I am:

• The freak at the grocery store that uses those Clorox wipes they provide to sanitize my carts. Like ALL OVER THE CART. Around the cart any area kids can touch. Its like a 10 minute process to say the least. Oh. And my baby doesn't ride IN the cart. My purse does. Strapped to the seat so no one can snatch it while I shop. Baby gets worn. Of course!
• The mom who's daughter is already on her 3rd bottle of hand sanitizer for her backpack this year alone. Not the tiny little bottles but the normal sized kind.
• We avoid public places from November till the flowers start to sprout...like the plague. (ask my friends a girlfriend called me today giggling about this!)
• We go through soap in our house almost weekly. We wash our hands like crazy (when we come home, after we eat, after we...well you get the point!) Don't even get me started on how often we change our hand towels! My laundry is over flowing.
• Yes, we are all vaccinated. From everything. Including the flu.

This last week was my oldest's 7th birthday. I felt great and then the night of her party I felt just plain exhausted. I figured no big deal, we just had a party. I am just tired. Next morning I woke up feeling awful. Like I had the absolute worst cold of my life. The kind that makes your head hurt. My neck hurt so unbelievably bad up the sides where your sinuses run. My ears were in so much pain. I was exhausted and my body ached a bit. I felt like I had been hit by a truck...but wait. I HAD been hit by a truck a few weeks prior! So really wasn't sure if my body hurt from that or being sick.

My friend is a nurse and kept texting me things to watch out for. I shrugged her off thinking she is a worry wart. Promising that if anything else comes on I will go to the doctor. That night I was miserable. Hot flashes so bad I was sweating. I would wake up soaked and it felt as though I had wet the bed. THEN I would go from the hot extreme to absolutely freezing. Like fleece blanket wrapped around my head, sweat pants, knee high fluffy socks (OH MY HEAVEN thank you Target!) and in my flannel Winter sheets piled high with blankets. Nothing was helping me get warm. 

This was my "fever" portion of the flu.

Next morning I called my husband as I could hardly keep my head up. I literally laid on my couch instructing my kids on what they needed to get done. BEGGING them to be quiet to not wake the baby or Ava Faith. They fed themselves nutri grain bars and thankfully my oldest can pour drinks now! (and I am not talking about martini's!). My body ached so incredibly bad. My head hurt and my ears were in so much pain I felt as thought they might explode. A friend picked up my daughter. Told me to not worry she would take care of picking her up as well. I got an appointment with my doctor and my husband came home to shuffle #2 to school and his wifey poo to the doctor.


I was at the doctor for almost an hour. In this amount of time I laid on the table hardly moving and wincing with disgust of the person currently losing themselves in the bathroom at the wall behind me. Disgusting. My doctor came in lungs sounded great (thank you Lord as I am an asthmatic). She was happy that I had my flu shot already. Like 2 1/2 months prior. She did different tests and came to the conclusion that I had a sinus infection. I asked her about the flu and she said "you have all the symptoms for the flu but your lungs sound great which makes me lean towards you don't. But lets do a test just to be sure." I thought PHEW...she thinks I am in the clear I will get a little slip of paper and be on my way to health and happiness. The nurse came in stuck a LOOOOOONG cotton swap sorta thing up my nose (you know they ones they stick in your throat for the strep test). She warned me not to move at all or she can hurt the inside of my nose and then she shoved that son of a dill pickle UP into my nasal passage. YOU try to hold still, feeling awful while they do that. If I wasn't so out of it I might of kicked her! OW! THEN she did it to the other side!

The test took 10 minutes and they were shocked when the results read +. My doctor was very glad I had the vaccine because with my asthma I would have been a person at high risk of other complications. And that with the vaccine it would decrease the severity and length of the flu all together. Oh and, I was just shy of 48 hours so was no longer able to get tamiflu. I was instructed to isolate myself to our home. And to call the kids doctor immediately to let them know. Rest and sleep with lots of hydration was on my books. Oh and a prescription to help with the sinus infection.

I left devastated. I was scared.

The baby had started coughing and sneezing that morning. Because of her being under the age of 2 she was the one the pediatrician was most worried about. He said the same thing as my doctor that he was thankful we had all been vaccinated as it will help her. Also to nurse as often as she wants as my antibodies will help her fight it as well. They put her on tamiflu and we were off to our house of isolation!

Tamiflu is awful. Just the smell of it makes you vomit in your own mouth. Its disgusting.

In all, so far, 4 of us have gotten it and we are waiting with bated breath for the last 2 to get it. 1 has started with cold like symptoms today and will be staying home tomorrow because of it. We are extremely thankful for friends who have brought meals and even the school secretary at my daughters school who went ABOVE and beyond and dropped off: Milk, bread, lactose free milk, bananas, apples, oranges, orange juice, lunch meat, a gynormous sub sandwich, eggs, fried chicken, and even pasta meals. Her kindness brought me to tears! We were out of so much being home bound and I was floored that someone would take the time to care this much! Here's the thing...people commonly throw around the word "flu" any ol' time they catch a stomach bug etc. But that's just it. YOUR TUMMY IS USUALLY NOT AFFECTED by flu. In fact you are starving. I have literally lost weight this week from not eating as much as I should!

If you look up the CDC website  it clearly says the symptoms of flu are: fever, muscle aches, headache, lack of energy, dry cough, sore throat, and possibly runny nose. The fever and body aches can last 3-5 days and the cough and lack of energy may last for 2 or more weeks. I find everything the wrote to be exactly true. My doctor, pediatrician and further research into this website all say that vomiting and GI issues are not common with influenza. BUT if you take Tamiflu those are side affects! Tamiflu is nasty. Really only get it if it is needed and your doctors will be able to help guide you through this.

We left for an hour on Friday and took the baby to the doctor for her 9 month check up and to have the kids looked at. The doctor said if the kids get a fever then the "cold" is truly the flu. This isn't for everyone but because we were already tested this would be the case. If you do have the flu or suspect you have the flu call your doctor. Pediatrician offices usually have a side door you can ask to go through. This way others can avoid you and you them.

The flu season is awful this year. THOUSANDS are testing positive every single day. It is taking down perfectly healthy people. You can NOT get the flu from the shot. I have had the shot every single year and this is the first time I have ever been sick. I can tell you right now my family will continue to get the vaccine as I do believe that it lessened the severity of it for us. If this is a lessened version I do not even want to know what a bad version is like. Because flu comes on like a cold...watch for signs like fever and get tested immediately. Drink lots of fluids and get lots of rest. I pray all of you stay healthy and happy!! Have a blessed day!