House of Sick

Reese started coughing last Friday night when she was at my parents', and when we picked her up Saturday, and she was still coughing.  On Sunday, she developed a fever, and we're now on day 6 of her fever spiking to 102-103+ when the Tylenol/Motrin wears off.    I feel so helpless to get her well!   She's thankfully in good spirits and playing, singing, talking (and talking, talking, talking) as normal, but her cough isn't getting any better nor is her temperature.

I first took her to the pediatrician on Monday - I was worried she had H1N1 since she had gotten the mist the Tuesday before.   Since she was getting her seasonal flu vaccine at the same time, she had to get one vaccine as a shot and the other as the mist (the attenuated vaccine).  At the time she was getting her vaccination, the pediatrician said the risk of her developing flu from the mist was very, very, very slim and that I also didn't need to worry about Sprinkle contracting it through viral shedding, either.  I was okay with it at the time, but then when my baby got sick, I really started to second guess.    When Dr. Alley saw on her Monday, he said she didn't have the flu based on her level of energy.    I asked about having her tested to make sure, and he said that the tests are only 70% accurate, and at this point (over 48 hours after symptom onset), they would treat her the same whether or not she had the flu.   The 48 hours is important as that's the window in which Tamiflu is most effective for alleviating flu symptoms.   He also mentioned that they've been getting reports of bad reactions to Tamiflu in children such as nightmares, so he advised against it based on the fact that she likely didn't have the flu and even if she did, it wouldn't be very effective at this point in time.  He did, however, give me a prescription for it as a preventative since we thought Jim might have the flu (which we now think was just food poisoning).

I took Reese to the pediatrician again yesterday since she started saying her ears hurt.  I was actually HOPING she had an ear infection, which at least can be treated with antibiotics and would explain the prolonged fever.     We saw another doctor in the practice, and Reese's ears, lungs, and throat were still clear.  She went ahead and prescribed an antibiotic to stave off a secondary sinus infection based since she was complaining of ear pain.   She said that if Reese had had the flu, the fever would have been gone by now.  Nice.

Sprinkle to date is still healthy, but I worry so  much that she's going to get ill the longer Reese is sick and contagious.   Jim and I are supposed to leave for Cozumel on Thursday for his Ironman, and I can just see Sprinkle starting to get sick as Reese finally (hopefully!) getting better.  I don't mind missing a vacation, but I really want to be there to support Jim.    At this point we just both want our girls to be well, of course.