D has taken 5 doses if Tamiflu and is feeling MUCH better already. She’s sitting up and awake more and making tentative plans to visit with cousins tomorrow. H and I feel fine and think we dodged the flu from D—we each had 3 doses of Tamiflu.
OH Himom, I’m so sorry that your family reunion has this awful cloud over it. Hope everyone recovers quickly, or never gets ill.
Thanks @bookworm! We are all feeling pretty chipper. D is gaining back a bit of stamina and should be even better by the time she finishes her full course of Tamiflu.
I’m actually relieved we are around to pamper her rather than her being far away and miserable without us around to get her Rx and hot soup.
I even brought our favorite pharmacist an orchid plant, bag of clementines, and teddy bear for his D to cheer him up as he hobbles around while recovering from badly breaking his ankle.
The toddler who died and was featured on the news ^^^^ last night was from my town. Our hospitals - all of them and for some reason we have alot! - are at capacity - they are asking people to use urgent care centers instead of ER’s. Apparently between the flu and people falling on the ice (it’s been horrible here and in fact, I spend Christmas Eve in the ER with my H who slipped and hit his head on the ice in our driveway) everything is at capacity.
One of our infectious disease docs is going to be interviewed for the news literally feet away from my office in about an hour about the epidemic. I’m afraid to touch anything around here! (hospital campus)
A girl dies of a secondary infection which was likely treatable with antibiotics. 
I fell ill NYE, was diagnosed on Tuesday with type A flu and started Tamiflu. Had to endure a ten-hour international flight on Friday still not feeling up to snuff and then it settled in my chest along with a sinus infection. Yuck. Good news is that the Irish healthcare system is fabulous. The hotel sent me to a clinic just around the corner and with only my name and hotel address was able to see a doctor (no wait) and fill a prescription for Augmentin just across the street. Total out-of-bed time was less than an hour and less than $40 for both the doctor and medicine. I’m feeling much better now. Hubby started preventive Tamiflu before we left and he’s feeling fine minus the jet lag.
I’ve never had a flu shot and I never get sick. Hubby gets one every year and he’s sick every other year. I will probably start getting flu shots, though, just for the heck of it. Can’t hurt.
S and I starting feeling a cold coming on the 27th, then it turned into the flu. Couldn’t get to the dr. because we were traveling. We are still coughing! Fortunately H and D escaped even though the were stuck in the car with us.
It is now pretty bad in North Texas, our local hospital is full and the urgent cares are very backed up.
Colds don’t turn into the flu, they either are or they are not one of the strains of influenza virus. I wish you a speedy recovery, and your son as well.
To make matters worse, there is a shortage of IV bags because of Hurricane Maria hitting Puerto Rico.
Please do not get on an airplane while you have the flu. You can be shedding viruses for up to a week after symptoms appear and it is not fair to the others on the plane. Stay home if you are sick. This is how epidemics happen.
My daughter was just diagnosed with the flu this morning at urgent care. It really really sucks. We all had flu shots this year, too! Her headache is really intense and the vomiting won’t stop.
Well, the flu hit our family hard! The plumber that was supposed to fix our boiler is out of commission, and the siding crew will most likely postpone the beginning of the job as some of them are getting ill. Dang miss with the vaccine. We now have a house without heat for another two weeks.
@tusconmom, that’s awful about your D. Since flu is a respiratory virus, it rarely comes with GI symptoms. But occasionally it does, more often with children. In any case, did they give her Tamiflu? My DH took Tamiflu and vomiting quickly followed, so he had to quit taking it.
It really does hit students hard when they get the flu; few and far between are the kids who can afford to be out for that long. Wishing a full recovery for your D.
If you or a family member is prescribed Tamiflu, be aware that a possible side effect is a rash/hives, and if this develops you are supposed to stop taking it immediately and tell your doctor. My father (86) has just gone through this and it was very uncomfortable for him. The pharmacist mentioned it in passing but didn’t emphasize it (it is in fine print at the very bottom of the insert).
It’s probably a small percentage of people that react this way, but we had no clue, so I thought I’d pass it on.
I had the vaccine a few of months ago and I’m suffering from the flu right now. It’s awful!
So sorry to all! The flu vaccine was only reported to be 10 per cent effective this year.
Still hoping that having tested positive for the flu last year gives me immunity this year, since apparently the shot I got is unlikely to.
DH was sick and I now have the sniffles and sneezes. We both had the shot.
“The flu vaccine was only reported to be 10 per cent effective this year.”
That was the effectiveness in Australia during their winter. There is no data yet from the CDC and won’t be until the season is over here.
“Concerns have been raised about this year’s vaccine after an editorial published in the New England Journal of Medicine last Thursday said it was only 10 percent effective against H3N2 in Australia.
Schaffner cautions against using this statistic to predict how well the vaccine will work in the U.S., since this is not official CDC data, but warns it could be a bad sign.”
“We are being affected by the basically same virus and using basically the same vaccine,” he said.
Schaffner points out that the vaccine provides good protection against other influenza strains, which are becoming more common this season.
“It’s an imperfect vaccine, but it’s the best we have, and it still does provide a terrific amount of protection – complete protection and partial protection,” he said. “You contribute to your own protection and a healthier community – a community where there is less likelihood of spread.”
http://abcnews.go.com/Health/years-flu-season-bad-flu-shot-effective/story?id=52209578