Well my worst nightmare is coming true. Maybe covid UPDATE: Negative!

[MEmama]

DS is sick.

Damn.

He can’t get tested at the university clinic until tomorrow. He and a good friend have sore throats, feel crummy and his friend is coughing up blood. DS has a mild fever, headache, a little coughing.

I feel so helpless. 😞 

UPDATE: He finally got his test results back— negative for COVID! He’s been sick for almost a week, but is starting to feel a little bit better today. The negative test makes everything so much easier, including getting him sooner for winter break and scheduling his booster while he's here.

Thank you everyone for your well wishes and concern! 

Edited December 4, 2021 by MEmama

[MercyA]

I am so sorry! There seem to be several respiratory viruses circulating in my community right now, not just COVID. Even if it is COVID, your son will likely only have a mild case. Hopefully his good friend is vaxxed, too. 

[MEmama]

2 minutes ago, MercyA said:

I am so sorry! There seem to be several respiratory viruses circulating in my community right now, not just COVID. Even if it is COVID, your son will likely only have a mild case. Hopefully his good friend is vaxxed, too. 

Yes, they are both fully vaxxed, thank goodness.

[WildflowerMom]

Oh crap.  I'm sorry, ME.   Do they have plenty of fluids, thermometer, etc? 

[itsheresomewhere]

Make sure they get a flu test. It is running rampant right now.  

[MEmama]

2 minutes ago, WildflowerMom said:

Oh crap.  I'm sorry, ME.   Do they have plenty of fluids, thermometer, etc? 

No thermometer (how did I overlook that when I made up a first aid kit for him?) but he has an oxygen level monitor (98 so that’s good) and general meds. He’s drinking a ton of tea and juice; I guess he is masking when he has to go into the kitchen. 

[MEmama]

2 minutes ago, itsheresomewhere said:

Make sure they get a flu test. It is running rampant right now.  

Hmm, I’m not sure if his clinic offers them but I’ll mention it. He did get his flu shot before he left, but it's possible there are different strains overseas.

[Faith-manor]

I am so sorry. Fingers crossed. Influenza, strep, tonsilitis, RSV, are all going around here. Not that any of these are fun or good by any stretch, but better than the alternative. RSV, in particular, has been harder on adults this year than previous seasons. And the blood could be indicative of a throat infection because one can cough the throat raw. It might not be coming from the lungs.

[MEmama]

9 minutes ago, Faith-manor said:

I am so sorry. Fingers crossed. Influenza, strep, tonsilitis, RSV, are all going around here. Not that any of these are fun or good by any stretch, but better than the alternative. RSV, in particular, has been harder on adults this year than previous seasons. And the blood could be indicative of a throat infection because one can cough the throat raw. It might not be coming from the lungs.

Apparently another good friend had some mystery flu type illness a couple weeks ago, and tested negative for covid. Fingers crossed they just have the same thing. They all hang out together pretty regularly.
 

DS is ordering a thermometer with his grocery delivery tomorrow. 

[Toocrazy!!]

I’m sorry! That must be so stressful being so far away. I hope he feels better quickly!!

[Spryte]

Oh no, I’m so sorry. I hope he feels better right away, and that they just have some run of the mill bug that will go away quickly!

[catz]

Crossing fingers!   My son just got a cold after a possible Covid exposure.  Tested negative, just had cold symptoms, recovered easily and quickly so hang in there mama.  Lots of stuff circulating  on campuses right now.  💕

[desertflower]

I’m sorry. I hope and pray he feels better soon. 

[happi duck]

Many (hugs)

[Halftime Hope]

We just got home from out of state yesterday after spending Thanksgiving with DD and DSon-IL.  He was under the weather beginning several days prior to our coming, with about a week of upper respiratory sand flu-ish symptoms (chills, body aches, no fever) that he finally had to get a cough suppressant for on the day we arrived. His doc tested for everything -- strep, RSV, Flus, and COVID -- but nothing came back positive.  

I hope your son gets well soon! 

 

Edited November 30, 2021 by Halftime Hope

[MEmama]

40 minutes ago, FuzzyCatz said:

Crossing fingers!   My son just got a cold after a possible Covid exposure.  Tested negative, just had cold symptoms, recovered easily and quickly so hang in there mama.  Lots of stuff circulating  on campuses right now.  💕

I’m glad to hear it was just a cold!

