Flu 2020

The coronavirus is in the world news, but the flu is around the homestead.

The school sent out multiple alerts and Shane's classroom has had upwards of a third of the kids out each week.

It was his turn this week.

Shane had a small cough Wednesday morning. He seemed fine, got on the bus, and went to school.

Carrie got a call from the nurse around noon. There was no fever, but Shane had visited her twice and felt ill. We scheduled a doctor's appointment (4 PM) just in case it was the flu and to try out a practice closer to home. Then it was decided Carrie would pick Shane up at the final bell instead of sending him to after school. 

Carrie said Shane was in the nurse's office in tears when she arrived. She asked me to come home a little early to help with the appointment. 

I found Shane curled up on the couch when I got home around 3:45 PM.

We went to the practice just inside of town. From what I've read, it's been around since the late 80s or early 90s with the same doctor in charge (Aka - A long time!).

Shane kept wanting to lay down on the floor, but we made him sit in a chair. He semi-laid as best he could.

I would have hoped some of this didn't need to be spelled out.

We had to wait for a little bit, but it wasn't too bad (We arrived 10  minutes early for paperwork and waited around 15-20 total).

Doctor J took us back for the examination. Shane complained his side and his legs ached, so Dr J felt around. Then he had Shane jump up and down and ruled out appendicitis. The first signs of a fever were now appearing (100.4 F) and the doctor forewent a flu test called it like he saw it.

Two notes: 

1) The decor was very old and the poster (partly seen above) of Cold War era fighter planes amused me.

2) The doctor didn't use gloves. He was 'old fashioned' and just spritzed some sanitizer on afterwards.

There was a small, local pharmacy next door, but they were out of Tamiflu. We got Shane some motrin and I drove us up to Wegman's instead. Shane slept.

The pharmacist at Wegman's was concerned that the doctor wrote the prescription for a half-dose of Tamiflu. She called and talked to him, but he said he'd had good results with the half-dose and didn't see a need for anything else. It had Carrie a little worried, but I figured we'd take it as information and see what the results were (Tamiflu has a mixed reputation and there is such a thing as over-medicating). She choose tutti-fruitti for the flavoring.

Shane threw up the first dose of medicine in a neat pile on the counter. It wasn't tutti-fruitti enough to keep down.

The first night was rough. Carrie had crashed on the couch. Shane woke her up in the middle of the night with a 105.1 F fever. She gave him some medicine and then woke me to let me know. "Now, I've got to go back out there and pretend not to be worried!" They made it through the night, but she didn't get much sleep. 

Carrie took charge of the home front, so that I could keep teaching. She and Loki kept an eye on Shane as he watched Pokemon.

Thursday, I got a few texts during the day with pictures and updates. The highest his fever hit was 104 F.

I was smarter about things Thursday night. Instead of letting Shane's medicine run out in the middle of the night, I set an alarm for the middle of the night. I got up and gave him another dose to help manage the fever and let him sleep sounder (He wasn't happy about being woken!). That kept Carrie asleep, too.

Friday was more of the same. The fever stayed lower and I don't think it crept out of the 101 F range.

Shane was still sleeping when I got home right after work on Friday.

Carrie was a silent sentinel keeping an eye on her boy.

Carrie didn't do much with the horses either day. She said that when she ran out to feed them quickly on Thursday, Shane started to cry and look for her.

That left a lot of poop for me. I came home shortly after work each day to do the extra barn chores while there was still daylight.

It put me a little behind on the school work, but everything at the barn goes faster when you can see what you're doing.

I was groggy enough I misplaced a pair of scissors for a couple of days. I couldn't figure out where they were for the life of me! I searched around the boys hay feeder by flashlight while they ate and checked their hay bags the next morning. Carrie found them safely out of the way on a stall wall that I swore I checked.

Shane stayed sick through the weekend, but the fever was gone by midday Saturday. We still gave him a dose of Motrin Saturday night just in case, but he went all Sunday without. Shane kept complaining his feet hurt and walked like someone taped tacks to the bottom of them. Honestly, he seemed to be trying to milk things, but we weren't buying it. His energy level was still low, so we kept him home Monday before sending him back to school.

