Influenza - H1N1 or ????

In all the press about the Swine Flu or the H1N1 Influenza virus there is so much anxiety about how will affect any given person(s). I was prepared; at least as much as possible. Or rather, I thought I was. I had what I needed to keep making my colliodal silver. :) I had been diligent in taking my many supplements. Due diligence has also been given to handwashing and to disinfecting multiple areas, surfaces, items, etc. on a frequent (many times a day) basis.

On the last Wednesday of September, my college daughter calls me in the wee hours of the morning to ask for help with feeling super hot, coughing so much she could hardly breathe, and nausea following the coughing or maybe preceeding it as one leads to the other either way. She's called the university health center and someone is supposed to be calling her back soon but she thought she'd call me while waiting (since I usually know better than the docs about my kids - LOL). A few hours later, one by one, my triplets awoke with individual versions of the same illness. The exact time of sudden onset varied by only hours. Fevers were present. All over achiness, accompanied by coughing, some nausea, more coughing, some head congestion, still more coughing, and so on down the list until it was that every symptom given for the H1N1 flu was met by the trio collectively.

Early in the afternoon I find out that my college daughter was advised to go to the urgent care center asap and upon arriving and attempting to explain her symptoms she passed out just as she was saying 'light-headedness' to the receptionist. Passing out, during a flu epidemic/pandemic, in a medical center, needless to say, brought her prompt attention and moving her to an isolated room whereupon she was intensely questioned about all her symptoms and activities over the last 30 days or so. IV fluids were administered for a few hours and she was released to go home with strict orders to avoid people, wear a mask when she must be around any people, get lots of rest, drink plenty of fluids, treat symptoms with OTC stuff and NO SCHOOL, NO WORK, NO REHEARSALS, NO ANYTHING until Monday!

The next few days were spent doling out meds, supplements, silver, tea, soup, and assorted comfort foods as I debated taking one or all of the kids at home into the local clinic. Medical clinics are a place to avoid this time of year if at all possible - after all, they are FULL of sick people!!! A brief phone call quickly confirmed this and gave me a list to work from that would necessitate going to the clinic.

By the end of the weekend my son was doing much better but his two sisters were still quite sick. All the kids had seemed better by Saturday... but the girls relapsed or suffered a setback of some sort by Sunday. By the following Wednesday, with steady declines, we took the girls into the clinic. Doc listened to our whole story and then tells us that it sounds like the kids all got the H1N1 flu and now have secondary complications from it, namely bronchial infections, or, bronchitis. One girl is worse than the other, with low O2 sats.... so she gets a couple more meds, but both are put on antibiotics for the next 10 days.

Eight days into this we have six members of this house, plus a kid who doesn't live here, sick with similar symptoms... or had been sick... and in various stages of recovery or illness. Then I get a call that my other daughter (who lives 3 hours away) is suddenly so sick with coughing and feeling hot and then cold and nausea too! UGH!

Today, 14 days after it all began, we are still fighting to regain health for all family members! So far a total of 17 days of work have been missed by various working family members... all paid by the hour, so we'll all be short in the next round of paydays. :( Coughing symphonies rattle through this household at random times. :( :) Schoolwork is behind. (kids like, mom doesn't) Routine and order have to yet to return. Most days consist of temp checks, doling out meds or supplements, pushing liquids, and keeping all else as simple as possible. Some of us are developing a premature case of cabin fever too!

In quieter moments I try to focus on the days ahead when no one will be sick! It's the only thing keeping me sane. ;-)

Progress in Going Green and in Homeschooling

We have now reached the point of bringing our bags in the store 99% of the time! :) Over the last 16 months we've accumulated well over a dozen cloth bags to use for all our shopping trips. They come in several sizes and for the most part are either blue or green although a very few are black or beige (more like unbleached cotton) or they combine two or more of those four colors!

We are still using the same bottle of Basic-H2 that we got back in March of 2008. Judging from how much we've used in 16 months the remainder should keep us until at least June or July 2010! We have not used, nor bought any window cleaners, all purpose cleaners, degreasers, or any cleaners designed especially for kitchens or bathrooms in all that time either. Buying Basic-H2 has more than paid for itself, a few times over probably too. And Basic-H2 has been used for some things that I probably would have gone searching for a special cleaner for in the past, but because we had the Basic-H2 we opted to try it first! It has clearly done an excellent job, many times a better job, than what we were using - and - it's not toxic to us or our environment!

On the school front... adjusting three students from public school to homeschooling is now complete. Each of my high-schoolers are now looking forward to completing the projects required by me so that they can graduate soon! Our younger student is beginning 3rd grade. We are considering putting her into a virtual school in September.

I don't know what it's like in other states, but in our state the State Department of Public Instruction issued a cap on the number of students that could be enrolled in virtual schools. In the past few years enrollment never reached that cap, but this year it did! Our younger student was placed on a waiting list, given a number in the 500s. The older students were also put on the waiting list but all of them have #s from 1100 to 1500; that, combined with the fact that it would only be for their senior year and none of the potential schools could guarantee early graduation brought them each to decide to drop the request altogether and just continue on as homeschooled students. We have just been informed that our younger student's wait is over and we have 10 days to choose which of three schools she will be enrolled in IF we still wish to enroll her in a virtual school.

Weighing the pros and cons of virtual schooling vs design-our-own-curriculum homeschooling is something we do nearly every school year. Which method is truly in the best interests of the particular student? We'll keep you posted! ;-) Feel free to comment one way or the other, but know that no one opinion will sway our decision. :)

Another thing that might be a bit more fun to comment on is this:
Is it better for triplets that are graduating from high school to have one big graduation party? or should each triplet have their own separate graduation party?