Last Wednesday, I finally received a phone call from our doctor’s office telling me that they had the pediatric preservative free seasonal flu shots in for JSL. The rest of us had our at the end of August and September. We opted to wait to have the shot today since the nurse that is the best at doing vaccines was in today. So bright and early this morning JSL and I went to the doctor’s office. The office was pretty quiet, although the phones were ringing off the hook.
When my father heard that I was heading there, he asked me to inquire about him getting a flu shot. So, I was the good daughter and asked. The receptionist nearly laughed at me. She told me that they have not had any in quite some time and have a list of about 700 people waiting for them! Was she exaggerating? Who knows. All I can say is, I really hope my father can secure one at another location and thank goodness the four of us are now immunized.
After JSL had his flu shot, I asked the nurse about the H1N1 vaccines. Our office still has not received any (family practice, not pediatricians office). Then she asked if I was on the list. I told her that I assumed we were since I have asked several times about them. WRONG! The words that I often use came and bit me in the butt! "Never assume anything!" Oy! We are now at the bottom of page four on the H1N1 vaccine list. When I asked if there was going to be a system as to how they would vaccinate people on the list, I was told they were not sure yet.
I’m not trying to push my kids to the front here, but a 30-60 year old person should not be getting this vaccine over children and pregnant women (I am NOT in that category). I know in August the doctor told me that they would be giving only pregnant woman and children the shot and she told me I would not qualify until a major surplus was around, even with my asthma.
Fast forward to this afternoon.
I went into NHL’s school to drop off some juice for the school Halloween party on Friday. While in the office, I stopped to collect the Box Tops For Education. The secretary stopped the principal from talking to tell her something. There were 66 children home sick today. Something to note, my son’s elementary school is pretty small. There are 271 children in grades PreK-6. Our area is really getting slammed with cases of H1N1 in the last week, especially kids. I cringed and went outside to wait for NHL.
NHL came out of school and something caught my eye. He looked horrible. His eyes had big rings around them and they were glassy looking. He immediately told me that he had a headache. As we walked to the car, he was coughing some. This was not a good sign since it was pretty much the same symptoms I had in what they are 99% sure was H1N1. I immediately sent a message to TechyDad that I was heading to the pharmacy to pick up Tamiflu for NHL. A prescription had been called in for him 2 weeks ago when JSL got the bug.
We went to the pharmacy to pick up the Tamiflu, new thermometer and some other items to give to a sick kiddo. On the way there, NHL almost fell asleep in the car. He was barely responsive and his head was really warm. When we were done getting everything, I put the boys into the car and opened up the thermometer to check NHL’s temperature. Sure enough, it was high for him. When we got home, I cooled him down and tried it again – even higher. I gave him Motrin and it got his temperature down. Tonight, TechyDad and I have noticed that he is coughing a little more. We are waiting to start the Tamiflu at this point, but have it in case we need it in the middle of the night.
NHL will definitely be home from school Tuesday, adding to the number of kids absent at school. It will be interesting to see how the school reacts to all of the sick kids. Now, we must just sit back and watch to see how NHL’s symptoms go. My biggest fear is his asthma and the fact that he did have a febrile seizure when he was almost one.
