F-L-U...Boo!

So…January flew by.  It seems like every time I tried to get back on schedule and we started a new week, we got SNOW and then everything was crazy after that!  I am not complaining, but we raced through January without knowing it, and then finally hit the wall.  The BIG wall.  The FLU wall.  I had been saying to Anthony that I just wasn’t comfortable with how busy we had been and that Nolan hadn’t been on the best sleep schedule and that I felt like we were letting him “slide” too many nights for dinner (by that I mean letting him enjoy more food out and other things he doesn’t usually eat at friends’ houses and stuff).  Something in my mind just knew that we weren’t on a healthy pattern, but I hadn’t had the chance to get things in order since our schedule had been so crazy!

He started the day off great...

 

Well, our poor little guy suffered the brunt of it – he spent the night in the ER and was diagnosed with Influenza A (yeah, the super horrible one that’s all over the news and sweet kids are dying from it).  I swear, the media should be gagged and sued for causing SUCH paranoia over the flu.  I didn’t sleep a wink for 2 days and my stomach was so upset for about a week just being worried about Nolan.  Thankfully, we made it to the hospital within a couple of hours of him feeling bad – something just told me to go, and I would never usually rush him to the emergency room while out of TOWN, but after he spiked a fever at dinner and then threw up, I just knew it.

Thankfully, we got into the triage immediately and into a private room - no waiting in the waiting room, which is something I was really scared about.  We were seen pretty quickly by the nurse and a doctor, and the doctor ordered the flu test immediately.  Fast forward about an hour, and yep, it was the flu!  We left just around 11:30 and went by the only 24-hour pharmacy in town for the Tamiflu - but they were out.  And the pharmacy in Clayton was out.  They didn't know anywhere in town that had it - cue me freaking out a little bit.  It took Papa D writing down the names of EVERY pharmacy in town and on our way home for us to start calling Sunday morning when they opened.  Thank God, we found one pharmacy in Hickory that had TWO doses left - you better believe I ran out of that house like a crazy woman in my pajamas straight to the pharmacy!

Look at those little flushed cheeks! Not mine...ha!

That night was a blur, but Anthony was amazing and stayed up with Nolan the whole night while I was super sick (nerves, stomach bug, who knows).  We had to stay Sunday night in Hickory because Nolan was too sick to be in the car for 3 hours, and we honestly didn't have the energy to drive home.  Thankfully, by Monday, we could keep his temperature down WITH meds (whereas before, he would spike to 103 while on meds every 3 hours...).  So, we made it home and he did great, but then crashed again at bedtime.

By Tuesday morning, he had broken his fever and it didn't come back!  He still had a terrible stuffy nose and cough, but it seemed like the worst was over.  We were doing his albuterol every 4 hours around the clock just in case so that it couldn't turn into something worse.  By Wednesday, I felt that he was good enough for Gie to watch him so I could go back to work, and thankfully by the weekend he was pretty good but still tired and a bit weak.  We took that weekend to relax and I cancelled a lot of upcoming plans just to chill and get our lives back!  It was so scary - but this little guy is SO tough and just amazing.  And even wanted to smile while you could tell he felt terrible...he's my hero.