Germ Bugs

So we started off the New Year with a fever for Luke (1st & 2nd) and vomiting for Alexyss (2nd & 3rd).  Daddy left on the 4th and I kept Lex home from school to fully recover from the dehydration.  I cleaned the house like CRAZY on the 4th.  I bleached every toy that was downstairs, cloroxed every hard surface, bleached the bathrooms & kitchen, washed all of the linens and lysol sprayed every doorknob, light switch, couch, chair, & bed.
Alexyss headed back to school on the 5th and was 'fine' all week.  Sunday she was fine as we headed to church but after being home for about two hours she suddenly felt awful and crashed on the couch.  She was running a high fever and felt like she was, "about to fall through the earth."

Monday the 10th I made her an afternoon appointment so that she could get a doctor's note for school.  As the day went on Alexyss' fever reached 104.5 and she was having bad pains near her belly button.  A few hours later she was holding the right side of her tummy and could barely move.  I made arrangements for Luke as I figured this was her appendix acting up again and we'd be at the hospital all day.
We head to the hospital for her appointment at 1:45 and the doctor pushes on Lex's belly as she jumps and cries out in pain.  The doctor is a tiny bit stumped as the pain in on the right side & in the middle of her belly.  She orders blood work to check for infection, orders tummy x rays for the appendix, orders chest x rays for pneumonia, and on a whim orders a flu test.
Sure enough, Alexyss had the flu.  Apparently the flu can present as severe tummy pain in children.  Who knew? No cough, no runny nose, no body aches, just a fever and tummy pain.  So we were given tamiflu and sent home with orders to bring Luke back the next day to get tested.  Why?  Because we had a close call with Luke years ago after he was vaccinated for the flu, so if he ever gets it it could be deadly for him.
Luke sounded great to the doctor besides a nagging cough and the doctor thinks he was the first one with the flu as he had the fever and slept for almost 2 days followed by the cough.  He was lucky, he wasn't as affected as poor Alexyss.
If you have the flu, you are to remain at home for 5-7 days so that you do not infect others.  So we had a long week at home, with 2 sick kiddos.  Lots of catching up on school work for Alexyss, Lots of disinfecting for Momma, and lots of following Momma around for Luke.  (So much so, that I actually hit him with the handle of the mop when pulling it back the other night.  He's got a nice bruise on his cheek bone... but he hasn't learned.)

Alexyss is allowed to head back to school tomorrow... hopefully she's not too far behind with her work and she'll settle back in easily.  And Momma will clean a bit more, get out and get some groceries, and have a small amount of FREEDOM for a day.  Until the next germ bug makes it into our home.

In other news, we are working on trapping that pesky squirrel in the attic... so maybe I'll get some sleep sometime soon!