Scott McPherson's Web Presence

Well, it was an interesting weekend.  It all started Friday afternoon, as the day was winding down.  I got a call from my daughter, Mailin, who teaches fifth grade at a local private school.  She was suddenly feeling quite ill after an otherwise uneventful day, and had gone to the school clinic.  Her temperature: a hair under 102 degrees F.

What should she do, she asked?  I told her to immediately go home and go to bed.  I then called my wife and told her to get a box of Tamiflu from our strategic reserve and place it in her room and to start her on Tamiflu immediately.

When our daughter got home, she actually misread the directions and took two Tamiflu capsules (this may factor in later in the story), and went straight to bed.  My wife prepared chicken soup and gave a heaping portion to her, along with two Advils.  She complained of headache; a very sore throat; body aches; she had suddenly acquired a nasty-sounding cough; and she was in extreme fatigue.

I, of course, sprung into immediate action, and went straight to the football stadium to call the Lincoln High football game (a 28-3 win over Daytona Beach Spruce Creek).  On the way home, I stopped at Wal-Mart and bought out their remaining supply of N-95 respirators along with an extra box of disposable gloves.  When I returned home, my wife and I "masked up," donned gloves and entered her bedroom, now referred to as her "bubble."  My wife took her temperature while I pulled "solid surface detail," cleansing every possible solid surface she had touched in her bathroom and bedroom with Clorox wipes.  Her fever had reduced to just over 101 degrees F.

I also suggested to my wife, who is a recent chemotherapy patient, that she should start on Relenza immediately as a preventative.

The following morning, her fever had returned, registering nearly 102 degrees F again.  We immediately "masked and gloved up" and repeated the previous evening's work.  Since she had taken twice the normal dose of Tamiflu the day before, she had not had any Tamiflu since around 4PM Friday.  So my wife gave her the first Tamiflu of the new day, while I cleaned and cleaned and cleaned some more.

Now I am reminded of what Jesus Christ said about being a prophet in one's own country.  To paraphrase, being a "flu expert" in one's own household means getting a second opinion.  So my wife called our family doctor and left a message.  Soon enough, a call came from one of the nurses on duty.  My wife Marta relayed all the symptoms.  Additionally, she conveyed the results of a phone call received that morning from another teacher at the school.  A child in Mailin's class had tested positive for swine flu.  Marta also disclosed that we had placed our daughter on Tamiflu.

Yes, the nurse said, that fits the bill for swine flu.  Keep Mailin on the antiviral.  Also, she instructed us to both go on Tamiflu as a preventative.  Marta hung up the phone and looked at me.  I, of course, being the loving husband I am, took every opportunity to remind her that the doctors completely agreed with my diagnosis and treatment.  She, in turn, refused to go on Relenza but did start on Tamiflu, one capsule a day -- the same dosage I had recommended.

Now Relenza is an interesting medication.  I knew it used an inhaler but had never worked the damn thing before.  I always thought it worked like an asthma inhaler.  Wrong!  Theory is one thing; practice is another.  Fortunately, Glaxo has a full-color, photo-filled set of instructions so complete that even a middle-aged dude who hates to read the manual can follow along.  Pull off the blue cover to the mouthpiece.  OK.  Now pull out the mouthpiece until it clicks.  Now pinch the little doobers and withdraw the full apparatus.  WTF!  Now open the cylinder that came with the inhaler and withdraw the disk with the four little bubbles on it, looking like the bottom of the UFO from The Invaders.  Place the disk into the slot, bubbles down.  Now close it all back up.

But wait, as the late Billy Mays would say, there's more!  Now lift up this lever and lift it until it is completely perpendicular to the inhaler.  KEEP EVERYTHING LEVEL or you'll spill the medicine!  Okay, okay!  Now return the lever to its original position and exhale as much as you can!  Now INHALE DEEPLY while keeping the inhaler level, but DON'T COVER THOSE LITTLE HOLES ON EITHER SIDE OF THE MOUTHPIECE!  Okay, okay!  Now hold your breath and let the medicine get deep into your lungs!

I held my breath and kept the air in my lungs as long as I could, taking care not to cough and expunge all that medicine.  All this reminded me of some questionable activity I engaged in way back in my youth, when holding stuff in the lungs was de rigeur,if you catch my drift.  Then I had to exhale and pulled out the mouthpiece, which turned the disk one quarter turn, prepping the next dose of Relenza.  I lifted the lever, puncturing the next blister, and re-inhaled.

That afternoon, our daughter ate some more, and in the evening, her fever had stabilized.  She took her evening Tamiflu and stayed in bed.

Sunday, we repeated the exercise.  She began feeling somewhat better and was very thirsty.  Today, she is doing much, much better.   She asked, When can I come out of my bubble! Once we know she is fever-free for 24 hours without the assistance of fever-reducing medications, she should be able to return to her teaching duties.

I have been doing this Relenza regimen for three days now, two puffs a day.  My wife is still on Tamiflu and I credit her with making a sound decision.  The  inhaler for Relenza is a bit of a bother! 

Here are some takeaways from my experience:

First, having a private stockpile of Tamiflu is very beneficial.  Not everyone can have as sympathetic a doctor as I, but having the stuff on hand meant she did not have to wait an extra minute for antivirals to be purchased.  That, in my opinion, was a huge advantage.  Otherwise, she would have had to wait until a prescription was called in.  And what if the local pharmacy had been sold out of Tamiflu?  We would have been forced to do what Australian mothers did last year; namely, drive across their cities in a vain search for antivirals.

And with my daughter's cough, there was no bloody way she was going to be able to take Relenza deep enough into her lungs.  No way.

Second, being well-versed in the symptoms of influenza was absolutely important.  Knowing when to pull the trigger was based on sound diagnosis and making quick decisions.

Third, Tamiflu is an amazing substance!  We know a family whose child's temperature reached 105 degrees F. until it began to subside.  Contrast this with the shortened fever cycle experienced by our daughter.  I am all about Tamiflu!  I agree with the late Graeme Laver that it should be an over-the-counter medicine today.  My daughter (she is 26) has had zero side effects.  Neither has my wife. And neither have I with Relenza, save for some issues with lung capacity. ;-)

Fourth, you can't find enough solid surfaces to clean.  Light switches, door handles, sink knobs, toilet flushers, toilet seats, and on and on and on.  But you've got to hit them all, to make sure you nailed the virus.

Fifth, we are still monitoring our daughter's cough.  If it gets worse, or doesn't get better very soon, off to the doctor she will go.  As we all know, pneumonia -- both bacterial and viral -- is a persistent side effect of this flu (or any flu, really).  So we are very sensitive to that cough and what it could still turn into.  That is also, quite frankly, why she did not return to work today. That, and the desire to ensure completely fever-free behavior for 24 straight hours.

Sixth, it is absolutely amazing how quickly this virus hits.  The day before, she was fine and full of vigor.  This reminded me that she had been shedding virus for at least a day or two prior to the onset of symptoms, and meant my wife and I had both come into contact with the virus.  We won't know if our ages or the antivirals (or both) might have warded off this virus, but ordinarily both of us should have been stricken with the flu by now.  The fact that three days have passed (even more when you factor in the incubation period) and we are not feeling sick is testament to quick preventative use of antivirals.

Seventh, I cannot help but wonder if "doubling up" accidentally on the initial dosage of Tamiflu was beneficial.  We having double the amount of antivirals a huge kick, like doubling the first dose of antibiotics? 

All in all, it was a unique chance to put theory to practice and to apparently come out of it none the worse for wear.

So how was your weekend?