H1N1: Living With Swine Flu

A Few Swine Flu Necessities

Last week some of you may have read that I mentioned my family was sick with the flu, so we were going to have to wait until after everyone was better before we got flu shots. Well the day after I posted that we found out that the flu we had in our house was not just any flu, but H1N1.

That’s right, we’d been swine flued (I don’t know if that phrase will catch on, but I’m going to try and push it out there). The ugly flu going around here in my sleepy little suburb turned out to be the one and only H1N1. Now before you rush off to go wash your hands and disinfect your computer after reading something written by someone exposed to swine flu, relax.

I’ll tell you a little secret that we were made privy to by two different pediatricians in the last two weeks, the Swine Flu? Well, it’s just the Flu. Don’t go telling the media or anything though, because then they wouldn’t have anything to panic us about.

Seriously, it is a NASTY flu. My husband got sick (fever, vomiting, aches, etc.) on a Monday. My son came down with fever & aches on Wednesday. And my daughter pulled in the fever & vomiting on Friday.  Every 48 hours we had a new patient in our house.

Waiting in the Waiting Room for Doctor Visit #2

From what I understand, now, local doctors are not even testing for H1N1 because 99% of the flu cases where I live were coming back positive. The doctors we saw were very quick to stress that it was not that much different then the regular flu. The real danger was of course watching for Secondary infections. Which as it turned out did occur with all three members of my ailing family. My husband’s turned into pneumonia. And both kids had theirs turn into bronchial infections.

But, my son has had the flu in past years and it turned bronchial. It’s just how he rolls. So it was a complication we watch for anyway. And my husband, well he smokes. If you smoke, chances are any flu is going to take you down a little harder then someone who doesn’t. Whether it’s H1N1 or not. And my daughter, well they weren’t positive hers had turned bronchial, but they treated her for it anyway, which was fine with me.

My advice to you? If H1N1 is running rampant in your community stock up on soup and your favorite cold & flu medicine. And talk to your doctor or pediatrician to see what the H1N1 situation looks like in the area you live in. Think about the vaccine, if it’s still available. And don’t panic. If your kids do get sick, just take care of them and watch them close for any signs of it turning into something worse. For us it was a day or two of feeling better and then BOOM! The fever came back out of nowhere.

The most important thing to remember during this outbreak of H1N1 is that the ONLY person you should really be seeking advice from is YOUR doctor.

As for my family and me well everyone is on the mend and back at school and work. I never did get sick, though as I write this I have a bit of a head cold. But that’s ok. I’ve got a cupboard full of soup and some cold medicine sitting beside me on my desk. Because after all, it is flu season you know.

Meghan Harvey is the Community Manager for MomConnect & all though she has no actual medical expertise considers herself to be way more knowledgeable about H1N1 then she would like to be.