(from a social network perspective)

My family of six and I recently dealt with and survived a full on “smackdown” with the swine flu.  So for anyone out there who may be panicking, getting H1N1 doesn’t mean you necessarily die.  While it IS the nastiest flu ever to hit our family, it didn’t last forever, although we’re still actively dusting off some of its lingering effects.

It began with our 4YO (our youngest) on a Sunday .  We’d been out as a family, running errands, buying groceries, etc. and we were out far later than we’d been on previous outings.  During the last hour or so she seemed very tired and clearly was ready to get home and go to bed.  She bravely trudged on and, in retrospect, complained very little for someone on the verge of having a major flu incident and acting as the Typhoid Mary for our family.  (Okay, given how quickly the others got it they *may* all had the same initial exposure source.)

As it happened, we had been informed not long before this that a child from my the drama class my three oldest attend had been positively diagnosed with H1N1.  We were advised we should watch for signs.

We found them.

So over the course of the next few days all four of the kids and my wife fell ill.  I stayed home from work and took over care that Thursday after the outbreak.  I began tweeting and posting on facebook about it to keep my spirits up and to let my friends and family know we were still alive and kicking (and coughing . . . and fevering . . . )

So for your reading pleasure, here is a slightly redacted (and spell-checked) window into our H1N1 saga, as seen by my social media network. (I’ve intentionally left out the comments of others because after all they wrote them to me, not you.)

Enjoy!

October 7th ********************************************

9:48 PM	Up…down…up…down; The fevers & fever holders at my house. ‘Tis the season! {ugh}
11:01 PM	Thanks! I’ll need it. My wife just scored a 101 so I’ll be playing “Mr. Mom” tomorrow for anyone left standing.

October 8th *******************************************

1:45 AM	My wife’s scored a mere 101 on the family fever charts tonight putting her in third place behind my 10YO who’s currently peaking at a modest 102.4, yet still trailing my 4YO, who hung on to her lead holding in the 103s for two days in a row. It’s a tight race, but not all the runners have suited up yet. Shouldn’t be long now!
9:41 AM	9:30am and still no one stirs at my house, not even the dog. Is it the flu or an alien abduction?
10:29 AM	My advice is that everyone should stay away. As it happens, someone in the kids’ drama class recently turned up with a confirmed case of swine flu. My guess is we’re on the slow train through pigville and there’s plenty of room for unwary and unlucky passengers. Thanks for the good wishes!
1:00 PM	So far I’m still good to drive the train. We’ll see how long that lasts. I just wish the track was going in a different direction. Thanks!
5:05 PM	My 6YO has just moved into second place scoring an impressive 102.2! My 4YO, showing good form, has conked out on the living room floor while my 10YO has vanished upstairs to his room to sleep.
5:30 PM	I’m busy making tuna melts and tomato soup for six. #flufood
10:00 PM	It’s never good when the light at the end of the tunnel is a train. In this case, the pig train. {…my cheeks aren’t hot…my cheeks aren’t hot…my cheeks aren’t hot…} Oh no, is that the pig whistle??? Stay tuned!

