H1N1

For those of you who do not know, this blog has been neglected due to not one, not two, but three cases of swine flu in the Havens' household.

Last Monday I picked the girls up from school so we could take Olivia to a doctor's appointment. When I got Tory she was a little sniffly which did seem a little odd since she'd been fine that morning but I just thought it was a quick hitting cold and thought no more of it. Tuesday morning she was still sniffly and had a touch of a cough but, again thinking it was just a cold, I packed her off to school. When she came home from school Tuesday afternoon she said her ears hurt and was running a touch of a fever. So I kept her home Wednesday, attempting to get her in to see Dr. Pianka for what I was sure was an ear infection. By Wednesday afternoons I was wondering why I'd even kept her home. She was hyper and running all over the house and I kept thinking "I should cancel her appt for tomorrow....she can't be that sick...." but a flare up of her fever later that night convinced me to go ahead and take her in to her appointment for her ears.

We got up and headed out to the dr's office on Thursday morning. Tory looked awful and I had begun to wonder if she'd also ended up with another sinus infection, bracing myself for the inevitable referral to an ENT for her ears and sinuses since this was going to be her 3rd ear infection and 2nd sinus infection since September. Sure enough, one quick peek from Dr. Pianka told us she did indeed have an ear infection and a sinus infection. By this point, however, Tory was coughing quite a bit more and was laying down on the exam table complaining of a headache. Dr. Pianka looked concerned for a moment, then put on a mask and said she'd like to test her for both the flu and h1n1 since some of her symptoms raised a red flag for her. I agreed since, as pregnant Dr. Pianka pointed out, we should know what we were dealing with for sure. So they swabbed her for both and we sat and waited. I honestly expected them to come back in and tell us it was just a cold and send us on our way but about 20 minutes later Dr. Pianka stuck her head in the door, wearing her mask, and said "It was positive for h1n1. I'm sending my nurse in to answer questions....I'm sorry! But I don't think she has a severe case...you guys are going to have to be quarantined for about 10 days."

WHAT???? I didn't expect that at all! So immediately my brain started buzzing, trying to figure out how to pick up prescriptions and pick up Olivia at school and get groceries to last at least 10 days without exposing Tory to the world....or the world to Tory. There is a Coast Guard Murphey's law which states "Anything that can go wrong will go wrong....as soon as the boat pulls away from the pier." Yep, you guessed it...Andy was underway. Well, I managed to expose who knows how many people to swine flu by picking up Livy at school and getting Tory's prescription filled. And by late afternoon, Livy was also running a fever and coughing. Super. A quick call to the Dr and another quick trip to the office confirmed I had two down. By Friday morning, all three had it (we didn't have to take Chloe in as they figured it was a safe bet she had it as well and I'd already been given the run-down on what to expect twice). Luckily Andy came home Friday. Chloe spent most of Friday crying and saying "But I don't want slime flu, Mommy!"

So, here we are. It's the 24th of November and we've been cooped up in the house since last Thursday. For once I am glad we didn't have big family or friend plans for Thanksgiving. I'm also listening for the knock on the door....the funny farm has got to be on their way by now. "They're coming to take me away, ha ha! To the funny farm where life is wonderful all the time...." (Thanks, Dad, for making sure I know that song by heart! lol) Monday can't come soon enough!