Nash has influenza

Well.  This sucks.  I thought we were pretty much out of cold and flu season.  Turns out, flu season hasn't even peaked yet!  BAH!
Nash was fine all day Friday.  I had to go to work from 5:30-11:30 pm and Sam was suppose to go to a birthday party across the street.  I left my phone home so if Nash needed something he could get a hold of me at the store.  I got the kids two Redbox movies and headed off to work.  I tried to call and check on them around 7:30 pm while I was on my break.  I didn't get an answer so I figured they were downstairs watching the movie and didn't hear the phone.  Around 9:30 pm my mom stopped at the store.  I was a bit nervous about things since no one answered earlier and they hadn't called me back so I asked my mom to stop and check on them.  I never heard from my mom so I assumed all was well.
About 11:20 pm I got a call from Sam telling me "Nash is DYING!"  (That girl so dramatic it kills me!).  Our conversation went something like:
Me - Why are you still up?
Sam - Nash is DYING!  Come home!
Me - How do you know he's dying?
Sam - He's on FIRE!  He says he feels like he's DYING!
Me - Give him some ibuprofen and have him get n a cool bath.
Sam - He says he's cold though.
Me - Yes, he's cold because his fever is high.  Have him get in the bath.

This conversation continued for several minutes before I told her I was almost done and I'd be home soon.  Just help him out and go to bed.  I got home about 11:45 pm.  Nash was fully clothed, on the couch, with the heaviest blanket he could find wrapped around him and shivering like a frozen puppy.  There was an empty ibuprofen cup next to him so I knew he'd at least gotten some meds in him.  I tried to wake him up to get him to change into pjs and go to bed.  He wasn't super coherent.  He told me that it hurt to breathe - at which point I kinda went, "Ah, crap.  We might be visiting the ER in the middle of the night."  He told me it hurt in both his chest and his throat when he took a breath.  He also kept telling me how much his throat hurt.  I started wondering if maybe it was strep.  But, he's had his tonsils out so I'm not sure how likely that is.  I finally got him changed and moved to his bed and I went to bed.

I had a 9 am appointment in Logan.  Nash came in my room about 7:45 am.  He told me again how much his throat hurt and how much it hurt to breathe.  I told him he could either stay here and just wait it out.  I could take him into the dr. when I got back.  Or, he could go with to my appt and sleep in the car and then I could take him to the dr.  He told me he just wanted to stay put and that he was freezing still.  He was out cold again not long after that so I never got any meds in him.  I left and went to my appointment and didn't think too much about it other than to wonder whether I should bother taking him to instacare later or not.  I was suppose to work a 5:30-11:30 pm shift that night so whatever I did needed to be well before that.

I went to my appointment and kept debating about what to do.  I finally decided I'd stop at JoAnn's and talk to mom to see how he had been Friday night when she stopped.  She told me he hadn't been doing well at all when she got there.  In fact, he'd been asleep on the couch (asleep at 9:30 pm for that child is unheard of - unless he's seriously ill).  She said he'd had a decent fever then and that she had tried to move him too but he kinda just wanted to lie on the couch and die.  She said she left about 10:15 and went home.  Sam called her at 11 pm.  She said she thought about just coming up then but knew I'd be home soon.  She walked through the same conversation with Sam that I had.  Apparently she had gone through which med was the best for him, put a cool washcloth on his forehead, etc.  Sam must have listened to one of us bc Nash told me later Sam did put a cool washcloth on his head and did give him meds.  After talking to mom I decided to call the Kids Care at our regular pediatrician to see if we could get in.  It was 11:30 am by the time I decided to call.  They had one appointment left at noon so I took it.  As I was heading home I called the neighbor and asked her to go make sure he was awake and had shoes on so we could leave as soon as I got there.

When I got home I found Nash on the couch with one shoe one, trying in vain to use his hands to get the other one even close to his empty foot.  He was still in his pjs and mostly just wanted to lay on the couch and die.  He told me he had to use both hands to open the door to my room so he could even get out.  I'm surprised he didn't just lay back down and say screw it, it's too much effort!  I helped him get his shoes on and we took B and headed to the Dr.'s office.

Nash pretty well fell asleep in the car, in the waiting room and in the room where we saw the dr.  It was a dr. I hadn't seen before so I wasn't sure how this was going to play out.  Turns out I really liked her.  I explained everything that had happened and asked what the possibility of strep was.  She looked in his throat and said it didn't look bad at all - in fact looked pretty decent.  She said that everything I was describing was influenza.  She said she isn't a fan of Tamiflu because it's so expensive and it tends to nauseate her patients.  So, you pay $80 to be sick to your stomach and it only lessons the symptoms by about a day.  She said to keep him on ibuprofen and Tylenol every 3 hours.  Lots of rest and lots of fluids.

