Swine Flu Has Visited My House

This has been a tough few months for the kids.  We've probably been through 4 different viruses since school started in August, despite being chronic hand washers, having a no-shoes policy in the house and disinfecting our hands whenever we enter our car after we've been out and about.  The kids collected the airborne viruses like magnets.  Thankfully, they never contracted any of the really ugly digestive-type illnesses, though (I chalk this up to the diligent hand washing).  We did get the seasonal flu shot but did not and will not get the Swine Flu vaccine because of concerns about its efficacy and the connection to Guillain-Barre Syndrome.

My five-year-old ran a fever a few weeks ago and the fever lasted for maybe a week, peaking one day at 106F.  He was lethargic and had a headache.  But we had him tested TWICE for Swine Flu and Strep and the tests were always negative.

So when he ran a slight fever over this past weekend and had a slight cough but was otherwise okay, I kept him home from school for the duration of the fever (as I always do) but otherwise didn't think much of it.  But on Friday, as I packed for our trip to LA, I decided he should get tested one more time.  The cough had really lingered and I wanted to be sure before I exposed hundreds of people to him.  Sure enough, SWINE FLU.  I was flabbergasted.  This was almost a non-event - I almost didn't even have him tested, and none of the rest of us got sick.

So he had to stay home with his Dad and I went alone to LA.  He was devastated.

I just thought I'd share our experience so that folks might understand that not everyone ends up in the hospital, not everyone gets terribly ill from Swine Flu.  If you do not have underlying health problems, think HARD before you get the Swine Flu vaccine and all that comes with it.  Don't succumb to the hysteria.