A Bout With The Flu

Two weeks before Thanksgiving my daughter, now 5 and 1/2, came home from school on Wednesday and laid down on the couch. An hour later I happened to notice she was breathing kind of rough and checked her closer. She had a fever and I knew we were in for a long week. Of course, she missed Thursday and Friday from school. However the more immediate concern was monitoring her fluid intake and balancing her electrolytes. With no adrenal glands these are major concerns whenever she is ill. I took her to the Emergency Room, they know us well there, and they gave her some zofran. That helped a lot. Zofran is an anti nausea drug that is frequently given to patients undergoing chemotherapy. Of course, her insurance did not want to pay for it so I reminded the pharmacist that she has no adrenal glands and that this is a very very serious condition and would they rather we have her admitted to prevent her dehydration and loss of electrolytes? They finally agreed to give her the medication. Turns out it was only $18 and I could've paid for it out of pocket, but the principal involved was important.

Saturday and Sunday she was fine but Monday she was grumpy when I woke her for school. It came as no shock when the teacher called me 5 minutes after her bus arrived asking if she was okay. We decided she was and the teacher kept an eye on her. 5 minutes later the phone rang again and she was vomiting. The second bout of this flu was way worse than the first. My daughter would miss all of the week from school, remain nearly unconscious for 2 days, and not eat for the next 7 days! Prayers were going up round the clock and we are very grateful that she is still with us.

My parents, my sons and I spent Thanksgiving day taking turns sitting with her after her injection. Since she usually sleeps for about 4 hours after an injection we put her in bed and took turns in the bedroom with her.

She missed the following Monday and Tuesday of school as she was just back up and around and I did not want her to relapse. She finished out the week like a trooper and is doing great now.

My Family's Rare Diseases

I am frequently asked what the health issues are in my bio that I mention. I have written a few articles about them (see links to the right) and tried to touch upon some of the difficulties of each of the diseases. I will also be listing some support links and some other great tips for dealing with family's that have serious illnesses. Ways to cope and how to help your other family members will also be looked at in the near future. Thank you for stopping by and I hope that this site in some way can help to encourage your family if they are encountering any of these or other illnesses.