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The Mom Who Cried Flu

Posted by on Feb 3, 2009 in Health, Motherhood | 8 comments

I think I was an adult before I realized that not every Kleenex was a Kleenex and not every Band Aid was a Band Aid. Sometimes it was just “facial tissue” you used to blow your nose, and sometimes it was just an “adhesive bandage” you put on your cut.

Apparently my use of the term “flu” to describe my son’s condition yesterday was not 100% accurate.  And only because I haven’t had a doctor place her own “brand” on my diagnosis.

Let’s see…my son has had a persistent high fever, chills, aches, profound fatigue, and even some dizziness upon standing.  He’s thrown up, had zero appetite, his eyes are glassy and his voice is meek.  He’s had some (but only some) sneezing, coughing, and runny nose.  This started on Saturday, and now it’s Tuesday and he’s only begun to perk up a little.

We’re giving him ibuprofin to alleviate the fever and the aches, he’s sleeping a ton, drinking Sprite for his nausea, eating popsicles to keep himself hydrated and give him some kind of elevated blood sugar.  I’m Lysol-ing the house like crazy.  But I just haven’t seen a need to take him to the doctor yet, because I’m not sure she’ll tell me something I don’t already know.  My boy is sick.  He needs time.

His school nurse called me today, very friendly and everything, but still on some “official” business.  She had heard that my son was missing school because he has the “flu.”  She needed to confirm that.  I had to admit that well, yeah, he’s got all the signs, and has even been recently in contact with another child who DOES have a doctor-diagnosed case of the flu, but I could not actually confirm that he had the flu.  She seemed relieved.  Apparently she needs to keep those kinds of statistics in the records, and since a doctor hasn’t said my son has the flu, then she won’t need to record it.

Maybe the tone of this post sounds like I’m annoyed, but really I’m just interested in the process of things.  I totally understand that a sore throat is not the same as strep, and that a rash doesn’t equal chicken pox.  I will also try to remember that saying we have “the flu” isn’t the same as just having some really nasty, horrible, miserable bug in our house.  What it really comes down to for me, though, is that sick is sick, and I hope it doesn’t last too long!

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  • Melissa

    You are lucky that she didn’t tell you that he would “be required” to see the doctor before he was allowed back in school. Our school nurse is a little obsessive that way!

  • phoenixpony

    How annoyingly “Big Brother”, I cannot believe that is what we are coming to as a society.

  • Mom

    Remember that when the school nurse would call, telling me one of you was “sick”..that I always wanted to “talk to you”? My feeling was that if I could get you to “talk” to me normally then you weren’t THAT sick! When you have a “bunch” of children you get pretty good at being the NURSE. Poor baby boy-I feel sooo badly for him-and I know you do too! Although you know he’ll get better-I know you’re thinking “Geez-I wonder if they’re going to start dropping like flies!” When one of you came home sick I just figured I had at least a month of sick kids…one at a time! xoxoxoxox

  • Mom

    Does he run a high fever like…ahum…YOU did?! I remember one time yours reached 105!!

  • http://ldscancermom.blogspot.com LCM

    That’s so lame. I think they are really crazy about those statistics. I hate this time of year, even down here, there’s the usual strep throat, stomach bug and actual flu going through the school. I don’t think it was as bad as last year. We had half of an entire 1st grade class out at the same time. Question, did you guys get the flu shot? Not commenting on your parenting, but wondering if it actually works. We all got a shot because of Fiona and I would hope that it actually works.

  • http://www.catintheadage.blogspot.com Beth

    This is one reason, among several, that we don’t do the flu shot at our house. There are plenty of other viruses (virii??) out there that can shut you down just as thoroughly as the flu. Some people (SOME, not all) people who get the flu shot act as though they are invincible and don’t do anything to avoid germs, and then are surprised when “the flu shot didn’t work”. We do Vitamin D, a lot of hand washings, and try to stay out of the ped’s office during flu season.

  • http://www.catintheadage.blogspot.com Beth

    And I just went up and read the comments above mine…LCM if you’re doing flu shots because of a little one with immune issues or other sickness, I TOTALLY understand and would be doing the same in your place. I’m sure you do a lot of other things to avoid infection all year long.

    I’ve just had too many friends tell me their kids don’t need to practice basic hygiene (hand washing, no double-dipping the chips!) because they’ve had the flu shot.

  • Maggie Brown

    Beth – ack! Flu shot is not a get out of jail free card for good hygiene!

    I have another tip for you on ways to keep the germs at bay.

    I just bought the Germy Wormy program for my kids and my playgroup. Wow. Big change. You might want to try it – http://www.germywormy.com

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