Hi Cherie, I was just thinking that it might make you feel a whole bunch better about this situation, if you could get the doc to call in a script so that you could have it on hand. I bet that your doc would do this for ya! You would ,at least, have a sense of some control over this scary situation.
I am really sorry that you're family has to deal with this stress! I've got my fingers crossed for you and will be sending some prayers your way!!
A senior at a Woodhaven High School is being tested for swine flu.
School officials said the student has influenza, and as a precaution, doctors also tested the student for swine flu.
The sick student and four other friends, who were sent home ill Tuesday, went to Cancun, Mexico, on spring break from April 10-17.
Woodhaven senior Sovia Haq did not go to school Wednesday. "I didn't want to take a chance. But I am sure they are taking care of it."
Superintendent Barbara Lott said every precaution is being taken and cleaning crews disinfected the high school overnight.
"The very first key for us is making sure our staff and students both are safe and our families have good information about the facts," said Lott.
For more information on the Woodhaven – Brownstown School District go to www.woodhaven.k12.com.
that is excellent advice..my teacher today indicated that if one family member comes down with the flu (this strain) that all should be treated..wonder if thats true?
I would most definitely ask the doctor, if you call, about whether or not all of you should be treated-if, God forbid, one of your sons comes down with that flu.
Keep us all posted-you've got many buddies on here that care about ya! =D
Cherie - you must be really freaked out about your son's possible exposure to swine flu, having the school closed and the CDC being involved.
Would it do any good to do a google search about this? Google has so much information but a lot of it is unreliable. I hate to say it but I know very little about swine flu.
At least you can take comfort in the fact that all the cases in the states thus far have been mild. I would be freaked also. Hopefully yours will not get sick. Tamiflu is being distributed to the states as we speak.
I am so sad to here this cheri...you know i will be praying for your kids to be ok. today the state of Maryland has annouced, that they have 8 confirmed cases of swine flu here in MD. People were vacationg in the carribeian.. So sounds like this is going to be a world wide thing very scaery i think
Personally I think we should close off the mexicain border and resrcit all travel to Mexico and the islands
I agree about closing the borders, but I doubt it will stop the spread...maybe stall it a little.
Anyways I noticed medhelp has a whole forum dedicated to this subject. Check it out:
http://www.medhelp.org/forums/Swine-Flu/show/356
So sorry to hear Cherie. I do hope all goes well. They are in my thoughts.
MJ - I don't think viruses can be contained by borders. I don't know if it's in Canada or not but I have to find out.
The school I teach at closed down today too. Being that I am 24 weeks pregnant this really freaks me out, don't worry I already called my OB!!! Anyway two students have type A they are doing further testing and the results will not be back until Monday. So we have no school until then. They also tested the siblings of these students as well. Our school will be thoroughly cleaned and all extra-cirrucliar is cancelled too. Man I really hope this turns out okay. Tell your boys to wash their hands ALL the time and stay away from germ as much as a teenage boy can do!!!!!!!!!!
It's too late to close the borders. It's already widespread. Last I heard, though, they said it seemed to be slowing down? At least in Mexico?
" if you could get the doc to call in a script so that you could have it on hand."
Hi Zodiacqueen,
This is unethical because it will take away medication that is needed for people who have Swine flu. I think Dr. Choi mentioned this in one of his blogs.
Darn it....wishful thinking...yeah I kinda have a sore throat coming on my all of a sudden this afternoon, so I'm a little worried... Probably just a cold or my allergies, but I told my grandma about it anyway... If I develop a fever, then I will be seeing the doctor for sure. Maybe I planned my trip to the island too late?
I guess it's kinda hard to cut oneself off from civilization and hope no virus can reach...
Hi, normally I would agree that people shouldn't just stockpile the Tamiflu. In Cherie's boy's case, this is different. One of her boys had close DIRECT contact with someone that came down with this flu. In my honest opinion, that would not be unethical for her to ask for a script.
By the way, I am now getting a smidgen paranoid about this Swine flu because there's been a case in Virginia-not that close to me yet, but getting a little too close for comfort! YIKES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ={
If her son shows symptoms, I'm sure her physician would prescribe him Tamiflu ASAP... possibly over the phone. But I don't think people should stock up out of fear and take away medication from others.
I'm also a little paranoid about this flu since I have immune dysfunction. And I live in a border state. = (
We have four cases of confirmed Swine flu here in Arizona. And I really do think they should shut down the border. I don't believe that it is too late. Yes, swine flu is here... but we are working on containing it. But of course if we don't close the U.S./Mexico border... then I'm not sure if we will be successful in our attempts.
