J looked and sounded TERRIBLE, yesterday, and he started with a fever, so we decided to take him in. They checked for both strains of the flu, strep, bronchitis, pneumonia, ear infections, etc. Nothing. At least we know what he DOESN'T have.
Anyway, I just thought I'd share a few things with the rest of you, which our ped shared with us - (1) both strains of the flu are flying around like crazy, right now (some kids are even testing + for both at the same time (2) most/all pharmacies are out of the Tamiflu Rx (3) the flu is NOT (in and of itself) a stomach virus, meaning it does NOT cause vomiting (I just thought this was interesting and flew in the face of everything I've ever *known*) (4) they are also seeing a LOT of strep, right now (one of the reasons they wound up testing J, even though his throat didn't look that bad, visually) (5) at this point, this year's flu vaccine has only proven to be around 50% effective.
Re: $20 Advice
Makes me want to lock myself and DCs in my house! He told me that about the flu vaccine when we were there for DS's well visit....ugh!
Hope J is better today!
Jennie
This exactly! My students are dropping like flies.
Very interesting. Hopefully next year will be more effective. Seems silly to get the shots sometimes if they aren't going to work on the strains that are around. Sometimes I want to hole up in the house with her and keep her "safe" from all the germs out there... but sometimes I feel like I should just "let her get sick" to help her immunity. I know there are so many varying theories on these things with superbugs and too much sanitization.. It is so confusing!
Wow, interesting and frustrating all in one.
One thing I learned over the summer with Justin, who had strep 3 times: strep throat CAN cause vomiting as a symptom. Justin's throat had nary a white spot on it (as is classic with strep) and very little redness -- but the puking was what threw me.
I really hope little J is finally on the mend.
Tyler Anthony arrived on 9.21.09
The Chronicles of Justin and Tyler
I agree, what's a mom to do!
Ditto this. Did they take a throat culture in addition to the insta-strep. I used to get strep frequently as a kid and they doctor's office always had to do a throat culture because the instant test would almost always be negative but the culture would come back positive.
I hope he's feeling better today.
I figured something must be going around. DD's class had 10 people absent yesterday and 6 the day before that.
Oh, and thanks for forcing me to get that flu shot that's only 50% effective.
Yes, they did take the culture, as well. I guess they culture for up to 48 hours. No news is good news. So far, no news...
Thanks! He's at least 68% better, today.
LMAO!