Flu Shot Fiasco

On Oct. 9, which was a Friday, both kids were off school. I believe it was due to some sort of teacher conference-type thing. It made for a long weekend because the kids didn't have school either on Monday due to Columbus Day. Me, being the practical one, scheduled the kids' flu shots for bright and early Friday morning. I figured this would be a perfect way to get Riley in there, too, since Jeremy has off more mornings than Riley.

We were in and out in less than 10 minutes, but not before Riley kicked me and I had to physically hold her down with both hands. I thought she'd outgrow that by now.

They were rewarded with a trip to the local ice cream shop. Ever since I told Riley that she had to have a shot, which, by now I should know NOT to do, she said she wanted ice cream as a treat. We had to wait until the place opened at 2, but the ice cream did not disappoint!

Jeremy enjoyed some chocolate ice cream,
which Mom gladly help finish.

Riley chose cookie dough for her first trip to this ice cream place.

Anyway, the kids were a little sore the rest of the day, but they were both overall in fine shape. Saturday came around, and after a lengthy nap, Jeremy woke up with a fever. A 103-degree fever to be exact. We loaded him up with some drugs and headed off on a date. (For the record, our sitter was totally fine with J being sick--I blamed the shot since he acted fine and ate well.) I did have Phil call later in the evening to check in on our little guy.

Sunday J still wasn't well, so Phil stayed home with him while Riley and I went to church. Jeremy didn't have much of an appetite the entire day and still had a fever. He was pretty listless for the next few days, in fact. His fever broke on Tuesday, but then he developed a horrible cough. He would cough to the point that he'd throw up because he had so much phlegm in his throat. And forget sleeping. He would start coughing so much that he'd wake up and start choking. He (and Mom and Dad) did not sleep well for several days. Phil and I both called the doctor, and they reassured us that we were doing the right things. But he wasn't getting better.

I called and made an appointment the following Monday (day #8 of him being sick and day #4 of puking, which he started to do on Friday). He barely ate all weekend, but on Monday he started to actually eat a bit. We got to the office, and J was weighed (33 lbs). The doc came in and listened to J's lungs, and it turns out he had fluid in his lung, which was causing him to be all raspy and produce the phlegm in his throat. He prescribed steroids and an inhaler, and $50 later, we were all set.

As a treat after picking up the medicine, I took the kids to the park since it was actually a decent day for once. We ran into former neighbors (Dawn, Lauren and Jonathan) along with a little boy from Riley's old preschool and his brother who is in Jeremy's class this year.

Once we got home, Jeremy took the medicine and inhaler like a champ. He is SO not his sister! I took him back to the doc after 2 days to check his status. Jeremy was improving, although he still had a little fluid. The doc said that if Jeremy had a fever while he had the fluid, he would've had pneumonia! How scary.

Jeremy was on the medication/inhaler for 5 days, and he FINALLY seems better. Now I know that everyone reacts differently to shots (case in point, Riley was fine during this whole episode), but Jeremy will not be getting the flu shot next year. Just to be safe. And because he had NEVER been this sick before. Ever. I'm still contemplating the H1N1 shot, though. We go back on Wednesday for a 2-week check-up on Jeremy, so we'll see what the doc recommends.