The Taming of the Flu

The Tamiflu Crew
"Life is good. Life is bad. Anything can happen in life. Except for nonsense things."

This was Julianna's thought for the day as she got ready for bed last night.

LJ's response?

"Not true! Nonsense things can happen."

I doubt that either child realized just how prophetic this conversation would be less than 24 hours later.

But as LJ's fever spiked at nearly 104 degrees early this morning, I knew a trip to the pediatrician was warranted. He rarely gets sick, and he had me concerned with his combination of high fever, chest congestion, and lethargy.

To my utter shock, his flu test came back positive.

Now I know that flu vaccines are not even close to fool-proof. But I cannot recall either kid ever having the flu. And since Jack and I started getting the vaccines several years ago, neither have we.

When LJ heard the news, you would have thought his pet fish, Max, had died all over again. Tears were streaming down his face and he had a hard time coming to grips with how truly nonsensical it all was. You could practically see his little mind whirring away as he tried to process it all.

Why had he gone to the horrible inconvenience and discomfort of getting the flu mist if he was ultimately fated to contract this awful virus anyway?

Why?

Life is good. Life is bad. Anything can happen in life. And in this case, nonsense happened in the form of the flu.

The doctor prescribed Tamiflu for the entire family in the hopes of minimizing LJ's symptoms and keeping ours at bay. The jury is still out on its effectiveness, and I am a little bit queasy just thinking about the possibility of the flu.

On our way back from picking up the Tamiflu prescriptions at Rite-Aid, the packaging caught LJ's eye.

"Mom," he said. "That shouldn't be called Tam-i-flu. That should be called Tame-a-flue. Get it?"

I did, and I laughed -- out loud. Despite being totally immersed in a flu-induced misery, my son didn't miss a chance to crack a joke.

Unfortunately, thus far, Tamiflu seems only to have tamed LJ and not the virus.

He is notoriously picky about the flavor of medicine, so I sought assurances from both the doctor and pharmacist that this medicine tasted "fine." Despite their promises, LJ spit the first Tamiflu dose all over me and the sofa. He then gagged down a second dose only to throw it up on the carpet.

Between me and Jack, we made four trips to Rite Aid today -- the last of which was to have some watermelon "magic" added to the Tamiflu to improve the taste.

Life is good. Life is bad. Anything can happen in life. Especially nonsense things.

And sometimes life gives us lemons -- like the flu. Next time I'll just be sure to get it artificially flavored.