I can see why you're getting freaked out. That must be very scary for you having low immunity! I'm a student in the medical field doing clinicals in the hospital, sooooo I'm worried about cases coming in. I'm also worried about people catching this bug with chronic lung conditions and low immune function.
I actually had an interesting convo with the radiologist today about all of this drama. He's not worried about it and said that Tamiflu, if taken early enough, would be able to get rid of it. I did make it a point to ask him why this flu has caused so many deaths. He told me that we don't know how healthy these people were when they caught this flu, and we also don't know how long they waited to get treatment. So, we've got some advantage here!!!! We've got treatment and now, there's public awareness-meaning that people will make it a point to seek treatment EARLY!! Instead of us freaking out, we should think about these things!
Take care, and I'll say an extra prayer for you tonight! =D
Hi ! I've been actually reading tonight about the Spanish flu... which killed millions of people in 1918. Of course it wasn't the flu itself, but bacterial pneumonia that these patients had afterwards. I'm hoping our government is stocking up on antibiotics as well.
Anyhow... according to this from wikipedia.org, I have pretty good odds. But of course since I have CFS and it is immune dysfunction, I'm at high risk for additional infections. So I'm really not sure, but do know to work on boosting my immune system. However, I wouldn't probably recommend that for people who are healthy. Who knows though ? Its crazy trying to figure this stuff out.
What concerns me the most is that this virus will probably mutate. Weren't there two waves of the Spanish flu ? And if I remember right... the second wave was the one that killed. So if this virus mutates... it could get a lot worse.
"Scientists have used tissue samples from frozen victims to reproduce the virus for study. Given the strain's extreme virulence there has been controversy regarding the wisdom of such research. Among the conclusions of this research is that the virus kills via a cytokine storm (overreaction of the body's immune system) which explains its unusually severe nature and the concentrated age profile of its victims. The strong immune systems of young adults ravaged the body, whereas the weaker immune systems of children and middle-aged adults caused fewer deaths"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish_flu
after much reading Im not quite as afraid as i was prior, my son is very healthy. His bmi is around 9% he eats all healthy and is very athletic...all that being said he did as recently as 3 days or so ago share clothing with the effected child prior to his DX so I am sticking with watching him close.his and my family dr is a very good man has been my personal dr for 10 years and Im great at resourcing myself when needed. believe me if my child ends up needing tamiflu i will find it for him !!! I am most worried for the elderly, the young, the immune comprimised. i missed the swine flu blog on here.....does anyone know if there should be extra concern for the pregnant? my sons gf is 14 weeks...am curious about that..
Huh. We just had confirmed cases this morning here in Bergen County where we're living at the moment.
My only concern is the mini bus services we take into the city are very crowded and poorly verntilated (they're a great service as they run more frequently then the official city buses... plus they play some pretty interesting latin music :-) ).
But they are breeding grounds for bacteria, and a large percentage of the passengers are of foreign/ recently travelled origin.
So we may stop using them for now. Of course, the subway isn't much better. I agree with Biden's comments on the subway, despite Bloomberg's facile comments. The subways are as bad as these buses.
Cherie-you can probably see some of the blog archives AND there's another chat planned. Go to Dr. Choi's blog and MH wrote a post on there saying that there would be another chat! I hope that he'll be able to answer your question about your son's pregnant GF!! I think it's a great question! Isn't Dr. Choi awesome???? Ya gotta love smart, goofballs!! =D
PlateletGal-honey, you've got to stop looking up all of those flu outbreaks-all that's going to do is stress you out! Besides, no one knows how this outbreak is going to turn out-they are very unpredictable! Please, don't do this to yourself anymore-stress is not good for your immune system either. I know, you know that! =D
I think that everyone will be fine, if they do the normal handwashing, and stay away from obviously sick people. Dr. Choi has mentioned the same thing!
Actually, reading this reduces my stress level. I always like to know what is possible and what may be lurking around the corner. At least that way... I'm prepared as I can be ! ; ^ )
The latest from the CDC. I do agree that we shouldn't panic. All we can do is be careful and take precautions like we do for any bug.
U.S. Human Cases of H1N1 Flu Infection
(As of May 1, 2009, 11:00 AM ET) States # of laboratory confirmed cases Deaths
Arizona 4
California 13
Colorado 2
Delaware 4
Illinois 3
Indiana 3
Kansas 2
Kentucky 1
Massachusetts 2
Michigan 2
Minnesota 1
Nebraska 1
Nevada 1
New Jersey 5
New York 50
Ohio 1
South Carolina 16
Texas 28 1
Virginia 2
TOTAL COUNTS 141 cases 1 death