Pigs take the Pidgeons down, temporarily!

These past few weeks we have been inundated with illness in our family. Swine flu has invaded our children. Aliza was the first to succumb to the illness. Thankfully the pediatrician put her on antibiotics at the very first sign of illness. As a side note, I am so thankful for our wonderful pediatricians. We have developed such a great relationship with them. They are terrific listeners and do a wonderful job of calming my fears about the what ifs of our kids complicated medical issues. So back to Aliza... She had a fever for three days, a cough and runny nose but all of it went away by the third day on antibiotics and did not expand into a worse illness as it has in many other kids with swine flu. On Aliza's third day of fever Trevor became sick. He had a high fever for 7 days. Finally one the 7th day we took him in to see the doctor. Right away she could tell he was really sick and took her time to listen to his chest and make a thorough diagnosis. Trevor had pneumonia. I was quite surprised because he was not coughing a whole lot, but he also was not getting any better after such a long time of being sick. Trevor started on antibiotics and within 3 days was much better. Still very tired, but his appetite was coming back and his color was better. Three days into Trevor's fever Ella came down with a fever. Her fever was not nearly as high as the other kids. She had a cough, runny nose and fever that lasted for just 2 days without antibiotics or additional intervention. The doctor took a listen to her when we went in with Trevor and her chest was clear. So now two weeks later, everyone is back to school and healthy again. It has been a long two weeks. The television is tired (too much TV while sick) and we have been able to air out the house, wash the bed lines, disinfect the bathrooms and surfaces. We have made it through this really early flu season, gotten knocked down, but not out and we are stronger, immune to the swine flu and ready tackle the next challenge. Aliza has gotten her swine flu vaccine, but it is not available yet for the other two. I originally thought that I would not get it for the kids, but our doctor felt it was important for Aliza and I agreed. I would never forgive myself if she became seriously ill from swine flu after I decided not to get her the shot. Better to be safe than sorry.