Precautions and Erasing the Board

The flu has hit our state hard and it just won't leave!!!  After Christmas break, we sent Michael to school as normal.  By that Friday, the nurse had called me to tell me that she was sending multiple kids home with the flu and it was so bad in the school that they were not letting Michael even come into the nurse's office to get his blood sugar checks-- the nurses were going down to his classroom to check him and administer insulin.  (I was SO thankful for that!)

I called my mom and emailed Aaron. My mom suggested that I call our pediatric nurse line and ask what to do.  The nurse suggested I pull Michael out of school for a few days.  I called the 504 Coordinator at Michael's school and arranged to do just that.

Michael was out of school for a full week, and the school nurse kept me informed as to the level of flu exposure at the school.  By the end of that week, the flu was still in high presence, so we planned to keep Michael out another week.  We had a holiday weekend in front of us, and then it happened to snow the remainder of that week, so we thought maybe the flu had run its course.  In fact, during this time of snow and ice, Noah came down with a fever and lethargy and I'm pretty sure he had the flu.  We instantly sent Michael to my mother-in-law's house to keep him from being around Noah.  Noah came around within 48 hours and we were able to get Michael safely back home (once the roads cleared up!).

I can tell you that as soon as Noah had a fever, I felt like I had been punched in the gut.  I was terrified that Michael would get the flu.  A Type One Diabetic with the flu is not a good combo.

Miraculously, Michael didn't get the flu.  We sent him back to school on Wednesday the following week when it seemed like the flu cases were down.  I had a 504 meeting on Friday at school to override the district policies regarding absences so that we could keep Michael out of school as a precautionary measure so that he didn't get the flu.

We thought things were finally looking up in the school.  However, on Monday morning, Michael's teacher and the school nurse were both calling and texting me to say that multiple kindergartners were coming down with flu symptoms.  I told them I'd come get Michael right away.  I got him and kept him home with me that day to watch for symptoms.  He didn't have any.  I made the decision to keep him out the rest of the week, and the nurse and his teacher kept me informed as to the number of students out.  By Wednesday night, Michael's teacher had the flu.  She would be out til Tuesday.

I thought about sending Michael back on Tuesday.  Then I was told on Friday that half the kindergarten teachers were out with the flu, and it was so bad that they couldn't find enough subs to cover the classes and they were having to combine classes (which just means more kids are exposed to each other).  The rest of the affected teachers couldn't return until Wednesday, so I decided to at least keep Michael home until then so that he wouldn't be in a combined class just in case the school couldn't find enough subs again.

On Tuesday night, I was informed that multiple kindergartners were still being sent home with flu like symptoms, and Michael's teacher had half her class out.  I decided to keep Michael home the rest of the week, to the agreement of the school nurse and his teacher.

As of Friday, 104 students were absent, which is a lot, but also considered "normal" for this time of year.  The nurse had sent home fewer students on Friday than she had been sending home earlier in the week.  My mom is a nurse at a hospital and notified me that she had seen a significant decrease in flu patients.  Michael's teacher texted to say that only 3 kids were out on Friday from his class, and one of them was Michael who isn't sick.

So Aaron and I made the decision to send him back to school this week on Monday.

I feel confident knowing that the school nurse and Michael's teacher will inform me if kindergartners are still being sent home in large numbers.  So far so good.

I feel, though, like I'm in a warehouse and looking at one of those white boards that say "Days Since Accident: 396."  Except, I feel like my board says "Days Since Exposure: 13."  And I'm about to have to wipe the board clean and say "0 days" since exposure.  I'm nervous that he'll end up getting it still.  But all I can do is trust God to keep him safe.

Until Next Time,
Much Love, Reba