3 weeks of illnesses, all thought to not be related turned into a drastic change and then an ambulance ride to the hospital.
Johnathan started out with a head cold. 2 days after he started, I started...we seemed to mimic each other from there on out. Week 2 was chest congestion and fear of it stickin in the lungs. Week 3 was diahrea. Start of week 4 seemed promising...Tuesday am we had a baclofen pump refill and all looked well. About 1:30 that afternoon, Johnathans heart started racing and his arms and legs started shaking crazily (clonis in overdrive). Took him to doc that evening and they thought this was not the same all 3 weeks and that this was a new thing that just needed TLC, so home we went. Walked in door, went to place Johnatahn in recliner and he puked up. Looked at him, he was very pale and ready to vomit, so we went to floor. Fever went from the 101 it had been to 102.5. Tried to reach doc back, but only got nurse line, so just had them chart what happened. All night his O2 stats was 92-94, his heart rate stayed high, but doc stated due to being sick, uncomfortable and his temp stayed above 101, even with ibuprofen.
Next am, called doc and stated what was up, by now Johnathan was refusing to swallow saliva, drooling extra, looking as if he was foaming at the mouth,they said I should go to hospital. Debating whetehr to drive myself, calling to make arrangements for other kids, Johnatahn starts vomiting. 911. Apologizing for not wanting to have him throw up while driving myself, ambulance techs inform me his heart rate is 210 and his temp is 103.6..he needs an ambulance ride.
Er does all their normal tests. After some ibuprofen and all tests being negative, we are admitted to hospital since heart rate is still 150-160 and temp won't go below 101. DOCTORS DO NOT TEST FOR THE FLU UNLESS YOU ARE ADMITTED TO THE HOSPITAL. CRAZY!!! Once admited, we are quarantined and tested for flu. If test is negative, quarantine lifts, but it takes 24 hours. Next AM johnatahn wakes up soaked with sweat; he broke that fever. His heart rate is down to 120-130. Talkign with the doctor, we state how we are ready to go home, just gonna wait out flu test results. Within 10-20 minutes, Johantahn turns grey and vomits all over again....this is Johnathan's bodies way of telling us something is going wrong inside (1st time was allergic reaction to benadryl, 2nd time was start of baclofen pump malfunction, 3rd was reaction to triple fruit combinations, 4th time is this). Doc comes back in about an hour with a confirmed flu test.
Physical symptoms basically over by tiem we get diagnosis. Only low grade temps from there on out and sporadic diahrea. We are discharge Saturday. We finished Tamaflu Tuesday. HOWEVER, doctors are not sure when the contagious period for this flu is over, so we are keepign ourselves at home, away from others untill all symptoms are gone. They say the cough is the worst, which is what I have. Common knowledge tells us all that fever is a contagious period; even thoguh they say anythign under 100+ doesn't count, we as parents knwo it does. So low grade temp today, not yesterday. Diahrea yesterday, not today????????????/ So when are we not contagious?????????????? We are week 4 and still showing sporadic symptoms..no ownder so many are catching this flu...half have it but aren't sick enough to be hospitalized, so never diagnosed...and the half sick enough to be hospitalized already have it in their lungs so face the chance of dying from the pneumonia or living thru it...RIDICLUOUS that one has to wait until the gun is to their head to get some sort of help (forgive statement, but seems to be what the medical professionals are leaving us with)......I hear the test is too expensive and Tamaflu isn't needed by all....but yet the media has pointed out how widespread this is and how it is still growing and the fact that it is deadly.........all flu is deadly, so why are we taking such chances?????????????

Luckily Johantahn fought this battle mainly on his own, however the rapid onset of the severe symptoms should have been a clue to all. We went from fine to heart racing and lower temp to damaging heart rate and high temp within 8 hours. We were lucky our onset symptom was diahrea and not the chest congestion as last week, or even the head congestion of the weke before; both of those can settle in just the time it takes to nap. For those not as lucky, let's pray.....