Us

After what our daughters, my husband and I just lived through since Thursday, I am CONVINCED that H1N1 (Swine Flu) has arrivd and is thriving in Wichita County.

Abigayle started the cycle here. She was sicker than a dog-gone dog for 2 1/2 days. On Friday morning, I was hit was nausea but nothing else at the time. With everything that poor Abi went through, she never had diarrhea or fever. She complained of the worst headache that she had ever had. It was located at the back of her head and neck. The worst part was her vomiting, over and over and...

Leighlyn had complained of a sore throat on Thursday and Friday. Since she had no other symptoms, we all decided that she was having problems with her allergies. So, guess what? We sent her to SCHOOL!!! Late Friday evening, her cycle of vomiting struck. Shortly after that, she had a fever. Fortunately, cycles of Ibuprofen and Tylenol, handled it well. Yesterday, Saturday, she had no other symptoms except for a low-grade fever in the morning that went away and feeling totally exhausted. All that she could do ws lie around and sleep.

Stan and I woke up yesterday morning feeling just fine. Because of the ice outside, we decided that we would make chili and let it cook all day. Abigayle was also looking forward to the chili. Leighlyn did not think that she was up to anything spicy which was quite understandable to us. So she was to have chicken noodle soup. Abigayle and I enjoyed the chili. Stan never ate a spoonful.

That was because at about 5:00 that evening, Stan's very own vomiting began. It lasted throughout the next 8 hours. He also had a low-grade fever which Ibuprofen and Tylenol contained. At about midnight, I became horribly nauseated. By 1:00 a.m., I did nothing but ATTEMPT TO RUN back and forth to the bathroom. Keep in mind, that we have a bathroom in our bedroom as well as right across the hall from our bedroom. By the mid-cycle, neither was close enough for me. I lied on our bathroom floor for awhile for convenience sake and the fact that I was too weak to go back to bed. In my case, diarrhea and vomiting alternated. I would do nothing but those two things over and over again in a 15-minute time span. (Poor Abi, threw up 12 times over two hours.) In our main bathroom, we have a tall rattan set of shelves where we keep our rolled up towels, wash clothes, hand towels, baskets, etc. Finally, I pulled myself off of the floor and laid my head across one of the shelves until I felt steadier on my feet at which point, I slowly made my way back to bed. Extreme nausea hit again. Stan sleeps on the side of the bed closer to our master bath. He went and got me our trash can from it and brought it to me. For the next couple of hours, I was constantly pushing myself out of bed to pick up the trash can, use it, lie back down, rest for 10-30 minutes and then start the process all over again. I learned that I have muscles that I was never aware of in my stomach area. Boy, do they hurt from the work-out of last night! Thank the good Lord, my vomiting has ceased now. At 6:30 this morning, I finally went to sleep for the first time since Saturday morning. I woke back up at 11:30 this morning. I had a fever early this morning. I took Ibuprofen and it is back to normal now.

Stan and I are feeling much better than we were but we are not up-to-par yet. Our main complaint is being so very, VERY weak and having the inability to feel like doing anything. I hope and pray that our family can become healthy again soon. The four of us don't think that we have ever been so sick in our lives! There is only one time that I can remember being so weak. That was right after my open-heart surgery.

Today, everyone of us will be going on the B.R.A.T. diet. (Bananas, rice, applesauce and toast.) Thank goodness, we have a refrigerator with ice and water in the door! It will be getting a major work-out as we replinish our bodies with water.

Once I am stronger, our house is going to get a major cleaning with Lysol detergent and disinfectant spray. All of our bedding including our throws that we use in our living and family rooms, will be washed in HOT water. On Thursday, I hung a sign on our front door that said that the flu had arrived here and that we did not think that it was a good deal that company come in to call. It will remain in place today and maybe tomorrow until we feel that we have killed ALOT of the germs here.

For awhile, I was using disinfecting cleansers all of the time to clean our house. I thought that by doing so, our family would be good and healthy. I wasn't the only homemaker doing that. Then, information was released by medical authorites that this was NOT a good deal. In order for our bodies to build up immunity to viruses, etc., we need to be exposed to them. Otherwise, when something serious comes along, our immune systems cannot fight them off. You probably already knew that but just in case.........

Today, I am going to contact our elderly loved ones and warn them to be careful of this junk. Even though the medical professionals do not think that senior citizens have to be alarmed by this virus, I feel better letting them know that I HONESTLY BELIEVE that that is what we had. The professionals also say that this virus is changing all of the time, so I THINK that everyone needs to be careful.

So far, no one seems to know when the H1N1 vaccine will be here. We WILL definitely be getting it as soon as it arrives. I DON'T EVER WANT MY FAMILY TO BE THAT SICK AGAIN!!! The first round of Wichita County's seasonal flu vaccine is already gone now. We didn't even know hat it had arrived! Once the second batch gets here, we'll be getting it as well.

NO, I cannot say with any certainty that this was H1N1 and we probably never will know because the State is no longer running tests for it. (I think that maybe they think if there is no more testing, the hysteria will not be so great.) I dunno.

Do yourself and everyone else a favor, if you think that you may be sick with anything contagious, STAY HOME!!! NO ONE ELSE WANTS IT!!!

I'll be praying that this virus does not affect as many people as the authorities are concerned about. I don't want ANYONE to go through what we just have...

In God We Trust.

VLE-B