It is easy to forget that the regular stuff is still happening too. He isn’t one to get the flu or have a fever or any of that, but of course he’s never lived on a campus before either so…yeah. I’m trying not to panic. 

[MEmama]

27 minutes ago, Halftime Hope said:

We just got home from out of state yesterday after spending Thanksgiving with DD and DSon-IL.  He was under the weather beginning several days prior to our coming, with about a week of upper respiratory sand flu-ish symptoms (chills, body aches, no fever) that he finally had to get a cough suppressant for on the day we arrived. His doc tested for everything -- strep, RSV, Flus, and COVID -- but nothing came back positive.  

I hope your son gets well soon! 

 

I’m so glad you DS tested negative! That sounds miserable, though. 😞 

It’s so scary right now thinking every symptom might be The One. I'm finding that I reflexively hold my breath whenever someone near me so much as clears their throat. 

[mommyoffive]

Oh no.  I hope he feels better soon. 

[Granny_Weatherwax]

Adding my well wishes for a quick recovery.

[Eos]

I'm just now reading this, how stressful. I'm sending you hugs and him lots of immunity through the ether.  

[Halftime Hope]

13 minutes ago, MEmama said:

I’m so glad you DS tested negative! That sounds miserable, though. 😞 

It’s so scary right now thinking every symptom might be The One. I'm finding that I reflexively hold my breath whenever someone near me so much as clears their throat. 

Yes, it is!  (I was SO glad we hadn't said anything about risk to ourselves and bailed, although I was sure tempted.) Turns out they were more cautious than I had any idea they would be. 

My workplace now has a zero tolerance policy for illness.  If you are symptomatic at all, you stay home, work from home if you are able to. (I'm pleased, because I've been in workplaces before where one or another person thought they were indispensible and infected many in the office.)

[Halftime Hope]

20 minutes ago, MEmama said:

I’m so glad you DS tested negative! That sounds miserable, though. 😞 

It’s so scary right now thinking every symptom might be The One. I'm finding that I reflexively hold my breath whenever someone near me so much as clears their throat. 

This is a concern for me, as well.  I think for a long time, we will be taking precautions for endemic COVID. 

[Ausmumof3]

Hoping it turns out to be something else or he has a very mild case.  Apparently flu rates are surging as well in the US this year.

[mlktwins]

3 hours ago, MEmama said:

Hmm, I’m not sure if his clinic offers them but I’ll mention it. He did get his flu shot before he left, but it's possible there are different strains overseas.

I got the flu shot in fall 2019 and was sick as a dog in early January 2020 - positive for flu.

[MEmama]

2 minutes ago, Ausmumof3 said:

Hoping it turns out to be something else or he has a very mild case.  Apparently flu rates are surging as well in the US this year.

Yeah, he’s actually in Ireland, but it might be similar there. I guess it’s likely they have different flu strains that he might not have been vaccinated against here.

If he were close by there’s no way I'd be able to stop myself from bringing him anything he might need or want. Maybe it’s for the best he’s far away. Lol

[popmom]

4 minutes ago, mlktwins said:

I got the flu shot in fall 2019 and was sick as a dog in early January 2020 - positive for flu.

I’ve been wondering how effective the flu shot will be this year since we didn’t really have any flu last year. Does anyone know what flu season was like in the Southern Hemisphere recently? Just curious how “they” know how to formulate the vaccines if there wasn’t much flu in Southern Hemisphere this year.
 

[MEmama]

6 minutes ago, mlktwins said:

I got the flu shot in fall 2019 and was sick as a dog in early January 2020 - positive for flu.

Ugh. Yeah, no vaccination is 100% and he might be exposed to different strains. I’m anxious for his test results! 
 

 

[MEmama]

Just now, popmom said:

I’ve been wondering how effective the flu shot will be this year since we didn’t really have any flu last year. Does anyone know what flu season was like in the Southern Hemisphere recently? Just curious how “they” know how to formulate the vaccines if there wasn’t much flu in Southern Hemisphere this year.
 

I’d be interested to know how they “predict” annual strains as well.
When we got our flu vax this year the pharmacist mentioned that they formulate to guard against several strains, to hedge their bets I guess? I had no idea it was for more than one.

[regentrude]

5 minutes ago, MEmama said:

I’d be interested to know how they “predict” annual strains as well.
When we got our flu vax this year the pharmacist mentioned that they formulate to guard against several strains, to hedge their bets I guess? I had no idea it was for more than one.

