Swine Flu - Post #3

Well just in case I am at risk in disappointing anyone by not writing anymore re: our H1N1 experience, I will go ahead and do another entry. :) heehee

First, I just want to take a moment or two to say that the Lord has persevered us through this so well. We had only a few moments of true chaos, which is a lot to say considering we have been so ill and have been caring for 3 very little children.  God has held us together and strengthened us in what was so far in our established household the very worst of times. God, in His merciful providence, allowed me to get the least sick so that our home did not completely fall apart. I was able to care for everyone without getting totally burned out. I was even able to keep the house somewhat organized and laundry kept up with, and thanks to my Mom and Dad, we ate just fine! Vegetable beef soup, homemade pasta sauce, and ginger ale were delivered to our doors!  We just now have run out of "easy food" and just in time since I feel that I am well enough to get back to meal-making tomorrow. :)  The Lord cares for His children. He has blessed us so much through this sickness - that I'm sure many people do not realize. We were given many opportunities to pray with our children. We pray with them regularly during family worship and at mealtimes, but during this trial, our children have seen Ron and I look and act very concerned and worried and then pray together, out loud so that Matthew, Mia and even Kayla witnessed the way our relationship to God should be: in humble reliance upon His grace. We had many chances to talk about being content in all circumstances - even circumstances in which we don't feel well or scary times which we had many of this past week. We should be thankful to and always trusting in God - even when we may feel as though He is overlooking us. He is NEVER overlooking us. He cares, and works everything together for good in the lives of His children.  We talked about fear and trust and that when we are afraid, perhaps of taking medicine, we just need to do the right thing and take our medicine, even though we don't want to. We need to trust Mom & Dad AND obey them because God put them as leaders in our household, and all that they do, or have me do, they are doing for my good. When we obey our parents, we are obeying God because He commands us to obey our parents. This reminder helped many times when the kids were squeamish about taking medicine, or about coughing in the middle of the night and panicking.  This illness in our family is just one example of the Sovereignty of God. He is in control. Though we lost control several times, He NEVER lost control, and boy did we ever feel His hand on us during this time. :)

So! Today is seven days. We are still quite ill over here. Fevers still for everyone but me. Since the last time I wrote, much has happened, but not all of it I can remember. Beyond the fevers and coughing, there was Matthew's halllucinations. At the time he had a fever of over 105. He was laying in our bed in the middle of the night. This particular night he did not sleep more than a half hour all night. He was laying there, eyes half open, talking at a normal day-time volume, saying things like: "Mia??? Hi Mia." (She was in her own bed in another room.) I said "Matthew, Mia isn't in here." He said half-annoyed, "Yes, she is, she's right there. Mia? What are you doing Mia?" (Sounds funny now, but was scary.) Also, with his eyes wide open, he was saying "What? What did you say? I SAID What did you say?" and I would reply "Matthew, NO ONE is saying anything." He would just keep saying the same thing but faster: "I said What did you SAY? What did you say? What did you SAY???" Then he was claiming to see "slugs" and he was pointing to "leaves" and asking me if I saw them too. He went from mad to a sort-of giggle and then back to being quiet for a little while, and then burst out with some other exclamation and it would wake Ron and I up and we'd start all over again. I mentioned this to the Dr. and he said he was not surprised that with a temp so high he would hallucinate. So! That was interesting.

Mia and Kayla the last few days have been just extremely emotional, and crying almost constantly. I finally came to the conclusion that since Mia came down with this crazy flu first, she should be on her way to feeling better first. That wasn't happening. In fact, she was getting worse. She and Kayla were not sleeping AT ALL. I called the Dr. on Monday morning and made an appointment for Mia and Kayla even though I felt like a complete wacko. (During the time when I took Mia and Kayla to the Dr., God was taking such good care of us! Ron was SOOO sick with a high fever and with some other symptoms which I won't mention, and Matthew was feeling "ok" for the moment. Needless to say, Ron was not in any condition to "babysit" Matthew while I was away with the girls. I explained to him that he would have to pretend that he was a grown-up until I got back. I made him a sandwich (which of course he did not eat) and put it in the fridge and told him that if he was hungry, he could just go get it. I filled his sippy cup, turned a video on for him and left with the girls.  Ron was laid up the whole time I was gone but Matthew was as happy as a clam, caring for his Daddy (just checking on him), and sitting watching T.V. and keeping watch over the house! At the girls appointment, they were both so groggy and strange acting, which was a blessing in disguise because had they been feeling any better, it wouldn't have been an easy time with two as little as they are.  Additionally, I was so relieved and almost broke down in tears when the Dr. said that both of them had double ear infections caused by all of the drippy noses and sniffing. :( I just was relieved to know that it wasn't just the flu causing their misery, but was something on top of that which could actually be treated! They have been on the antibiotics for 24 hrs. and they are so much better, albeit still carrying fevers around 101 degrees. Things are slowly getting back to normal.

One thing that I learned thru all of this is that fevers don't kill kids. My kids, although they did not eat almost the whole time they were sick, (and still aren't eating, grrr...) drank a very good amount of all different fluids, but did not eat. They kept well hydrated and although they had VERY high fevers, they pulled through just fine. We treated the fevers constantly and they didn't really go down much.  They would just get out of the 104-105+ range, and go back to the 102-103+ range. We were concerned about the fevers being dangerous and each time I'd call the Dr. he'd just tell me that a fever is just a reflection of the condition of the body and to not pay attention to the number unless the kids were acting sluggish (to a scary degree), or if they weren't drinking. Now, I am still always going to be concerned about a high fever but at least I'll have that in the back of my mind - that they've been through the worst.


Ron, who was the last to get sick, is still quite sick. He is still getting fevers, and has a horrible, painful cough. We were convinced that he had pneumonia but nope; he visited the Dr. today and he just has the same thing that plagues all of us. Dr. even said that we could keep our plans to leave for FL on the 12th, but we aren't about to do that. We want to be completely back to normal, and well-rested, which I believe we'll still have a hard time achieving in the 9 days we have until we leave. That's how much of a DOOZEY this virus was/is!!!!

I think it goes without saying that we absolutely recommend getting vaccinated.  Ron and I both said that we had NEVER been this sick in all our almost 30 years and that we'd both rather have a one or two day bug where we were vomiting etc... than have this swine flu. The body aches, very painful cough, and dehabilitating fevers were mind-boggling to say the very least.

Even though we aren't out of the woods yet, this will be my last "Swine Flu" entry. We sincerely appreciate all the prayers, all of the kind and encouraging words thoughts and deeds from all that were aware of our "condition".  Stay tuned to hear about what happens next in the Tumbry family! 

And thank you so much for reading my rambling! :) Stay well all.