Flu Has Breached Our Perimeter
 

My 14 y/o daughter has the flu. Been in bed for 1 day now, the usual symptoms - temp, congestion, dizzy, achy, and so on. Called the doctor who said to just treat it like any old flu - rest, fever-reducer, liquids.

My 10 y/o son has a very swollen lymph node under his jaw. Doctor says he has probably caught the flu too, his body is fighting back.

I think that any flu at this point is almost surely swine flu. (I've read that 90% of local flu cases currently are H1N1.)

Every family I know of, where a child has caught swine flu, the whole family gets it.

So, it seems a pretty good chance that I'll have the disease soon. Oh joy.

Regular flu shot last week. H1N1 as soon as it is available...

Got to figure out my next week and get the key stuff done Monday. Then I'll be able to get sick with a clear conscience.

I will watch the winds aloft forecasts and get ready!

How to treat H1N1? I am having my first cold/flu-like symptoms in about seven years. It started Friday with post-nasal drip. Last night was hell, but today isn't so bad. I was able to make it to the gym. I've been drinking lots of OJ and hot tea.

Rick - zinc and garlic. Knocks the s* out of the flue virus.

Time to PANIC!!!!!!! Actually, I'm more scared of the H1N1 vaccine than the virus itself. A vaccine that has been developed in months with very little testing......no thanks. As far as the virus itself, it seems preferable to the regular flu. Less deaths, and it doesn't sound like there's any vomiting. Anything that keeps me from worshiping the porcelain god is a bonus in my book.

What the symptoms of H1N1? And how do you know you have it and not the regular flu?

When you have an incurable craving for bacon.

Schools...the greatest place to spread a communicable disease. Germ warfare terrorists...take note.

There is basically no difference in the vaccine, in how it is made, between the regular flu and the H1N1. They "breed" the virus in eggs, and then treat it to deactivate or kill it. The H1N1 vaccine shouldn't be any more or less dangerous than the regular vaccine.

The biggest problem with the vaccine was switching the production line over to making H1N1 and then seeing how much vaccine was needed to produce enough antibodies to protect people (how big the dose needed).

John, do you have any idea why your doctor didn't prescribe an antiviral like Tamiflu/Oseltamivir?

It's supposed to lessen the severity of the flu. Around here, it's being prescribed once it's confirmed that a person has flu... H1N1 or "regular."

I wonder if your doctor just didn't want you to bring your kid/s to his office.
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Talk to your doctor. You may need to get tested to be sure you have H1N1 flu.

To treat swine flu, your doctor will prescribe an antiviral medicine such as oseltamivir (Tamiflu) or zanamivir (Relenza). These medicines can help you feel better faster and may prevent other health problems caused by the flu.

The medicines work best if you start to take them within 2 days after your symptoms start.
http://www.webmd.com/cold-and-flu/tc/h1n1-influenza-swine-flu-treatment

Oh No, I have it!

Actually I feel fine except for the bacon part, what does that mean?


It means I am having bacon for breakfast and BLT's for lunch, I tell you what.

you could always wear a mask

Unless you're immune-system compromised, fight it off yourself. No need to get Tamiflu or anything else from the doctors. In fact, reports have shown that doctors don't want to see you because there's nothing they can do for you.

Wear a dust mask around - people won't know that it's the kind you use for grinding concrete anyway.

Sometimes I see people in airports from certain... parts of the world wearing those. I stay the hell away from them because the first thing that comes to mind is that I don't want to catch whatever they've got.

Fire mission! Immediate suppression, target: flu in open! Grid Hotel November 001001, direction 150, danger close, HE in effect!!!

LOL....lots of chicken soup amigo. Won ton is good too.

Don't accept that you must become sick. Use the hand sanitizer like a crazy person. Don't touch your face. Clean all the doorknobs with a bleach solution. You CAN avoid it.

I'll share my chicken noodle soup recipe, since some of us may be needing some "invalid cookery" soon.

Need two largish pots, one for stock and one for soup. 1 whole chicken, 1 1/2 onions, 2 large carrots, 5 cloves garlic, 3 stocks celery, pasta. You'll make the stock and soup concurrently.

Step 1: stock.

Cut up a whole chicken. Salt the breasts and legs and set aside. Heat the stock pot with a small amount of olive oil. The carcass, giblets, wings, and skin - roughly chopped up - go in the stock pot with a quartered onion. Add any other chicken or pork scraps you happen to have, the more the better. My local Asian grocery sells chicken carcasses, 3 for $1, I put six carcasses in my last stock batch. Brown over high heat. Add lots of water, bring to boil, and keep at low boil, uncovered. Add the leg bones, leg meat, and veggie trimmings from the soup pot. Keep boiling, uncovered, until the liquid is reduced by 1/3.

Step 2: soup.

Heat the soup pot with a small amount of olive oil, like 1 teaspoon. Put in the whole breasts reserved from step #1. Brown the breasts over med-high heat, until brown bits (fond) are sticking to the bottom of the pot. Remove the breasts. Put in 2 tablespoons of white wine, use a wooden spoon to scrape off the stuck bits (deglaze), and keep heating until the wine evaporates. Put another teaspoon of oil, in the pot, add the legs reserved from step #1, brown until more bits stick to the bottom, remove the legs, deglaze with wine again. Burner off. Debone the legs, crack the leg bones and put them into the stock pot. Burner on, med-high. Put the deboned leg meat in the soup pot, with a very small amount of additional oil if needed, brown to sticky-bit-ness, remove leg meat, and deglaze again. Burner off. Chop up the leg meat and toss it into the stock pot. Cut the breasts into 1/2" pieces. Chop the 1/2 onion, carrots, garlic, celery, toss any trimmings into the stock pot. Burner on, med-high. Put the breast meat, onion, carrots, garlic, and celery into the soup pot, and brown with a little butter. Burner off. When stock is ready, burner on, high. Add some stock to the soup pot (you won't need all of it), up to 2 cups of white wine if you like, salt the stock, bring to boil, add and cook a modest amount of pasta, pepper to taste, add some chopped scallions, and serve. I like the spiral noodles, called radiatores I think, and also like some red pepper flakes in addition to black pepper. If you are making a big batch of soup that is going to be served multiple times during the day, then don't add all the pasta - it gets soggy as the soup sits - but rather add more stock and cook more pasta for each serving.

Any other "sickness" recipes?

I'll try. But my busy time (earnings reports) start in earnest next week. If I can get the flu out of the way this week, it wouldn't be the worst thing in the world.

No idea about the Tamiflu. I think my wife is bringing my son to see the doctor today - concerned about his lymph node swelling so much, we've never seen anything like this from him before - so maybe he'll get some.