AFAIK, the flu vaccine recently has always contained multiple strains, usually 3 (trivalent), or 4 (quadrivalent). This year, I have seen the quadrivalent one widely used

Edited November 30, 2021 by regentrude

[Ausmumof3]

7 minutes ago, popmom said:

I’ve been wondering how effective the flu shot will be this year since we didn’t really have any flu last year. Does anyone know what flu season was like in the Southern Hemisphere recently? Just curious how “they” know how to formulate the vaccines if there wasn’t much flu in Southern Hemisphere this year.
 

Almost non-existent in Australia but some bits of Aus were in lockdown and hotel quarantine probably limited introduction from elsewhere. For some reason QLD got the worst of it. Zero deaths.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-09-16/queensland-what-happened-to-the-flu-in-2021/100456616

[Mom_to3]

They usually decide on which (3 or 4; 2 flu type A and 1 or 2 B) strains to include based on what's circulating in the world in late winter/early spring. Not much flu has circulated since spring 20, of course, and the flu season in Australia was still virtually non-existent this summer (their winter) presumably due to covid pre-cautions. Unfortunately, flu season here in the US is picking up as we are fairly open. If we were to reduce activity due to Omicron, I imagine flu cases will drop off a lot again too.

[kbutton]

3 hours ago, MEmama said:

When we got our flu vax this year the pharmacist mentioned that they formulate to guard against several strains, to hedge their bets I guess? I had no idea it was for more than one.

Not just to hedge bets. There are different strains within the different types of flu. You can get infected with more than one type of flu, and that is not terribly uncommon some years. 

This tells a little more about it, and also has some potential good news--some of the strains that circulate only in humans (no animal reservoirs) might be extinct or going extinct due to pandemic precautions! I can't find the article I previously read about this, but it's been hoped for a long time that they might go extinct if vaccine uptake improves as I guess that it does help tamp it down quite a lot. 

https://www.npr.org/2021/06/03/1003020235/certain-strains-of-flu-may-have-gone-extinct-because-of-pandemic-safety-measures

1 hour ago, Mom_to3 said:

Unfortunately, flu season here in the US is picking up as we are fairly open. 

Sadly so!

[Carrie12345]

12 hours ago, MEmama said:

Yeah, he’s actually in Ireland, but it might be similar there. I guess it’s likely they have different flu strains that he might not have been vaccinated against here.

If he were close by there’s no way I'd be able to stop myself from bringing him anything he might need or want. Maybe it’s for the best he’s far away. Lol

Wanna hear a “bring kid anything” story?
Dd lives about 30-40 minutes away, in a more city-like area than mine, where I’ve been able to get her same day Amazon delivery in the past. When she called about having covid, she told me her thermometer wasn’t working and she didn’t have a pulse ox. So Mommy tried to send her one, except Amazon decided that would be a 2-day delivery.
I said to forget that; I’d hit CVS and drop those off in the morning. And learned why I simply can’t quit Amazon.

ONE HUNDRED DOLLARS LATER, dd had a working thermometer and pulse ox.
A flipping hundred dollars.
Thanks, CVS.

If I had been thinking clearly, I could have just given her ours and replaced them for less than $40 total, but I wasn’t.

[TravelingChris]

16 hours ago, Faith-manor said:

Not that any of these are fun or good by any stretch, but better than the alternative. RSV, in particular, has been harder on adults this year than previous seasons. 

RSV is what I believe most of the family got in early September.  It lasted for about 3 weeks or so.  No one checked  the four out five who had it for it.  All were negative on Covid and some were checked for flu too.

[TravelingChris]

I really hope it is a cold that goes away quickly. 

[MEmama]

1 hour ago, Carrie12345 said:

Wanna hear a “bring kid anything” story?
Dd lives about 30-40 minutes away, in a more city-like area than mine, where I’ve been able to get her same day Amazon delivery in the past. When she called about having covid, she told me her thermometer wasn’t working and she didn’t have a pulse ox. So Mommy tried to send her one, except Amazon decided that would be a 2-day delivery.
I said to forget that; I’d hit CVS and drop those off in the morning. And learned why I simply can’t quit Amazon.

ONE HUNDRED DOLLARS LATER, dd had a working thermometer and pulse ox.
A flipping hundred dollars.
Thanks, CVS.

If I had been thinking clearly, I could have just given her ours and replaced them for less than $40 total, but I wasn’t.

Sorry I gave this laughing emoji; I can totally see myself panicking and doing something similar. 

