Waiting on the swine flu means not wanting to take things too lightly or too seriously. Be concerned, but don't panic. Even when the health department calls and says that your son has been exposed to a confirmed case. So, yeah, we're just waiting to see what happens.
On Monday morning, I decided to keep my older son home from school, because one student at his school was identified as a possible case of swine flu. Jack (my boy) has Crohn's disease (a compromised immune system) and allergies that have been causing him to cough, wheeze and have bronchial spasms.
On Tuesday, I kept both boys home, just because I knew that #2 son would enjoy staying home with his big bro.
Today, I dropped Conner at school and was getting ready to send Jack, but he was coughing badly and I decided to phone his school to see what they thought. The school had no plans to close, but the staffer told me to keep him home anyway. That's what she would do, if it were her child, she said.
I took his temperature a few times, though, and it was normal. And the cough went away after he took some decongestant.
Then, around noon, the county health department (that's Tarrant County, Texas, and City of Fort Worth) called to say that the possible case at Jack's school was confirmed, and that Jack had been identified as someone who'd have had close contact.
They phoned in a Tamiflu prescription to our pharmacy, but the pharmacy was out of Tamiflu. The pharmacist put Jack's name at the top of the list, and told us to call back at 6 p.m.
Meantime, our family doc picked this week for his vacation, and I called the on-call physician to see if the rest of us should have some sort of anti-viral medication. The nurse said that the doc thought we should, and phoned the pharmacy. About ten minutes later, she called back to say that the pharmacy also which was out of Relenza. About five minutes later, she called back again, and said that perhaps only Jack really needed the drug, and that it might be good to call the health dept. to see what they thought. Called the health dept. and had to leave a message.
So far, no symptoms here. Is there any reason to keep trying the health dept? Maybe our pharmacist will have a recommendation. This doesn't feel like an emergency and we've had so many false alarms about the flu.
Still, as my husband says, our President (and Sasha and Malia's dad) is concerned--and he faxed Jack's school to let them know that, according to the President, they should be closed.
The health dept. called back and said that Jack is the only one who needs meds. If he starts displaying symptoms, then the rest of us should get prescriptions. The woman at the health dept. could not pronounce the names of any of the drugs apart from Tamiflu.
Husband tuned into local news, which mostly is about Dallas (of course) and finally announced that Tarrant County has no confirmed cases of the swine flu. Why, then, my husband fumed, is the health dept. phoning families and saying there is a confirmed case.
He tried calling the t.v. station to tell them, but only could get the traffic reporter. She told him that, sorry honey, she was too busy to pass along the word. So he tried emailing them.
The news announces that the WHO has moved the level of concern up a notch.
Our younger son, who has lousy hygiene and pays attention to things of this world, is wondering about flu symptoms. Jack, meanwhile, is busy playing his Nintendo DS, and sniffling and sneezing. The news is now talking about a violent storm that is passing to the north of us, and #2 son decides to go upstairs to play World of Warcraft.
TAKS tests are going on this week. Jack has missed both of his. Conner is due for one tomorrow. We'll wait and see if any schools are closed. Otherwise, we're just hanging out.