Hannah and Austin and H1N1

Sometimes it seems life gets going and I forget to update...or I can't find two minutes in which to do an update. Last week was a crazy busy week.

Hannah has had her NG tube for over a week now and she is starting to adjust to it. She pulls it regularly at night, but she leaves it be during the day. She no longer has to use her arm restraints during the day and that is a huge relief. We got a lot of looks over that one, but it was the only way to keep the tube in! She started getting smart at night and she will wait until I am out of the room for a while and then remove her arm restraints. She does still wear them at night because otherwise she will pull the tube out. Most of the time she leaves the tube be, even without restraints on, during the night, but if she wakes up in the morning and is left alone, she will pull it. And she's getting very quiet in the morning, so you are never quite sure when she's awake and when she's asleep. My solution to that has been to get her up and out of her room as soon as I wake up. A few nights ago, she got very smart and we still can't figure out how she did it. She pulled her tube out - with both arm restraints on. I have no idea how she managed, but she did. The next night, she pulled it out, with restraints on, at the beginning of her feed. I went in like I usually do and checked her three times. I just checked to be sure it was still attached to her cheek, because she was kind of laying on it. She pulled it and I had no idea. I even went in and checked it again, plus then checked it when I disconnected everything and flushed her line. Steve woke up and went in to get her and her hair was matted to her head and her jammies and sheets were full of Pediasure. I now turn her over when I go in to check on her to be sure it is still in place.

Other than the fights over leaving her tube in place at night, she's doing pretty well. The triplets have not once attempted to pull it out. I am so pleased with that! Noah was checking her out the very first day and I told him "No, that makes owies for Hannah" and he has since left her completely alone. He even told Nathanial "no...owies!" one day just for looking at Hannah! It is so nice to not have that worry!

Austin was home all last week with influenza A. He said he was sick on Monday, but he's been having a lot of anxiety again lately so I assumed it was that sort of sick. I left him be, but he didn't really perk right back up around 9 like he usually does. Monday night, he started sounding awful and went to bed by 6:30! Tuesday he woke up and was just miserable and I knew he couldn't go to school again. So I took him in to the doctor, figuring it was just a cold but I knew we needed an excuse slip if he was going to miss two days. And it wasn't...he tested positive for Influenza A. We've been told that they do not run the H1N1 test because it is so very expensive but that it is too early for the seasonal flu, so we can be relatively positive he had H1N1. He was immediately put on Tamaflu, as was the rest of the family so that we could avoid anyone else getting it.

On Wednesday, I took him back in because he was having a lot of trouble breathing and said it felt like someone was sitting on his chest. The doctor he saw then said to just increase his inhaler use and add Mucinex. I was a little frustrated because he didn't believe me at first when I told him he had tested positive for the flu; then he suddenly thought maybe he should be tested for the flu; then after about 10 minutes he finally understood and looked in his chart. He didn't understand my concerns about his breathing, either, but Austin has asthma, a heart condition, and a neaurological disorder...all of which put him at a much greater risk for complications from the flu. Very frustrating. He did seem a bit perkier for about an hour that afternoon. Thursday he had a few hours of perky-ness and he was back to fighting with me by Friday afternoon. He probably could have gone back on Friday, but I wasn't sure and just figured better to be safe than sorry. Today is his first full day back and he had a ton of homework over the weekend to catch up on. Thankfully, he's a strong student and in some very un-challenging classes so he won't take much to keep up.

Noah, Aidan, Hannah, and I all got colds out of the deal, but none of us came near what Austin had and I think Tamaflu helped keep it not so bad for us! Prayerfully, we will now have healthy winter season!