[Carrie12345]

15 minutes ago, MEmama said:

Sorry I gave this laughing emoji; I can totally see myself panicking and doing something similar. 

Ya gotta laugh to stay sane! 😆 

[bibiche]

How’s he doing today, @MEmama? How are you doing? Sending hugs. 

[Pam in CT]

51 minutes ago, bibiche said:

How’s he doing today, @MEmama? How are you doing? Sending hugs. 

Yes, please let us know. Holding him and his mom in the light.

[MEmama]

48 minutes ago, bibiche said:

How’s he doing today, @MEmama? How are you doing? Sending hugs. 

Thanks for asking!

I haven’t heard much from him yet. He had an exam this morning and apparently he fell back asleep after so I’m hoping he can get himself to the clinic soon. He did say he’s feeling both worse and better, whatever that means. 🤷‍♀️
 

I just wish I could be there with him. A mama's gonna mama, right? 

[Farrar]

The first illness is the hardest. We had ours about a month ago and it was panic inducing. It was RSV. Not Covid. 

Not sure about in Ireland, but here, they have these double swab tests where it rapid tests both Covid and the flu. That's what doctors use when they're trying to play "is it covid!?" around here.

[Acadie]

It's so hard being far away! Dd19 has been sick off and on, but mostly on, for a month at college 12 hours from us. Tested multiple times and not Covid, but lingering. There are so many bugs going around this winter. 

I hope you get reassuring news and that he feels much better soon!

[bibiche]

Hope he’s feeling better today. 💓

[MEmama]

He’s on day 5 of feeling sick. For the past two days he accidentally slept the entire day other than during online exams, so he didn’t make it to the clinic. He finally managed to get an appointment tonight at an off campus testing site and will hopefully get results back tomorrow (up to 48 hours, though).
 

The university requires that students who test negative must stay off campus (he can be in his apartment, of course) for 72 hours. So he has to reschedule a final exam that is supposed to be tomorrow, regardless of results or if he’s feeling better.

I hope this won’t complicate his coming home for the holiday. 

[MEmama]

1 hour ago, Acadie said:

It's so hard being far away! Dd19 has been sick off and on, but mostly on, for a month at college 12 hours from us. Tested multiple times and not Covid, but lingering. There are so many bugs going around this winter. 

I hope you get reassuring news and that he feels much better soon!

I’m glad she’s tested negative for Covid, but having the flu or another mystery illness is tough too. A month sounds exhausting! 😞 

Your poor daughter. I hope you get her home for winter break soon! 

[ealp2009]

1 hour ago, MEmama said:

He’s on day 5 of feeling sick. For the past two days he accidentally slept the entire day other than during online exams, so he didn’t make it to the clinic. He finally managed to get an appointment tonight at an off campus testing site and will hopefully get results back tomorrow (up to 48 hours, though).
 

The university requires that students who test negative must stay off campus (he can be in his apartment, of course) for 72 hours. So he has to reschedule a final exam that is supposed to be tomorrow, regardless of results or if he’s feeling better.

I hope this won’t complicate his coming home for the holiday. 

I’m so sorry!  Hope he feels better soon.  I am confused about this policy of staying off campus though, it seems like it would deter people getting tested if one must to stay off campus even with a negative test.  Maybe I am missing something?  

Edited December 2, 2021 by ealp2009

[MEmama]

19 minutes ago, ealp2009 said:

I’m so sorry!  Hope he feels better soon.  I am confused about this policy of staying off campus though, it seems like it would deter people getting tested if one must to stay off campus even with a negative test.  Maybe I am missing something?  

Yeah I’m not clear on it either. The only thing I can figure is that if one is sick enough to get tested, it’s best to stay out of public areas for a few days regardless of what they have? DS tells me people are really good about testing in general, on campus and throughout Ireland. They take Covid a lot more seriously than we do in the US. 
 

edit: it’s possible they just mean PCR tests from a clinic, and not at home tests, which are heavily used. Idk— now I want clarity too! Lol

Edited December 2, 2021 by MEmama

[MEmama]

UPDATE: He finally got his test results back— negative for COVID! He’s been sick for almost a week, but is starting to feel a little bit better today. The negative test makes everything so much easier, including getting him sooner for winter break and scheduling his booster while he's here.

Thank you everyone for your well wishes and concern! 

[Kassia]

Wonderful news!  🙂

[Spryte]

So relieved!