Works for Me Wednesday: H1N1/Flu must haves

As it appears as though my child probably had her experience with H1N1 last week and has clinical pneumonia as a nice dessert to the whole thing, I figured that I would tell y'all what things helped us out.

1. The Braun Ear Scan Thermometer. You can take their temperature in the middle of the night and not wake them up. Remember that this is not good for children less than 6 months old due to how their little ear canals are.
2. Mucinex Mini Melts. A school mom taught me about this. We call them "cough pixie sticks," but you may want to refrain depending upon your child's love for the flavor and/or pixie sticks. In the middle of the night, she can basically be asleep, but still listen enough to get up and to pour them into her mouth.
3. Oscillococinum. Homeopathic loveliness. This pulls us through flus. K- calls them "sugary balls." They really did seem to help her.
4. Advil. 'Nuff said. The Tylenol didn't seem to be kicking it for her generally and some dental work called for Advil. I don't think I'll ever go back.
5. The vaporizer. Hubs bought us a new one since we had the Great Humidifier Flood of 2008. She even talked about it this AM about how it helped her cough.
6. Cough drops. K- hated the taste, but if your child is old enough to get the idea to keep them in their mouth and let them melt, I think that you would be good to go.
7. Water, water, water and more water. K- hasn't been to hip to eating tons by any means, but we've been able to get her rolling with water.
8. The sippy cup. Yes, she is nearly 6, but I still have a few kicking around. It is great to leave it on her desk and easier to give her some sips of water to try to calm the cough before considering another dose of cough medicine.
9. Vicks Vaporub. I would have done this with K-, but she wouldn't let me. I've done the Vicks on the feet and it didn't work for her. In fact, her reaction was kind of funny!

Thankfully, our probable bout with H1N1 (not confirmed, but probable) was not severe. K- ran a fever for 2 1/2 days, spiking to 103.7 F, but mainly staying in the range of 101 - 102 F. What is particularly important to remember in kids is that though protocol around here is not to see them in office initially, as to let them try to run it through their system, it is important to keep vigilant and continue to take their temperature even after they seem like they have ditched the fever. K- started to slide back ever so slightly, running a very low grade fever. Her nose started running and running and her cough got a little gunky, productive but gunky. They have plunked her into the "clinical pneumonia" category more as a formality (and probably an H1N1 statistic) and not because it is big and scary like it sounds. She is fully functional, on Omnicef and doing just fine.

Don't panic. Believe me, I did. Take a deep breath. More than likely, it will run its course like a general flu. That is what we had going on here. And I have to tell you, the viral funk K- had in August was way worse.

Can I tell you something else? I haven't really slept for days. A little block here and a little block there. I was so tired last night, that I fell asleep sitting up while watching a movie with my husband. He finally sent me to bed before 10 PM!

Smiles in my day:
- K- is starting to feel better! :)

Have a great week and stay well!