So, we headed home with nothing more than a "sucks to be you" diagnosis.  We got home and Nash was hungry so he ate a little.  Then he asked if he could get in the tub.  The dr. said his temp was at 102 at the dr.'s office so we also got some meds in him.  He wanted some Gatorade too so we got him some of that.  He went back to bed about 2 pm and didn't wake up until after 5.  I sent Sam to my in laws house with her cousin for a sleep over (it was suppose to have been at our house).  I needed to go in to work from 9-1130 so I sent Caleb and Brooke to my parents' house for a sleep over.  I was hoping Nash would just crash and sleep the whole time I was gone.

I didn't clock out at work until a little after midnight.  I got home and Nash was WIDE awake watching TV downstairs.  Apparently he had had too much sleep.  He ended up staying awake literally all night long.  When I woke up this morning I asked him how long he had been up and he was like "eh, I couldn't sleep, so I just watched tv".  Awesome dude.  His appetite has been so-so today.  He keeps asking for soft foods because his throat still hurts so darn bad.  We're keeping him on the ibuprofen and Tylenol so his fever is mostly staying down.  After picking up the other three kids today I came home and started disinfecting everything in the house.  Tomorrow I think I'm going to bust out the carpet cleaner too.  I'm crossing my fingers no one else gets this.  The dr. said it typically lasts 5-7 days.  I got my shift at work for today (Sunday) covered and I canceled school for Monday/Tuesday.  Wednesday will be day 5 so I'm hoping he's doing better enough by then that even if he isn't back to school I can at least have preschool.  He hates missing school too so for his sake I hope he heals quickly!

After church let out today I had a knock on my door.  It was a couple I don't know super well.  He said to me, "I understand your son is sick.  Would you like me to minister to him?"  It caught me so completely off guard.  I hadn't expected that at all.  I told him Nash had just gotten into the tub so could he come back in 30 minutes?  He said he would and left to find another brother to come help him give Nash a blessing.  30 minutes later, they were back and gave Nash a nice blessing.  Come to find out, they are our new home teachers!  I'd say that's a good start to getting to know them better!  I was sure glad that he had stopped by.  My phone had rung and I'd been downstairs and missed the call.  I didn't recognize the number so I didn't call back.  A few short minutes later he stopped by the house.  I'm very thankful to be a part of a ward that looks out for members like that.  People who know us know Trav works out of town.  We've had offers of help here and there but we've never really needed to take anyone up on their offers.  It is nice to know that even in a ward that's brand new (December our ward boundaries changed and we got put into the new ward) people will still look out for you - even when they hardly know you!

Fun tidbits

Exciting news!
**Nash's robotics team at Canyon Elementary took 2nd at the STATE competition!  While his team didn't qualify for Nationals or Worlds, the school's team with all first timers did!  They will be making a trip to TEXAS in April.  Nash won't go this time, but I have a feeling his day is coming soon!

**Also, this past month I've helped my mom set up an Etsy store.  She's not got 2 sales under her belt!  We are pretty excited here and can't wait to see this business really take off for her!

Upcoming events we are looking forward to:

**Caleb is singing with Billy Dean and Eli Barsi on Saturday at the Cache Valley Cowboy Rendezvous!

**Brooke & Nash have birthdays coming up in just 2 months.  I've already been hearing about what kind of cakes Brookelyn wants (since Christmas actually).  Should be an interesting challenge and must more difficult than last month's cake adventure!

**Spring Break is at the end of March!  We'll be going to Manti to visit Grandma and Grandpa Butter for Easter.  Not sure what else we'll do, but Travis is home so there SHALL BE ADVENTURE!

**We just had our first NYC meeting!  We talked about places we'd like to visit and which Broadway shows we'd like to see.  We'll have another meeting in May!

**Dance competition season officially kicks off on March 19th.  I WILL master this year's hair by then!  I actually practiced on Brookelyn on Sunday.  I didn't do it upside down and backwards like I do on Sam - but it looked super cute and she loved her "Elsa Braid".  We are also looking forward to the END of dance competition season.  This season with a new studio has been very difficult.  We've learned a lot of hard lessons.  Sam will be switching to a different studio in August and thankfully, she's excited about that!  I sure hope it's a better experience than this year has been!  Brookelyn is looking forward to getting to go back to "fun dance" instead of "boring dance" too :)

I know it's not anything super marvelous, but at this time of year it's easy to get the winter blahs.  We are looking for fun things to be excited about!