The medication that her doctor prescribed, Tamiflu, seems to be doing the job. She’s been fever-free for 24 hours, and since this is Veteran’s Day, school is closed so she gets an extra day of recovery “free.” Our own doctors have started both Kath and I on the same medication as a preventative, since our prolonged exposure to Caroline puts us greatly at risk and vaccine is nowhere to be had. Starting on it now, theoretically it should prevent the disease from getting any traction on us and keep us healthy. That’s the theory, at least.
PAD
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Wonderful to hear. Keep us updated.
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I’d be interested to know if A-Tamiflu can be stored for a long time without losing its effectiveness, B-whether there is a fear that overuse will lessen it’s effectiveness and C- if there is any other reason we should not be encouraged to stock up ahead of an epidemic, not during (when the medicine becomes harder to find)
B – my understanding is that this is ALWAYS a concern with treatment for anything that mutates. C – How about ethical reasons? If it was this hard for PAD to get the medication for Caroline, it seems clear that people stockpiling it would be keeping it from those in need. You’d also, I’d assume, be monopolizing the time of the prescribing doctor.
I’m assuming this is academic and you aren’t really planning to steal a prescription pad or something. ;P
Good to hear, PAD.
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This is the best I’ve felt in 10 days, as I came down with some a respiratory infection and bronchitis, ended up causing me to go to the doctor, get prescriptions, etc. My wife ended up sick with something else as well – again, we don’t think it was flu, but it knocked her out for a couple of days. It’s just been a long, bad week of struggling to get healthy again.
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We’re also hoping we can somehow get the swine flu vaccination in the next couple of weeks. Even though we’re just outside the ‘high risk’ age range, we have a cruise coming up in early December, and there’s enough ways to get sick on a cruise boat without the threat of swine flu also hanging over our heads.
Oh God, yeah, a cruise ship is probably almost as bad as an airplane for potential viral spreading. Maybe worse, you’re on it far longer. Bad enough you have to worry about Somali pirates and giant vampire squid.
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Good to hear. This thing can be pretty dámņëd bad, but it sounds like things are on the upswing for her.
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Fingers crossed.
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Happy V-Day.
Thank goodness, that everything is getting better.
Glad you’re all doing well.
Glad things are improving!
I’m glad to hear that Caroline’s doing better. I hope you guys stay healthy!
Glad to hear Caroline is doing better. Here’s hoping Chez David is illness-free from now on!
That’s so good to hear. I hope she’s fully recovered within a week.
Her school is really closed for Veteran’s Day? I’ve never heard of any school closing for that. Is that normal where you live?
It’s not true of every school district in Missouri, but in the St. Louis Public Schools Veterans’ Day is always a school holiday.
I think it may have to do with St. Louis having sent a lot of young men off to the Great War who never came home, more so than many other cities, particularly since we have a large ethnic German population here some of whom went to fight their own cousins (note my surname). We still have an entire Soldier’s Memorial building in downtown St. Louis originally created specifically to honor those lost in that war in Europe.
It’s not true of every school district in Missouri, but in the St. Louis Public Schools Veterans’ Day is always a school holiday.
I think it may have to do with St. Louis having sent a lot of young men off to the Great War who never came home, more so than many other cities, particularly since we have a large ethnic German population here some of whom went to fight their own cousins (note my surname). We still have an entire Soldier’s Memorial building in downtown St. Louis originally created specifically to honor those lost in that war in Europe.
I’m happy to hear that Caroline is doing better. I’m sure you are very relieved.
Got my own vaccination yesterday.
Very glad to hear that things are looking up in the David household. Stay healthy!!!!
That is, indeed, a happily answered prayer. Coninued best wishes to all of you.
Glad to hear Caroline is feeling better.
Have you or Kathleen had any side effects from the Tamiflu? At least 8 of my students have been out with H1N1 in the last month. My doc has suggested Tamiflu if/when I start showing symptoms.
Great to read you are feeling better.
Keeping fingers crossed things keep improving.
Good to hear. Sending more good thoughts.
PAD, would you mind saying how much it cost for the Tamiflu? Or whether it was simply insurance covered?
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I’m seeing stories now about how a couple of state ADs are investigating pharmacies over price-gouging for Tamiflu.
I’d rather not go into details of what my insurance covers (it’s through Marvel and who knows what’s privileged information these days) but I can tell you this: Initially there was a screw-up in the processing and they were saying that my insurance wasn’t going to cover it. Had that been the case, and I had to pony up out of pocket, it would have been $115. Yes, that’s not a typo.
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PAD
Ok, that’s about what I expected to hear, actually. When all of this started, apparently you could get Tamiflu for under $50. But now with everybody wanting to get their hands on it, some pharmacies charging as much as $150 for it.
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I’ll be interesting to see if these state AD’s move forward on this or not.
I have been away for a while, just saw this! I hope everyone is ok. By the way, haven’t gotten to talk to all of you in a while. Send me a line some time!
I presume that by this date Caroline has recovered and that you and Kathleen didn’t become infected, all of which are good things.
BTW, I remember my siblings and I receiving alcohol rubs to reduce high fevers half a century ago, so it’s interesting that that part of personal care hasn’t changed.
Best wishes to all in your family from all in mine.