What a weekend!!

I ended up calling Dr. Paralikar last night when Blake's fever hit 103.8, and he told me to take him to the ER to get the Influenza A/H1N1 screening done. He told me to tell the nurse/doctor that he wanted it done on Blake. When we got to the ER, there was a big sign at the entry that said if you had any flulike symptoms (fever, coughing, etc) to get a mask. So Blake put on a mask before we even walked through the door. You can really turn some eyes when you wear a pastel yellow mask over your mouth and nose! Got to the registration desk, and Blake said, "Mom, I think I'm gonna get sick." I told him to take off his mask - thought maybe he just felt kind of smothered. As soon as I pulled that mask off, he started to throw up all over! So I grabbed one of the little vomit bags off of the wall and he proceeded to fill it..... in front of about 15 people .... as if the mask wasn't bad enough, you should have seen the looks we were getting now!

So we go into the triage room to tell them why we are there. I told the nurse that Dr. P wanted Blake to have the screening. She was very rude and told me, "That is up to the doctor to decide. We just can't give that to every person that walks in! Hmmm!" We waited for another 40 minutes before getting called back. When Blake vomited, it seemed to break his fever so he started to feel a little better.

Once we were in the back, the nurse swabbed his throat and said she bet he had strep. So we waited for the doctor to come in. He examined Blake and said "He has H1N1 - the swine flu". Oh super! He explained a lot of things to me - told me that it's not as serious as they originally anticipated, and that we have to treat the symptoms because the only medicine for H1N1 (tamiflu) really hadn't proven to work very well. So we left there with that diagnosis, a prescription for tussionex for the cough, and suppositories in case the vomiting got worse. Blake slept really well and still ran a fever of about 102.

In the meantime, I'm wondering how soon before Brooke gets it....

So I called first thing this morning to Dr. P and told him about Blake and what the er doctor had said/done. He was very upset (to say the least) that he diagnosed him without the nasal swab test. He informed me to get to the lab right away to get the test. If it came back positive for Influenza A, he would have to be out of school for a week and they would send the test further to see if it was H1N1. If it came back negative, it was probably just a virus and he could return to school after her was "fever free for 24 hours" - a pretty standard rule.

So off to the lab with Blake adorned in his little yellow mask! Needless to say, there were only 2 seats in the lab left and one lady got up so I could sit by Blake. She chose to stand rather than to sit by the masked boy! After the lab, we went to Walmart to get the tamiflu that Dr. P ordered. Welp, it was out of stock. So that meant another phone call to have it sent to Axlines. In the meantime, Wanda is calling me telling me that the combination of drugs from the er doctor was too much for a young boy and it would oversedate him (!!!!!!) so I had to talk to the pharmacist there and they called the er and ended up changing the dosage! Geesh! I had to call Axlines AGAIN and they agreed to "compound" the tamiflu for Blake since the children's liquid form isn't available yet!!!

So we finally made it home. Blake still had a fever and laid down while I waited for the doctor's office to call with the test results. A few hours later, I finally heard from them......

INFLUENZA A/B TESTS WERE NEGATIVE!!!!!!

Oh my goodness! I am so relieved that he doesn't have it but on the other hand, I'm pissed that he was misdiagnosed, overprescribed for meds, and we ran around and around and around for nothing!! Well, i guess it wasn't "nothing".... but he does have a virus of some kind. We go back to Dr. P Wednesday morning. He is still coughing. Still running a fever. Still not himself. I sure hope he starts to feel better soon. I'm anxious to hear what Dr. P has to say on Wednesday. Hopefully he will be well on the mend by then!

In the meantime, I've got a full bottle of (expensive) Tamiflu if we need it!!