Update on Our Illnesses---Doctors Think it was just Bad Stomach Flu, not the Swine Flu

• Charlie got the stomach flu really bat Saturday night starting at 11:30 am. It was not pretty.
• Abigail continued to be really congested so yesterday I took her in to the doctor to see if she has ear infections, sinus infections, or the swine flu. The doctor said that she just had a virus, and she really does not believe that we had the swine flu.
• If we all had the swine flu, we would have had fevers for days and very high fevers. Charlie did have a fever of 101.8 on Sunday, but it was within the 24 hours of getting the stomach flu. He never ran a fever again. She said that she has heard of no cases where children have had to go to the ER because of extreme dehydrated like Jackson did with having the swine flu. She just believes it was a nasty stomach flu.
• The reason why hospitals are starting to refuse to test for the swine flu is because the test is only 70 percent accurate. I think lawsuits are already happening, especially against hospitals.
  
• So we are still getting our flu shots next Tuesday and praying that Jackson does not catch everything like he did two years ago. He still has a mild cough, but he is full of energy and begging for me to take him to the zoo. The house is beyond a disaster, and I know soon I will have it somewhat under control, and we just might go to the zoo this week. The zoo is so great.
• Thank you all so much for praying for us, it really means so much to us!
  

Flu...Pray for my babies... Jackson's First Trip to the ER

It has been a rough week.

Tuesday night I got very sick to my stomach and just thought that it was going to be a 24 hour stomach bug.

Thursday morning (very early) my babies got sick. Jackson woke up first, and I got his bed all cleaned and then Abigail woke up and we had to get her in the bath to clean her up and I had to get her bed cleaned as well.

Later on Thursday morning, Jackson did okay and drank some and ate a little. Abigail bounced right back and started to drink her bottle and eat like nothing ever happened.

Thursday afternoon Jackson stopped drinking and started fussing non-stop. I could not get him to drink anything. He woke up at 12 am with fever still and then again at 6 am sick. He slept till 10, but then had not urinated since Thursday night at 8 pm. He finally drank something around 11 am and used the restroom. However, his lips were so dry and his mouth was so dry that I could not understand what he was saying when he tried to talk.

I called the nurse, still debating on even if I should take him to the doctor at all, and she was very concerned that he went almost 12 hours without urinating. She got my doctor on the phone and told me that we need to go to the children's hospital and get him an IV. What? I did not even think we were going to be going to the doctor! Needless to say I was very emotional, but still could not get him to drink anything else so I knew that the doctor knew best. The doctor at the children's hospital ER said that many doctor's offices will give IV's early in the morning but not usually in the afternoon. Jackson's appointment was for 3:30.

Jackson and I got to the hospital and it was so wonderful to be at a children's-only ER. They knew exactly how to get the IV in, and it was really not as bad as I thought it was going to be. They were so kid-friendly. They took his blood to see exactly how dehydrated he was and his reading was a 17 and usually anything under 24 they have to treat. He needed two bags of IV's. They said it was the flu since he still had a fever.

Praise God that he felt so much better after the IV and received some anti-nausea medicine in his IV. He drank after that and ate a Popsicle and they released us. They said that there is a good chance that he could get dehydrated again. We have anti-nausea medicine, Tamiflu, and Motrin all in him and he is doing so much better.

Please pray that:

• Jackson does not get dehydrated again and God heals him quickly for His glory.
• Abigail does not get this flu. Her nose was running non-stop tonight. Who knows? She might have already had it.
  

Thank you so much for your prayers. The regular flu is so hard on Jackson! He has such a hard time fighting off illnesses once he gets something.

It was so sad before he went to bed tonight, he said, "I'm so sick, so sick, so sick."