OINK OINK

Well, well, well. WHAT a long weekend.

As you know from my previous post (and status updates on FB, if you friend me there), we have been an H1N1 household - or, at least we ASSUME.

For those of you who haven't personally experienced the H1N1 merry-go-round, here are some facts you may not already know:

1. H1N1 does not always present with fever. MY PCP told me that swine flu presents with a high fever so, if you don't have a fever, you don't have swine flu. H1N1 was, therefore, ruled out for me right away. Daisy did not have a fever. Although she was warm to the touch, her temp was only 98.0. Her pediatrician tested her for it anyway and she tested positive. The ped said that some kids are presenting with mild forms of the flu (thankfully, Daisy) but that doesn't mean that it isn't H1N1. Of course, this also makes me think that the actual cases of H1N1 are under-diagnosed. If you don't have a fever, you're less likely to go to the doctor and, if you do, some doctors are not on-top of the latest info enough to know to still test you.
2. The test for swine flu in infants IS NOT FUN. It's basically a cue-tip on steroids, shoved up their nose and to the back of their throat and held there for 10 seconds. Because I already had the flu when Daisy had her appointment, I didn't go into the pediatrician's office. (Didn't really want to wear the mask and be looked-at like a lepper by fearful moms and dads.) Poor Daddy, therefore, was left with the task of holding Daisy down as the doctor shoved the thing up her nose. He came out crying and said that it was the first time he had ever seen real fear in Daisy's eyes. Of course, that made me cry too. Parenthood makes weepies out of the best of us.
3. There is, actually, no specific swine flu test. It's just a test to determine if you have Influenza A or B. H1N1 falls within Influenza A. They don't have a test that differentiates between types of A viruses, however, so, if you have A, doctors are treating you as if you have the oinkers. So, we could actually of NOT had swine flu. Who knows?

On top of all of this is the weird circumstances around how we think we caught the flu.

The weekend before we all got sick, Daisy's nanny, Brandy, reported that her husband had the flu. He went to the emergency room and was tested for H1N1; they told him he didn't have it. Then Brandy got sick on Tuesday. Then I started to cough on Wednesday night and Daisy woke up sick on Thursday. All circumstantial, rational evidence suggests that we caught what Brandy and her husband had.

BUT Brandy's husband tested negative for the swine flu and both of them had fevers and really bad aches over the course of several days, while Hubby, Daisy, and I did not have fevers and were really only sick for a few days. In addition, my doc diagnosed me with a sinus infection on Friday morning, while Joss and Daisy were both examined for the same and told they did not have one.

And, yes, if you're reading this and thinking it's all a bit confusing, well, it is. In the absense of any information (see my previous posts on flu issues), poor information (as in my conversations with the pediatrician's receptionist about Daisy's second flu shot, or my misinformed PCP), or confusing information (as in the "is it swine flu?" question) people tend to worry, fret, and panic. Just yesterday 5,000 people lined up around a Sacramento school from 8am in the morning to get one of 2,000 H1N1 vaccines being offered at a free clinic that wasn't even opening until 3:30pm. (Of course, more people probably caught the flu from standing in line than actually were saved from it by getting the vaccine.)

Now, of course, the question arises: Do WE still need to get vaccinated? Given that we still don't know if we actually had swine flu, perhaps we do? Obviously, that's another call to the pediatrician. All I can say is that I'm going to wait for Mercy to get it in; I am not standing in a line of 5,000 people for 8 hours.

As for how we're doing now, our residual symptoms seem to be a cough and a stuffy nose. Otherwise, we're basically out the other side... for now. I'm sure this won't be our last brush with sickness over the course of the flu season, however, so I hesitate to breathe a sigh of relief yet.

Beyond better, Daisy seems to have emerged from the oinkers with renewed vigor, leaving Hubby and I trying desperately to keep up with her. She's crawling around at lightening speed, pulling herself up on every surface available, trying to take steps on her own (but falling and crying), attempting to climb the stairs, and seems magnetically pulled to just about anything that can cause her harm. Despite how exhausting and frustrating this can be when you're tired and sick (or, in my case, immobile with a bad back), it's so fun to watch her jam around the living room, pulling toys out of her toy box, hitting things to make noise, rattling her rattles, pushing her balls, and flipping through books - all on her own! It's amazing how far she's come so fast. She's barely 7 months old!

As soon as I get my wits about me again, I'll try and post some pics and video of her in action.