. By this time he was more miserable than I have ever seen a kid. Freezing cold, wanting to nap, every muscle in his body aching...not a happy camper. The M.A. had given him a popsicle and put some wet paper towels on his head to cool him off, but when his temp kept rising she sprung into action. She peeled his socks off, ran them under cold water, and put them back on his feet. Um...ok...

After about an hour at the office, the fever was up to 104.4. Mr. K's face was turning all sorts of weird shades of not-healthy and the doctor was starting to look concerned that the temperature kept rising. Being miserable, Mr. K asked the doctor if he could take off his wet socks, since they were uncomfortable. She looked confused as she asked how his socks had gotten wet. She looked more confused when I told her that her M.A. had thought it was a good idea.

Long story a bit shorter, after some Tylenol kicked in, the fever started to drop. The flu test actually came back negative, but the doc was honest about the false-negative rate of such things, especially in the early stages of a flu. (Also the M.A. had swabbed just the tip of the nostril, and a correct nasopharyngeal swab goes a lot farther back.) Basically H1N1 has been going around here and he's smack in the middle of the high-risk category, being an 8-year-old public school kid with asthma, so they weren't about to write it off on the basis of a negative flu test. We went home with the somewhat doctor-approved idea that it was H1N1 and a prescription for Tamiflu. Tamiflu turns out to be wonderful; the fever broke Thursday and Mr. K is totally better today (Friday).

So that's one down. Steph went to bed feeling miserable tonight with a temp of 99 or so. *fingers crossed*