Funny side story:

By buying our first prescription at Wegmans, Carrie got a $10 credit for groceries. "It was meant to be," she declared and bought a cherry pie!

"Cherry?" I asked. "Did it have to be cherry?" I'm not a fan of tart. "Why not something good like apple?"

I got hushed and a little later Shane woke up. Carrie told him about the pie.

"I like cherry," Shane started. Carrie beamed...., but then she almost shushed him when he continued. "...but if cherry is level 1 good, apple is level 3 good."

Like father, like son! I laughed!

I can't remember Shane's exact words, but I remember it started to sound in cherry/Carrie's favor until Shane let it be known apple was much better!

Social Summer Checklisting

With VBS over and company gone, it was time to get back to the checklist Monday. I took Shane for a child wellness checkup at 10 AM.

He's 49.25 inches tall and 53 lbs. That puts him solidly in the 40 to 50 percentile range for height, weight, and body mass index (BMI). He's a solid kid and healthy kid if a long way slowed down from topping the charts as a baby.

I'm big on reminding Shane to bring things to entertain himself with when we go places. He must figure he's fine as long as he has me! I usually end up bringing stuff even after he picks up a book, gets distracted, and then puts it down before we go.

Shane likes to draw, but he never draws quietly. He narrates the whole process. He switched from talking to me to the doctor when she came in. There were volcanoes.

Shane eventually stopped talking long enough for the doctor to check him out. He got a full bill of health and no shots were due.

We tagged base at home and went to the dentist at 12:30 PM. He loves one toy in particular they have.

His gums were healing nicely from the frenectomy. It took all of a minute for them to clear him. The therapy dog was new. They dental technician acted like it wasn't, but she's at the office daily instead of several times a year.

We were all set to go home, but Shane wanted to stay and play with the office toys some. We didn't have anywhere to be and he was self-entertaining, so why not? I sat down and he went to play.

There was another family in the waiting room. I noticed they way they dressed and presumed it was based on their beliefs. I was happy when Shane started to make his way over and be friendly.

I figured they were waiting for an appointment and hoped Shane offering to play would be a blessing for both parties.

Shane eventually introduced himself to the mother and made some conversation. It looked like she was reading and possibly texting on her phone, so I moved 'Amish?' down on my internal observation list.

I offered a comment or two, but didn't get the feeling the mother wanted to converse.

So, I let the kids playing do the talking.

I did find it curious that the girl tended to fade the more Shane played. She stuck to the outside and at one point I heard her mom remind her to keep quieter. Perhaps there was a rule about talking to males outside the family? I'll have to look some of that up later out of curiosity.

I wish that Shane hadn't made the animals start fighting each other at one point or saying a scorpion stinger could kill you. He got a bit hyper and into it a few times. The boy seemed interested in the farm toys.

I was able to make some polite conversation after the kids played for an hour. They'd come in to town for a morning appointment and then decided to wait around a couple of hours rather than leave and come back. A movie came on, The Flintstones, and the kids all started to zone into it, so I decided it was time to head out with Shane. We'd already hung out and played over an hour!

Plus, we had a friend to meet later.

I'd offered to take Shane and Sam to the library in the afternoon. I wanted to pick up some audiobooks for our upcoming road trips.

One of my goals this summer was to build connections, so what better way to accomplish two things than by inviting a friend?

The boys talked Plants vs Zombies like men obsessed. Sam mentioned the game to Shane the other week. I'd happened to buy the game for a $1 on a steam sale and let Shane play it after they talked. They discussed plants, zombies, strategy, and Plant vs Zombies comics all the way to the library and once in it. They looked up the books together on the computer system.

Then they ran to find the Plants vs Zombie books and read them. I put a Sonic comic on the ground to grab Shane's attention. "Don't you each want to read a book?" I asked.

Nope.

I hadn't planned a long stay, but the boys were happy reading on the floor. Then the skies started to pour.

I was able to browse around without any trouble. The boys hung together.

Other than one short wrestling break it was library appropriate!

It was the longest Shane and I have ever stayed in a library just to read.

I nearly laughed when the boys laid down in front of the children's librarian to read. The library was nearly empty or it might have caused a problem! I was half-annoyed they'd lay in the middle of the main walkway, but the librarians didn't say anything. The boys were engrossed in their books and it was hilarious, so I let it stand.

