Do Flu Shots Cause The Flu?!
All three of my children were given a vaccination for the seasonal flu on Wednesday. Emily, who is 13 months old had to take a shot. She handled it like a champ. She did a bit of crying, but overall she wasn't too upset with the whole ordeal once she was back in her mommy's arms. Tyler (age 4) and Shelby (age 6) were able to take the nasal mist. Shelby volunteered to go first and I informed her that the "first" one gets an extra scoop of ice cream, which to a six year old is better than diamonds. She was very excited and stepped right up to the nurse, sniffed it right in and we were ready to move on to the next child. Unfortunately, the next child was Tyler and he was NOT ready to be moved on to. He began to kick and scream so we moved on to Emily who was also beginning to get upset because her big brother was so upset. Thank goodness my wonderful in-laws met me there. Memaw held Emily while the nurse injected her as Papaw and I tried to convince Tyler that the nasal mist was a great alternative to the shot. To convince him that he should choose the mist, we informed him that we could not MAKE him take the mist but we could the shot. We could hold him down like we did baby sister. He perked up a bit as well when he was reminded that the local ice cream shop was about to close and we needed to get over there if we were going to get our ice cream treat. Finally he sucked it up and "took it like a man".
Fast forward to Thursday morning. Emily woke up and acted very lethargic. She was not acting like herself, but I took her on to daycare anyway and informed her teacher that she seemed to be feeling bad again. She ran fever on Monday, but had been fine since. I did inform the nurse of that on Monday she had been sick but was fine since. She assured me that she was fine to get the shot. I had to return home after dropping the kids off at school and daycare because I left my cell phone there. When I reached the house, I grabbed the phone and headed back out. I had two missed calls from the daycare. I returned the call where her teacher told me that she was running a slight temp. It was 100°. I was a bit concerned at this point wondering if the flu shot was making her sick. After alerting my Facebook friends and calling my Mother-In-Law, I was quickly reassured that it was normal to run a slight temp and actually show some mild flu-like symptoms after getting a shot. I called her pediatrician and he was out of the office.
Within 30 minutes, I recieved another call from the daycare. The co-director called this time and explained that they had taken her temp with two different thermometers and it was now 103.1°. With her temperature rising that fast, we decided that she needed to be seen by a doctor immediately. I didn't call the office because I was still waiting on the nurses to call me back. I walked in and told them that she needed to see a doctor. I was shaking, and my voice was cracking because little Emily was almost life-less as I spoke to the receptionist. She was NOT being herself. The receptionist then asks, "Is she sick?". I
At this point, my mind was racing. I was thinking that she was probably already sick with the flu and now we've given her this shot and it will just speed things up. There is always the possibility of the Swine or H1N1, whichever you prefer to call it. I call it a constant worry when you have three children attending a germ-filled school and daycare! I tried to keep my cool and hide the fact that I was scared out of my mind, although I was later informed by my sister that she could see right through me. *LOL*
Upon examination by the pediatrician it was determined that the poor little angel had a double ear infection. While I hate that she has this infection, I was very relieved that it was just an ear infection and we can take antibiotics to treat it and drops to dull the pain. I am not sure about the flu shot. This is the first year we've taken them. Of course the H1N1 shot is not available and I am still up in the air on whether or not we will take it. What do YOU think? Do you and/or your children take a seasonal flu shot and will you take the H1N1 shot if it is available to you and/or your children?
