When Pigs Fly

I am not usually a person that gets freaked out by stuff in the media, but I have been totally obsessed with all the stories about Swine Flu.

So on Monday when Roo fell asleep in the ol’ burban when we were running errands I thought it was a little unusual. Then on Tuesday morning when I woke her up for school she said she didn’t feel like going to school…just like every other morning. I did the usual “Let me feel your forehead”…does everyone do that? Anywho…I felt her head and it was pretty warm. Remember the rules? If you have a fever you get to stay home from school no questions asked. She spent most of the day just resting. Then that evening the fever went sky high. I really hate high fevers, they make me so nervous. She woke up yesterday feeling really yucky and a really high fever. Then the news reports hit that swine flu had hit the state of Arizona. And I got a little nervous…I know, I know.

So I decided to take her to the doctor. We got to the doctor office and I couldn’t believe all the extra stuff their office is required to go through with all this in the news. What is the deal with this? Why is the media and the government making such a big deal about this? Why are they freaking us Moms out? Why am I letting them freak me out? Of course one of the first things the Doctor asked me is if we had travelled anywhere. No we haven’t been to Mexico thank you very much. The Doctor thought that she had more strep symptoms than flu symptoms. How sad is it that after they took the throat culture I was hoping that it was strep? Then we could just throw some antibiotics in her and she would be fine. I think both the Doctor and I were surprised when the strep culture came back negative. So out came the “f” word…FLU people. Of course the Swine Flu subject came up and I asked the Doctor what exactly was it about it that made it so horrible…and guess what his answer was? He couldn’t see what about it that was causing such a big deal. There is no mistaking that the flu kills a large number of people every year. But there is nothing about this flu that is so remarkable. It isn’t a new strain or a severe type of flu. He couldn’t say what the big deal was. I had no idea how they test for flu…do you know how they do it? Well out comes another swab and he stuck it WAY up her nose. I think she was still in shock from the throat culture and she didn’t know what to think about something being stuck that far up her nose. The flu test takes just a little longer so they sent us on our way. The Doctor called a little while later saying that the test results came back positive for type B flu. Which is a good thing…the type A is the bad one.

Now I am going to ignore all the news and take care of my poor little girl…and maybe have some bacon.

I know, I know it isn’t something you get from eating pork.