Swine Flu November 2009

Well, November was pretty eventful.

November 9:
Ava decided to climb up the stairs by herself and we didn't realize she had snuck up there. All of a sudden we heard thumping noises all the way down and her crying. I just knew she had broken a bone! After that, she acted really odd. She just laid on me and whined and wouldn't move. If I tried to move her arms, she'd cry. She had a temperature so I didn't know what was going on. That night, she threw up about 2-3 times during the night. I was a little paranoid because I was kind of afraid that her falling so far might have caused some kind of brain injury and I knew that if a child falls on their head and starts throwing up that it's reason for concern. GREAT! I just didn't know what was going on with her. I didn't want to be that paranoid mom but I was worried.

The next day, we called John's parents and took Bonnie to their house to try to prevent Bonnie from getting a stomach bug. I didn't know it would be 5 days until I saw her again. I took Ava to the doctor and he said it was probably viral (flu test was negative) but he put her on an antibiotic because she had fluid on her ears and he wanted to try to prevent another infection. He asked me if she was moving her limbs and I said yes but that she cried when I moved one of her arms. He said to come back if she started 'favoring' one of her arms and he'd want to do an x-ray. Well, we went to Target to get the antibiotic for her and she was using her left arm and hands to eat snacks but not the right one. When I'd touch her right arm, she'd cry really bad. SO, I left Target and took her back to the doctor to get it x-rayed, and it was totally fine. I left feeling like an idiot--even though he told me that I did the right thing. At least then, I had eliminated one variable to her acting weird. She was probably just sore from falling.

So, we go home and she gets worse. She's still throwing up and has a high fever and is whining in my arms and John and I are both sick with fever, chills, body aches, headache. We pretty much knew we had the flu or something like that. Ava's was different though. She wouldn't eat or drink and she began having severe diarrhea. It was nothing like I'd ever seen before. GROSS WARNING...........it was just pure liquid pouring out of her and I can't tell you how many towels and sheets I washed. I've never had to take care of a child this sick before. She got weaker as the days went on and I was starting to get better because I took Sudafed and Advil around the clock and slept every time she would sleep (which was a lot when her temperature was up).

I just can't explain how crazy it was dealing with all of that and John and I both being sick too. There was no other option but to just survive (it felt like) until we got better. She was pityful. I took her back to the doctor (FRIDAY, November 13--go figure) because I suspected she was dehydrated and she'd only had 1 wet diaper in almost a day and a half. He said he suspected she had swine flu because of her symptoms and only 50% of cases showed up positive on the flu test and 25% of swine flu cases in children had the severe vomiting and diarrhea. He sent her to the hospital for IV fluids and then we came home that evening. We stayed there until the fluid bag ran out and she peed. I've never been so excited to see that wet diaper!!!! She did NOT like the IV in her arm at all! She pretty much cried, ate a couple of bites of popsicles and I had to be creative in making her a toy to play with. We will call it: "Get Well-Glove Balloon".(They had given her a handmade bear that North Carolina Church of Christ makes for the kids in the hospital and she HATED IT! I had to get rid of it because she'd have nothing to do with it even after we got home. I guess it brought back bad memories).



The day after the hospital, she was already looking more revived. A few days later, she developed another fever and I took her in and she had bronchitis and a double ear infection. John's mom ended up getting sick and brought Bonnie back home. Luckily, Bonnie never got it. John's mom had the same symptoms as John and I and went to the doctor and tested positive for Swine Flu. So, we finally had confirmation that's what we all had......and we SURVIVED!!

Here are a few pictures of the hospital visit:




We tried to get her to color and she wasn't really interested.
Here's Ava holding her popsicle and checking the beef broth to see if it was hot.
They brought us 2 huge ones at a time. Most of them were wasted and melted. I told the nurse that they should invest in some Mighty Minis!


We finally got a smile out of her!