A School Nurse's Adventures with Swine Flu

.... and this is no hoax. :)


Saturday:

I woke up with scratchy throat and stuffy nose.

"It must be a cold or sinus," I told my family. "Otherwise, I would have a fever."

I developed a headache by late morning, but took some sinus medication and felt better during the afternoon.

"See, I told you it wasn’t any big deal."

But then.... suddenly, around 6:00 PM or so, I was hit with chills, sneezing, and body aches.

"I sss-still think it’s a-a-a little cold..." I insisted through my chattering teeth.

My "little cold" had a pretty decent fever of 100.8. But, I like to live in denial. It's a pleasant place to live...! It wasn’t until late that evening I finally admitted to myself that I most likely had the flu.

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Sunday:

I had to miss Church and Choir. They wouldn’t have wanted me, anyway, because I sounded like Kermit the Frog with laryngitis. In actuality, I was beginning to think this flu stuff wasn’t too bad. I still had a fever that was hanging around 101, couldn’t talk, but felt well enough to surf the 'net on my laptop while resting in bed. Pretty nice way to be sick!

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Monday:

Where am I? Who am I? I can’t get up! Did somebody break in and beat me up last night? I am hurting all over! Even the ends of my hair hurt, if you can believe that. What do you mean I have a fever of 103.4? That’s a radio station, not my temperature! No, I can’t drink anything, I feel like I’m going to be sick at my stomach. OK, ok, take me to the doctor. Please. (Did I say please?) I have a blur of a memory of the doctor swabbing my throat for strep, (negative) followed by a nasal swab (positive for influenza type A.)

"I already had my seasonal flu shot, Doc!"

"You almost certainly have H1N1 influenza. That is the 'Type A' strain that is going around at this time."

The doctor hit me with his best shot. A little Phenergan de Gluteus fixed my nausea, and I was sent out with prescriptions for hydrocodone cough syrup, asthma inhaler, oral Phenergan, and Tamiflu... a wonder drug... no lie! Arthur was instructed to be the driver. (Surely they didn’t think I drove there to begin with??)

I took my first Tamiflu and a dose of cough medicine as soon as I got home. I guess I went to bed after that, because that’s where I woke up the next morning.

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Tuesday:

I woke up feeling almost human. But, wait! John was outside my door crying. Literally.

"Mom! I have a percussion contest today."

"Ok, what time is your contest? And why are you crying?"

"Because I’m sick, and can barely move. I started feeling bad last night, but thought I could make it through the contest."

I felt his forehead, and even though I myself was still feverish, he was sizzling. I found our spare thermometer, and within a minute realized he wasn’t going to any contest, or even school that day. His fever was 102.

Once we had John medicated and tucked in bed with tissues, Gatorade, his phone, and remote within reach, I went back to bed. My afternoon temp= 100 degrees.

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Wednesday:

Much the same. John still sick, sleeping like a petrified log. His temp=103.5. Arthur and I rouse him every couple hours for medicine, to drink, eat, and change out of saturated t-shirts. My own afternoon temp= 100 degrees.

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Thursday:

Much the same. John still sick. My afternoon temp= 100 degrees.

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Friday:

Not here yet. But watch the CBS Evening News on Friday! My supervisor with Oklahoma City Public Schools, Debbie Johnson, is going to be interviewed about the H1N1 flu and the community immunization clinics our school nurses will be participating in.