As some of you may know, Daughter has been ill this last week. Waking me at 2:15am Tuesday to tell me she was too hot to sleep. Taking her temperature and discovering she had a fever of 102.9 was frightening. After speaking with the doctor's office, Daughter was diagnosed with the H1N1 virus by association. Meaning, she was exposed to the virus by a Friend that she spent the night with. The Friend who was sick was diagnosed with H1N1, and so, it was determined that Daughter was infected as well.
We spent the last week keeping her quiet and comfortable. Tylenol and Motrin were in big supply at our house. Popsicles & juices along with ice water and chicken soup.
On Friday, after missing out on two field trips, Daughter asked me if she would be able to trick or treat for Halloween. I told her if she made it through the night without a fever, we would take her out for a little while.
Daughter then told me that she was going to treat Saturday like just another day. She was going to get up and have breakfast and go about her day like she wasn't sick at all. Maybe that way she'd feel better. Just before 8pm on Friday, Daughter told me she wanted to sleep in her own bed, not on the couch as she had been all week. And so I set the alarm on my cell phone to go off every couple hours so we could check her temperature. She slept in her bed, all night, without a fever. Husband woke her at 7am, just long enough to check her temp with the thermometer. No fever. Daughter asked him if she could trick or treat? He said yes, she went back to sleep with a smile on her face.
Halloween in our house started out like any other day. Daughter got up a bit late, but I knew she needed the rest. She came down asking for breakfast. And we went about our day. I kept her somewhat relaxed, not letting her be too active, telling her that she was still recovering and still needed to take it easy.
An hour before trick or treating was to start, I broke out my makeup stash. Daughter chose to be a haunted football fan. It is amazing what you can do with two colors of eyeshadow and some dark lipstick. She looked pretty ghoulish. We only took her out for about an hour of trick or treating, but she got quite a bit of candy. And she was just happy to be out. I did feel bad though, when her Friend texted her to ask if Daughter would go trick or treating with her. We wanted Daughter to take it easy, not to push herself too much, and thought it best if we took her out so we could watch her. It was very nice of Daughter's Friend to ask. Daughter misses everyone and will be happy to get back to seeing her Friends.
Our doctor told us that when Daughter had gone 48 hrs without a fever, she could return to school. But that we still have to watch her to make sure the secondary infection does not hit her. With the H1N1 flu, the secondary infection that sometimes hits a child is what lands them in the hospital. The immune system is weakened by the flu and makes it easy for the child to develop a respiratory infection. I gave Daughter two rules for going back to school. No hugs or such from anyone at school, and wash her hands/use her antibacterial hand stuff often.
It has been a very scary week for us, and will continue to be a nerve racking few days ahead of us until we feel Daughter is completely recovered. I continue to pray for her full recovery and for all the other children & adults who are suffering from this horrible form of the flu virus.
