A Very Bad Flu

Picked up the kids Thursday night after work at a friend’s house. They called not long after we got home…they have a friend at JFBC whose 2-year old son died. The boy had the flu, and the mom decided to wait til after the nap to take him to the doctor. He threw up in his sleep and couldn’t breathe. They have three other sons, who had played ball at Mt. Paran…now they’re in the hospital with the same flu. Ceil had met them at a home school function. Friday women were in the Publix across the street just crying. The funeral is today, and in the midst of their grief the government is investigating the death.

Late last week the AJC had a couple of articles about this deadly children’s flu, that’s worsened by a staph infection. Thursday night Matthew had been grouchy, and Friday he woke up sick. He stayed in bad all day, throwing up once and not eating or drinking much. Ceil hovered over him, and they stayed home from small group. Saturday morning he seemed better, but got worse after I had with Will for basketball. By the time Ceil had him at the hospital he was doing better, so they turned around.

Ceil had cared for him all day, and Saturday night he felt good enough to eat at Moes, where we knew he’s eat a bunch. We even knocked out some homework afterwards, before he curled up and went to sleep (a rare occurrence). Sunday morning he first said he felt too bad to go to church, then decided he wanted to go at the last minute…sitting in the service with Ceil and I, enjoying Andy’s stories about their shedding dog and text-messaging. Matthew continued to have a temperature the rest of the day, though he played outside. Musinex kept his cough in check.

Matthew was heart-broken to miss the Hurt Super Bowl Party. I stayed home with him. Margaret and her family had just come home from the hospital that afternoon, but Mary wanted to have the party go on since Haley enjoys it so much. The Marshes and Normans were there…Willis especially wanted to see the Marshes.

Catherine had come home this weekend to run the house while Becky went on a retreat, though Willis admitted none of the kids are great cooks. Catherine’s wrist was in a cast, thanks to a dodgeball injury.