Moving On

I can officially say we are free of the Swine Flu! And, we all survived! Amazing. Mine did turn into Bronchitis (when I thought it was strep). So, after all was said and done, (to answer Aprils question) I gained weight. Between the steroids for my lungs and laying around sleeping for a week, I more than made up for what I may have lost initially.

Emma was the last one to get it. By the time her turn came around, I knew right away and took her in. The minute her flu test came back positive, the nurse came in with a mask for Emma. They didn't want her to even walk out of the office without it on. Emma was not happy. She kept telling me it was the "regular flu" and not the swine flu. I guess that would've made it so that she didn't have to wear the mask... or so she thought. Fortunately, she didn't have to suffer through the aches and pains like Josh and I did. They had her on Tamiflu so fast that she really only had two days of fever and headache.

So, Friday night, we went to the J's for a Birthday party. It felt so great for everyone to be able to get out of the house. The girls left with friends from our old neighborhood to play.

As soon as the party was over, Jer and I decided to take Josh out to dinner. He had been at Webelos Camp all day and was starving. We didn't want to be gone too long so we went to an old favorite: Pho Green Papaya. To make a long story short, something he had there didn't agree with him. After picking up the girls and getting everyone to bed, he started itching like crazy. He looked red so I thought maybe between the birthday party and scout camp, he'd gotten some sun. But, when I had him lift up his shirt so that I could put some Aloe Vera on it, I realized it was not a sunburn! I ran in to tell Jer and he immediately told Josh to grab his shoes and sent us to the ER. Jer stayed home with the sleeping girls. As Josh and I drove to the Urgent Care... and to the Night Time Pediatrics... and then to the ER after finding out everyone else was closed, he started shaking uncontrollably and was complaining of severe pain in the backs of his legs. Then he said he couldn't breath. I was really trying to keep my cool at this point. Then, he grabbed an empty wipe container and started vomiting. His entire body was so red and his eyes looked horrible. I had him tell me all about Scout Camp thinking that if he was in shock, it would take his mind off things a little.


(this is what Anaphylactic Shock looks like)

When we arrived at the ER, I panicked a little at the crowd. To my surprise, they took him right back and checked his vitals. The first thing the nurse said to me is, "His oxygen level is ok, so don't panic." Oh, that makes me feel better. Within minutes, they had him on a bed with an I.V. and the Dr. was there right away. So scary. Since he had been throwing up, they gave him benedryl, a steroid and something else.. (can't remember) through the I.V. Within only a few minutes, he stopped shaking and his color started to look normal. They decided to keep him there for a couple of hours to watch him.

(And, this is just ten minutes after the meds)

Needless to say, Josh is fine and it was quite an adventure. We still are not sure what he reacted to, but we will be super cautious from here on out.

We actually went to church yesterday for the first time in forever! And, the weather is GORGEOUS today! I couldn't be happier. . . my little family is healthy again and summer has finally arrived.

Thanks to everyone for your concern. We appreciate all the phone calls (especially every time they announced another death on the news from H1N1).

(I had to include this picture of Erin - we got new sleeping bags and she LOVES them! Even though she had to stay inside the whole time we were all sick, she kept us all smiling. And thank heavens she never got the flu.)