Don't Believe The Hype

I have never had anything against pigs. In fact, I rather enjoy bacon and sausage and luckily, for the time being, my cholesterol can handle it. But this flu of theirs, I would have preferred that they just keep it. I wouldn't really mind selfishness here. But they did not keep it to themselves and it has creeped its way into this house. Although the media has hyped it up to be something to really be feared, it is surprisingly mild- so I am told. Luckily I am not the victim. I realize it has taken lives and made some really sick, but so does the regular flu which kills a far greater number of people every year. Anyway, Kenneth is a Type 1 diabetic. He wears an insulin pump and is well controlled with it. (I highly recommend the pump for anyone who is active and really wants good control.) So for some reason, if I think back to biology it probably has to do with the Krebs Cycle, Kenneth seems to catch any and every bug that comes through and this whole swine flu is no different. Since he is diabetic he got Tamiflu and is already feeling a bit better. He says this is nowhere near as bad as when he had the "regular" flu. He is just nauseated, febrile, and has pretty much slept for 24 hours straight now (yes, he is still breathing, I checked). The bigger problem is Anna. She is under 2 and also has a neuromuscular condition so she is quite susceptible and although this flu seems mild, most of the kids who have died from it have CP. So off we went today to our new pediatrician, Dr. David Goff, (who by the way is freaking awesome and I sooo wish I would have made the switch sooner) and he said Anna is the kind of kid who presents the biggest problem. She fits into the category of those who need prophylaxis when there is a confirmed exposure, but (there is always a but) there are not any studies out there on repeated use of Tamiflu (i.e. is it safe more than once, does it work more than once...). So, if she gets it now she will be protected for 7 days. After that 7 days she would not be able to take it again safely so if she got the flu then we would be out of luck. The infectious disease doctors at Cook's say nobody is really sure what to do about this group of kids. So together we came up with a plan. I am to call at the hint of a symptom and she will be started on Tamiflu. Until then we are just going to use common sense and pray, hard! He also talked about the G tube and he feels she needs it. He is going to speak with Dr. O about it. We follow up with Dr. O at the end of this month and we'll see where he wants to go from here. He also said the feeding clinic has good results but that the road to those results is treacherous and one that most parents usually end up hating. He said it is not nice and that it does usually require inpatient treatment. Again, no thanks...