Flu

Not a Good Thing

Last week my younger brother had the flu.  Hard as he tried to avoid giving it to her my mother now has the flu.  She is very short of breath and this is just day one.  She won't go to the hospital, where she could get anti virals prescribed and get checked for pneumonia.  She agreed to call an ambulance this evening, but when they got here she declared she did not want to go to the hospital, although they said one of her lungs did not sound right.  Big sigh of frustration.  Big frown of worry.  Hoping this will be OK - have had to take her in the past at 2 or 3 in the morning to the ER after she refused help the evening before.  Maybe I'm over cautious but I have seen her get really bad really fast before.

Ambulance rules have changed since the last time I had to call them for Mom's breathing issues a couple of years ago.  Then the ambulance crew would give nebulizer treatments in the home, and I think that was what Mom was looking for.  I tried to persuade her to go to the ER and get a treatment but no go, as did the ambulance crew.  They made her sign a statement that they asked her to go to the hospital and she refused, and then required me to witness it.

I checked the Missouri flu website, and flu cases are up this week compared to last, and the number of senior citizens with flu are up markedly.  The federal flu website also urges seniors to get antivirals as soon as possible because of the severity of the flu virus' going around this year.

My nephew who has been so sick on his return from China has been told he might have had a SARS like illness.  Another classmate who was on the same flight is also sick, but not quite as bad.  Not looking to be a very good year fluwise so far.  Hoping that my flu shots are good for what Mom has, so far this year not even a sniffle.  At least something works right with my body!

Going to have a sleepless night tonight, checking on Mom every so often, but better to be reassured than too late to help!