H1N1 made its way to our house

I can't believe I actually had to type that. Hudson, who has yet to really have any type of illness, was diagnosed with H1N1 yesterday. I've gotten lots of emails and facebook messages from people asking about how I knew he had it, how he's being treated, etc., so I thought I would share all of my newly learned H1N1 knowledge to educate all of the other moms out there worried about this virus. (Warning: this is going to be pretty long).

So, I guess it really all started Saturday morning. We were in Pittsburgh visiting my family. My little brother Joey, who is 14, was saying that he wasn't feeling well. He really napped all day and ended up having a fever. We actually didn't see him for much of the weekend after Saturday morning since he was laid up in bed. The entire house (my mom, stepdad, other brother, myself, and Ryan) were extremely vigilant about germ control. Anything that Joey touched (blankets, pillows, etc) went straight to the wash. We had bottles of Purrell all over the house. In addition to Hudson, my 10 month old niece was also there, so we were trying to protect them.

On Monday, Hudson had some diaherra before we left Pittsburgh. We leave at his nap time and he usually sleeps for the entire trip. But this time, he woke up at Breezewood (almost the half way point) and was saying "belly hurt". When we got home, he seemed fine. On Tuesday, he was fine other than his lack of appetite. He also had a mild cough. At midnight, he woke up and Ryan went to lay him back down (this is an everynight occurance...he never sleeps all night). Ryan brought him into our room and asked me to feel if I thought he felt warm. He was definitely running a fever. I didn't want to take his diaper off, so I just checked his temperature under his arm. It was 100.7. He was coughing more and more and it was really raspy. I started to get freaked out (remember, he's never been sick), so I called the on call pediatrician. She was clearly unhappy about my anxiety. I explained that I was worried since we have two high risk people in the house (Hudson, for being under 2, and me, for being pregnant). She said that 100.7 is barely a fever and if he's breathing okay, there's nothing to worry about (easier said than done!). The rest of the night was spent trying to comfort him and worrying.

On Wednesday morning, he was burning up and I took his temperature rectally. It was 103. He was really lethargic. I called the pediatrician again and spoke with the nurse practitioner. She told me that this is just something going around and to make sure that he doesn't have 1. rapid breathing 2. lack of thirst or 3. a temperature above 104. I mentioned again that I was pregnant and asked if I should take precautions. She recommended calling my OB since many pregnant women were being treated with Tamiflu.

So I called my OB who was APPALLED that the pedi didn't test Hudson for H1N1. She said that it was important to know for my well-being as well as his. She was calling me a prescription for Tamiflu in and told me that if I started to feel sick at all to start taking it. I told her I would call the pediatrician back and ask them to test him. We were able to get an appointment for that afternoon.

Before leaving for his appointment, he was burning up and was due for another dose of motrin (which had been helping tremendously). But I decided to let the doctor see him and then I would give him the motrin. When we got there, his temperature was 104.4. The doctor checked his lungs, ears, and nose and said everything else looked okay. She explained that she was going to give him the rapid flu test which only tests whether or not he has influenza and does not differentiate between the different types (i.e. it wouldn't tell us if he had H1N1 or another kind). That said, she explained that any positive rapid test is assumed to be positive for H1N1 since it's too early in the season for the other flus to be presenting themselves. The test for H1N1 takes 4 days to provide results at which point it would be too late for either of us to begin Tamiflu. She then did the rapid test which is a swab WAY up into Hudson's nose. Within 5 minutes she came back and said it was positive. She was going to write Hudson a prescription for Tamiflu, but explained that it could be hard to find at a pharmacy since Hudson would need a liquid form which was a bit rare.

After calling around to a few places, we were able to find it at Hopkins. They closed in an hour, so I rushed out to get it for him. Well, I get to the pharmacy and realized that I forgot the prescription at home. So I called the on duty pediatrician and explained the situation and asked her to call the prescription in while I waited. She asked if Hudson had asthma and I told her no. She asked why his doctor prescribed Tamiflu then. She said Tamiflu was reserved for patients with compromised immune systems and that they weren't just giving it to any child who had flu symptoms. I told her I was pregnant and she said that was why it was prescribed. I couldn't believe that Hudson would be left to suffer had I not been pregnant!

I called my OB back and told her that Hudson's test was positive and she said that it was best for me to start Tamifu right away. So, I got the Tamiflu for both Hudson and myself. Since Hudson has the flu, he will take it twice a day for 5 days. Since I've only been exposed, I will take it once a day for 10 days. It was pretty amazing to see how all of the doctors were really more concerned with me than with Hudson (and I wasn't even sick!). Of course, it made me nervous, but also relieved. I would rather it be me who was at risk than Hudson.

Last night was another rough night. Hudson still had a fever and was really congested with a nasty cough. He's been sleeping all night in our arms since he needs to be upright or else he gets too congested. Of course, I'm exhausted now which isn't helping the whole prevention of me getting sick. I've been coughing more and more and feel like I have chest/back pains. I go to the OB tomorrow, so I'll be checked then.

I just wanted to put the whole story out there so that other people can understand what symptoms to look for and why their doctor may not test/treat the flu. We're all praying that this passes soon.