So Sadee and I went to see "Cloudy with a Chance …" on Saturday afternoon. I noticed she seemed a little warm but she was acting fine. Totally normal. I chalked it up to her and her father's volcanic inner-core. So when Beebs said later that evening that she seemed warm, I knew something had to be up. Sure enough, the little thermometer I dug out of the bathroom drawer told us otherwise. Her temp under her arm was reading at 100.9. I have always been told to add a degree, so, 101.9 is what I thought she had. I asked her if she was hurting anywhere – ears? Nope. Tummy? Nope. Head? Nope. What about your tee tee? (maybe she had a UTI) Again, nope. What could be going on? I checked WebMD to see what the symptoms might be for the flu. He says, fever with a combination of any two of these symptoms: body aches and pains, coughing, runny nose, nausea, vomiting or diarrhea. She had none of those.

So I continued to watch her on Sunday and she seemed fine. We went to mom and dad's to see family and she was running around like nothing was wrong. She was still running a fever (of course I had been giving her Tylenol and Motrin every 4-6 hours) and mom checked at one point when the meds had worn off and she was running a 102. Geez. Where did I go wrong? I knew at that point, something must be really wrong. But the kid was acting fine… it didn't add up.

So I called work and let my boss know I wasn't coming in on Monday so I could take her to the doctor. Monday morning at 8 am, I started calling Dr. Watt's office like I was trying to win concert tickets from a radio station. Dial, busy, hang up, redial, busy, hang up, redial, busy, hang up, redial, busy, hang up, redial … ring ring ring. Thank God. I thought I bet we won't be able to get in until at least 10 am now. The nurse asked if we could be there at 9. SWEET! We will be there!

We made it to the doctor's office right at 9… after I had to run to the office and then run back home to get Sadee. (on another note, I come around the corner FROM THE HIGHWAY and I see our neighbor's cute little maltipoo-looking puppy just bouncing down the road. She's just trotting along, not really bouncing, but still. So I pick her up and put her in the car. She smelled. I started to take her to her house, but I glanced at the clock. 8:48. I so did not have time for that. So I run in to grab Sadee and ask Beebs to take the little bundle back to her mommy.)

We get to the doctor's office and it's a real mad house. There were more people in there than I had seen in a long time. We didn't have to wait long. They weighed Sadee (32 pounds, thank you) and we went in to consult. Then mom joined us. They had to do the flu swab which I thought was at the back of her throat. Wrong. She had to shove a Q-tip into Sadee's NOSE. Not just into the nose, but into the BACK of her nose. I was not prepared for that, and neither was Sadee. Wow. I have not heard her scream like that in ages. She was scared and pissed and hurting. It took a while to calm her down. So when Dr. Watts came in, I just knew she would look in Sadee's ears and say "yep, that's what it is." But she didn't. She said her ears looked fine. Her throat looked fine and nothing was swollen. I was beginning to think my kid was an enigma – we were going to be on the Today show next week for running a fever for no reason.

Dr. Watts left the room to go check the results of the swab. Mom and I talked about how whatever it was that she was fighting, her little body was building up a strong resistance to it. Dr. Watts came back in and had a look on her face. Then she said, "she has the flu." What? It almost sounded like you said she has the flu. No way. Ok. What do I do? She said since we caught it early enough, she will respond to the TamiFlu medication. Whew. What? She said that if the symptoms started less than 48 hours ago, we were still in the magic window of TamiFlu treatment. Whew. What? Then she said, you need to talk to your doctor. Oh yeah. My doctor. I'm pregnant. I am at risk. She said you need to ask her if she will put you on the preventative TamiFlu. OK. Sure.

So then I remember something I read or something I saw on TV that said all the cases of the flu are not just the flu, but the Swine Flu. So I ask Dr. Watts if she has the swine flu. She said, well, we don't send off all our cultures to be tested to determine which strain each case is, but most likely, it is Swine Flu. Wow. My kid has the Swine Flu. I feel great. How did this happen? When did she get exposed? Wow. I am a great mom. Seriously though, how did this happen? We wash hands after we go to the bathroom and after I feel generally grossed out - Like leaving any icky public place, always at work. I know she washes hands well at school. She's been in time out for it. Before anyone gets mad, it was justified. She was playing in the sink and wasn't listening to her teacher.

So how did this happen? The thing is, it doesn't really matter how. What matters now is that she's taken care of properly and given the right medications when needed. My doctor was not too keen on giving me the TamiFlu as a preventative – her nurse said we don't profilactate our patients. Was that the right word? Anywho, they said stay out of "respiratory contact" with her and wash hands wash hands wash hands. So no hugs and kisses. That was sad.

Anyway, we got the TamiFlu yesterday at 2 pm and I gave it to Sadee immediately. By yesterday evening, she had not run a fever. So wow. That stuff works. I have not given her Tylenol since about 10:30 last night and she is still fever free. She's staying with mom tomorrow. She will get to go back to school on Thursday. What a week. She missed her pizza party she was looking so forward to. That makes me sad.

But the silver lining is that I had time and a reason to go in her room and CLEAN it up. I started to sort and chunk and declutter this morning. It looks a little better already. Then we will enact the Clean Room Legislation Act of 2009. We as in me. There will be a big box I am going to place all the errant toys in at the end of every day. Then at the end of the week, we will see if we are going to toss or keep. I am sure to find a way to fit the lesson in there somehow. I have been pestering Beebs to build me some wall shelves for a while. Maybe I can get them built this time. We'll see.