Little Kids and Swine Flu

[PineBurrowPeeps]

Has anyone here had their little kid come down with Swine Flu?
If so how did it present itself? How old is the child? How long were they sick? Did they require any medical intervention?

My nearly 4 year old little girl started complaining three days ago of a swollen gland on her neck right at the jawline under her left ear. She has been messing with her left ear too. She has never had an ear infection before. Actually none of my kids ever have and my oldest is 9.
It is not large, it's less than a marble in size but it is tender to the touch and she winces when you check out the area. It has stayed the same size. This also went hand in hand with a very low grade temp (100) that went away two days ago (so only had the temp for one day).
No coughing, sore throat or anything like that. The only other thing we have noticed is that she looks tired. Like dark circles under her eyes but she is sleeping all night like normal.

I am curious as to whether or not swollen glands are a symptom of Swine Flu. I have done some online research but not found anything that flat out listed it as a symptom.
I called my Dr. who at this point sees my children as my ped. just up and retired on us without telling any of his patients leaving us all to scramble to find new ped's- anyway they said to bring her in to be checked out.
I'm not against the idea, BUT my Dr.s office is a walk-in clinic. I am WORRIED SICK that if I take her and she just has some minor thing, that we will leave with much more than we went with, if you catch my drift.
I would hate to take her for an ear infection and leave with the Swine Flu I was trying to prevent.

So anyway, I basically wondered if anyone here had little ones who have had it, and if they did, did their lymph nodes swell?

We recently here in RI lost a perfectly healthy little 12 year old girl to H1N1 and she had NO underlying health conditions. She presented with a mild fever/cough/sore throat/fatigue on Friday and felt better by Sunday, but then got very suddenly ill and was dead by Monday afternoon.
I'm not normally one to lose my head in what could be media hype but that is scary stuff that I do not want to mess with.

 

[sfw2]

Jenna,

Take her in to the doctor. From what I've heard, this doesn't sound like H1N1 symptoms, but it could be a bacterial ear infection that would respond to antibiotics. Just sit as far as possible from the sniffly, snotty, hacking crowd, and make sure your daughter washes her hands when you leave, and doesn't touch her face while you're there.

 

[TXmom]

My son (just turned 7 years old) had the flu a couple weeks ago...I don't know specifically if it was H1N1 or the seasonal flu, I just know he tested positive for INFLUENZA A (and H1N1 is a strain of FLU A).

He had a slight cough on Sunday, then went to school on Monday and came home with a 102 temp. I called the doc and they said to bring him in immediately because of the cough and fever. I took him in, he tested positive, and they gave him Tamiflu. He only had the fever on Monday...gone by Tuesday. He coughed and sneezed quite a bit and was very tired...he slept a lot for the next couple of days. I think the glands on his neck were slightly swollen, but not too bad. Then he was good as new by Friday. That was 2 weeks ago and he's still fine.

Honestly, if it had not been for all the hype on TV about H1N1, I probably wouldn't have taken him to the doctor. He really seemed so much better by the very next day...I would have just considered it a mild virus that ran it's course.

 

[Nupine]

My nephew has it, he is 4, and is in the hospital.

 

[PineBurrowPeeps]

Quote:
I am so sorry Nupine

I hope he recovers fast.

Do you happen to know how it started with him?
I find it very useful to hear from case to case how people came down with it.
We had a big news thing telling parents that there seems to be a common course it runs with kids getting sick, sort of mildly, and then seem to get better, then BOOM they are really sick and it goes into the lungs.

I really am not one who normally buys into mass hysteria and all that, I hardly ever even watch the news or read the paper, etc.
I think where it gets me is that I have already lost a child in my life and I am petrified to lose another so my mind is on overdrive and I know I am getting a little paranoid.

Last night I went to Wal-Mart with my 9 year old son to buy him a Halloween costume. I could NOT get over how many people in that store were SICK. There was a woman in the costume aisle hacking up a fricking lung while she was touching all the costumes. I (loudly) said to my mother and my son "We need to get out of this aisle before some inconsiderate person gets everyone sick" and I AM NOT like that but it's just common sense to me, they are telling everyone "IF YOU ARE SICK STAY HOME". I could see other Moms looking at her and giving her really awful glances and just generally being uneasy about her.
So we all move to another aisle and here comes sicky, coughing her way right up the center of a packed aisle without covering her mouth!!!
I was ticked. But I checked my tounge, got us out of there, made us wash our hands and use purell and we were on our way.
I understand that she could have just had a common cold or some mild unrelated thing, but with everything going on, you know what people are going to think seeing someone that ill in public.
And people with really sick little kids too. I cannot tell you how many little ones I saw in carts with all sorts of snot and coughing and crying, etc.
By the time I left I just wanted to go home and take a shower with a gallon of bleach and a box of brillo pads. I mean come on, HOW bad do you need to shop that you will drag your little sick kid to a Wal-Mart at 9:30pm on a school night (which we waited purposely for since we're homeschoolers and like to wait for crowds to settle for the evenings)?

I just don't find it a rocket science concept. Sick=Stay Home.

Rant over.

Baby is going to Dr.s tomorrow BTW. I already called them. I do think it's an ear thing. She is really ouchy about her ear being touched.

 

[deb1]

Quote:
Every year, there are a lot of people with colds. I keep a cold all winter without any fever, just a hacking cough. I go to the doctor and they tell me that I have a cold and send me home.

Its just the way I am. You are noticing the coughing more because of all the news reports but you don't know if the woman was contagious or just had a slight cold. Last year, you might have even overlooked her.

 

[deb1]

Quote:
My son had to go into the hospital when he was three with the flu. It wasn't H1N1, just a bad flu. But I understand how frightening having a child in the hospital can be. I will say a prayer for your nephew.

 

[PineBurrowPeeps]

Quote:
Every year, there are a lot of people with colds. I keep a cold all winter without any fever, just a hacking cough. I go to the doctor and they tell me that I have a cold and send me home.

Its just the way I am. You are noticing the coughing more because of all the news reports but you don't know if the woman was contagious or just had a slight cold. Last year, you might have even overlooked her.

You are probably right, but my issue is that we do have 46 states now with "Widespread" H1N1 flu activity and alot of us (everywhere) are still waiting for the vaccines to come in for our kids.
She could have at least covered her mouth!

 

[Egg_newton]

A few weeks ago my 12 year-old daughter got very ill. She was running a very high temp. Like 103-104. She has other medical conditions. She is blind since birth, has had seizures, is autistic, and had asthma when she was younger. She also has trouble maintaining body temp. So, when she gets a temp it usually goes really high. Of course it was over the weekend so I had to take her to the hospital instead of her dr. She tested positive for Influenza A. From what I've heard they can't test for H1N1 locally it has to be sent off to the CDC. I've also heard that they do not classify it as H1N1 anymore unless it is fatal and do not send off every Type A positive test for testing because of the cost. They gave her a liter of fluids through an IV a script for Tamaflu and sent us on our way. Her fever broke in about four days. She felt weak and run down for about a week and a half and then was fine. She didn't have any other symptoms besides the high fever and generally feeling crappy.

 

[deb1]

Quote:
I am so glad that she is all right.