Positive peer pressure for a couple of fun hours reading at the library!

I let the boys have some Plants vs Zombies when we got home.

I told Shane to make sure he let Sam have a turn, but Sam insisted he wanted to watch; Not play. That suited Shane.

The boys did awesome together. The only bump in the road was when Sam's mom came to pick him up. Sam did not want to be pried away from Shane and the computer! He argued some with his mom, but that wasn't a big deal.

It was a bigger deal when Sam broke our house's cardinal rule: He stomped on the floor during Nova's sleep period. It was on the way out to show his displeasure, but Carrie won't allow that in the house if he wants to visit during the day!

Around 6:20 PM Shane started to act odd. He started complaining his head hurt and that he was hungry. I gave him a hard time about waiting nicely and needing to not zombie himself and neglect his needs when a computer was on. However, he kept complaining. There was no fever and after I'd given him enough of a hard time, I picked him up and sat down on the couch with him.

Shane fell asleep against me before 7 PM. He woke up for a little bit to transfer to Carrie. I got him some acetaminophen and he went back to sleep. Shane was in his room and down for the night by 7:30 PM! He slept the whole night, too! The stink must have been way-overtired from a full day following a weekend of visitors and electronics.

Spoiler alert: Shane felt better after sleeping 12 hours the next day.

Didn't we just see you?

Tuesday was day 2 of VBS. While initially reluctant, Shane was all in now. He was ready to see his new friends.

It was, also, day 2 of my summer checklist and my turn to get poked and prodded. I had a physical/"health-and-wellness" checkup. Nothing got the doctor really excited until I told him we were going to visit Maine. That derailed the whole conversation! He launched into recollections and recommendations. It felt like it made his day.

It was a much smoother check-up, because Shane was with Nana and Pop! Hadn't we just seen them at the beach and over the weekend!? They were on their way back from helping Megan with Sammy and stopped by. We got some afternoon childcare and then Shane and I drove out to Staunton to join them, Patrick, and Shelby for dinner!

And if you thought things couldn't get any better, the restaurant gave us some free ice cream for dessert!

I wish everyone lived closer and that summer was twice as long! It's great to get to spend time with everyone.

Time For Your Check-Up! Time For Your Check-Up!

Shane had a check-up today. I left work a few minutes early so that Mr. Social could play with a stethoscope.

And a rolly chair.

He wasn't heavy enough to make it go down, so I had to swap in. Then Shane would pull the lever for elevator action.

The doctor showed him how to work a sphygmometer, later. She said, "I hope I don't regret this!"

Shane rather enjoyed his visit. He asked a lot of questions and got a lot of answers. We used the light to make shadows around the room whenever the doctor stepped out.

Shane weighed in a 46.2 lbs and measured 3 ft 8.5" (43rd percentile). He's up six pounds and two and a half inches from December. The numbers predict he'll be about 155 lbs and 5'8" as an adult......which is basically what I am (160 lbs, 5' 8.5"). I still think/hope he'll be bigger.

The one unpleasant surprise for Shane was his vaccinations were due. I knew in advance, so I had him playing Angry Birds on my phone. He was oblivious as we sat him in my lap, pulled down his pants, and the nurses prepped to stab him in the thighs. He's a huge drama king at the thought of a needle or any type of pain. I didn't want to lie to him, so when he asked "What's this all for?" I said, "You're about to get your shots."

He tensed. "WHAT!?!?" I wrapped his legs in mine, pinned his arms, and the nurses struck. The shots were in before Shane stopped fighting and realized it was all over.

Then he played some more Angry Birds (works like a charm).

Now I have to finish filling out the paperwork for Shane's school. He was supposed to have had his check-up back on February 29th. However, the doctor's office somehow managed to not have a phone number or email attached to Shane for reminders even though he's insured and registered all through me. I remembered all the previous appointments, so I never realized until the February appointment came and went. I thought Carrie and I had done a great job prepping for Kindergarten until the school nurse called, "Physical or no school. When can you get it done by?"

There's always something.

This one's done. I took Shane home for dinner before TKD and he'll be on that yellow bus first thing in the morning.