Shoot Me Now

I think I mentioned that my child has taken ill recently. This is his third bout of strep throat in 2011 and since we weren't having enough fun, we decided to throw in a little influenza A. All this in the midst of a job and insurance change (with an $1800 deductible, thank you), throw in some COBRA payments, some MRIs, X-Rays, CT scans, an ambulance ride and all sorts of other medical excitement (that's all Matt's stuff, Ethan didn't require nearly as much excitement) and we are having an expensive medical party! Wanna come? I really need to post about the valentine/birthday party ambulance trip--it was really exciting. But back to the topic at hand--the child with the flu.

In my defense, getting a flu shot in Michigan is about as easy as a triathlon. I'm only exaggerating a wee bit. Our first year in Michigan I tried to get my children a flu shot. This was the year of the swine flu, but nonetheless, even the standard flu shot was not readily available. My doctor apparently didn't get any childrens vaccine from the the state so the other option was to go wait in line at the county health department on a particular day with every other county resident and their children for several hours to try and get a flu shot. I drove down there and saw that the line snaked around two city blocks in freezing temperatures and decided given we'd all probably die of hypothermia and boredom before getting shot, I bagged it. And nobody got the flu.

This year no swine flu, so surely my doc would get the shot. No such luck. Nobody retail will stick a kid--oh, and Elliot would have to go through the routine twice. So, this year I got my shot at the drugstore as did Matt and I missed the flu shot clinics for the boys before I realized they were even being held. It's amazing every child in Michigan doesn't die of the flu before the year is out. In February, shortly after Ethan's second round of strep, they shut his school down for a couple of days because there was too much flu going around. Ya think? Perhaps if they made the shot more readily available, we could avoid this.

I digress. So, even though it makes me look like a selfish and bad parent, I've just showed up in Texas and my child takes ill and I have to explain to the doctor that no, I didn't get either child shot, and yes, my husband and I got ours . . . but in my defense . . . nobody wants to hear my excuses amidst the condescending looks and clicking tongues. Besides people, I am being punished for my sins. I really, really, really am.

You see, when Elliot was a mere newborn and Ethan was nigh upon 3 years old, Ethan contracted influenza A. Again I was punished for my selfishness. I had gotten my shot at one of my OB visits, and had never gotten around to getting Ethan his. Does anyone out there have a strong-willed, belligerent, bull-headed child? Then you understand this. I spent two weeks of pure hell quarantining the baby from the three year old who refused to take any kind of fever reducer of his own free will. His fever spiked to 106 multiple times. We spent a good three evenings in the ER where the nurses kindly pinned him down and administered tylenol while he screamed. He spat $80 tamilfu exorcist style all over his bedroom walls. He learned how to spit medicine out of the back of his throat while his head was pinned down and his jaw held open by his desperate parents. I once turned on a cold shower and threw him in fully clothed to follow through on my threat that if he did not take his medicine, I would hold him under a cold shower to get his body temperature down. It did only take one cold shower for him to be somewhat more cooperative--but only slightly more so. Once the fever finally broke--8 days after it began--it immediately returned with searing ear pain. We took him to the doctor who just barely dodged the brunt of a full-force three-year-old kick to the groin while attempting to examine his ear.

I swore I would get a flu shot for my children from then on out. So much for swearing. Here we are again, and though he doesn't spit the medicine back out at me, and he doesn't typically require being pinned down, he is certainly not cooperative or pleasant about the whole thing. In an effort to keep his fever from spiking to the point where he is really miserably uncooperative, we've been waking him up every three hours at night to administer fever reducer. This morning at 3am, I spent 20 minutes arguing with him about swallowing one stinking pill so he could go back to sleep and not wake up in pain. We've had tantrums, night sweats that end in screaming matches because somehow it's my fault that he's soaked in sweat and refuses to let me help him change his clothes or take medicine, hunger strikes, bellyaches (of every variety) and just plain unpleasantness. Try explaining to a 7-year-old at 2am that you would like to help him, but rudeness, belligerence, and screaming at your mother typically don't make her want to help you very badly.

I think he's on themend. At least I really really really hope he's getting better, for all of our sakes.

P.S. Should I feel bad that I sent him to school for a day after two days on the antibiotic (for the strep) assuming that his crankiness was due to just being home too long rather than to (as we later found out) the flu?

P.S.S. Do you think we brought this with us from Michigan, or did he catch it after he got here? How long does it take to incubate?

P.P.S.S. What are the chances Elliot won't get it?

P.P.P.S.S.S. Did I mention that if the strep keeps coming back they want to do a CT scan to look for an abscess on his tonsils or throat which would have to be surgically drained? That should make for a fun recovery.