October 9th *******************************************

12:51 AM	And last but not least my 12YO has finally landed on the boards with a modest 100.8. Not a bad showing, but given how long this race is running she’s got plenty of time to gain ground.
11:15 AM	My 12YO has now taken the lead with 102.6, while my 10YO and 4YO seem to have mostly dropped out of the race. (Quitters!) We’ve not bothered tracking my wife’s score anymore as she’s been pretty much flattened by the pig train. My 6YO, in a last ditch effort to improve her ranking, raised the bar on the rest a bit by spending the morning, white as a sheet, bent over the toilet! A minor stats correction: my 4YO reportedly peaked at 104.6 so based on a judge’s ruling this officially puts her on record as our high scorer. I’d say this race is only half-over so there’s plenty of scoring room for those still in it and for (don’t write it!) me. {gulp}
11:43 AM	Just keep sending me that “healthy mojo” you tweeted about! It’s certainly seems to he keeping my pigs@bay! Thanks!
11:53 AM	The family is now all resting and watching Dr. Dolittle (1967 with Rex Harrison we picked up from the library). I’d LOVE to be watching with them, but a mandatory meeting at work has keep me on-line since 10am so now I get to go clean up breakfast, start the laundry, blah, blah, blah. Sorry…no pity party here! :) I’m off to care for others!
12:31 PM	Spent 2 days caring for 5 people with pig flu and now I can’t find the digital thermometer. Calgon take me away! #pigflu
12:41 PM	Found backup digital thermometer (NOT the rectal one)! {12YO breathes sigh of relief} Still 102 though… :( #pigflu
12:51 PM	Product makers I wish I’d invested in two weeks ago; Puffs Plus /w lotion & ANYBODY who makes thermometer probe covers.
4:54 PM	Quick sick check before starting dinner. My 12YO’s down to 101.6, but my 6YO has reclaimed the lead at 102. My 10YO has no fever, but he’s coughing his head off. My wife’s been asleep all day. Just checked on my 4YO, who still crashed from quiet time, and see she’s wet the bed in her sleep. (Too much good-for-the-sick hot tea I guess) Looks like I’ll be doing a quick bath and bed strip before making supper! {sheesh} “Time to make the doughnuts…”
9:43 PM	Last sick update. Fevers appear to have all mostly broken. Appetites are mostly back. Now we’ve moved into the bronchial portion of this pig paradise. Thanks for all who posted, or even thought about it. :) Unless I still end up with it I think we’re on the slow, but much more manageable upswing. ’nuff said . . . Thanks!

October 10th *******************************************

10:36 AM	My wife is still flattened (in bed) sweating and fevering {she’s been up and down though}. My 12YO is flattish (in bed), but feverless after drenching her bed in sweat last night. My 6YO is lightly fevering, but acting fine. My 4YO’s fever broke four days ago when she drenched her bed and she seems back to normal. My 10YO’s cough is much better day. His fever broke three days ago. I’m still clear {somebody has to be!}. This is the nastiest, dizziest, sweatiest-fever-breaking flu I’ve ever seen! I’m SOO glad it’s the weekend.
12:13 PM	Still healthy caring for sick family. The CDC should make a vaccine from my blood, sweat & tears! #pigflu #flufree
1:42 PM	Hmm. Tried to sound emphatic with last tweet; sounded disgruntled instead. No worries. Glad the #pigflu train has nearly passed. ;-)
8:02 PM	Another day spent lovingly caring for sick family. Would love to relax by watching a movie where stuff blows up. #pigflu

October 11th *******************************************

9:12 AM	Possible personal premiere of pernicious porcine pollution has permeated my previously positive posting pabulum. #pigflu.
9:12 AM	I awoke this morning with the first potential signs of “IT” (see my previous, most heavily commented fb post, or my Twitter feed ‘JReaHedrick‘ for more on family flu care) . . . {sigh} . . . Be merciful pig gods for I served you unfaithfully. I have defamed your porcine power and deserve your wrath. {am i hallucinating already???}
3:00 PM	More family sick time? All six of us now convalescing on the couch watching Beauty & the Beast. :) #pigflu
6:57 PM	Days of preparing meals for sick family, tonight my wife says ‘Everything tastes like flu”. #pigflu

October 12th *******************************************

8:34 AM	I’ve got “IT” and it’s the nastiest flu we’ve ever had! NOTE: Rambling sick post warning…continue at your own risk! . . . I’m currently too dizzy to safely walk the house (let alone drive) and other symptoms are mounting up. I’m glad I got the rest of the family through the worst of this, but it’s a particularly bad time for me to be away from work. I’m posting now because if the trend follows I’ll feel too sick to do anything in a couple hours. {violins softly playing a mournful dirge in the background} Going back to bed now to stare at the ceiling and pray for a merciful death. Stay well.
11:42 AM	Thanks. Sadly, my wife’s just taken another turn so I’m preparing for active duty again. It’s hit her so hard, I feel terrible for her. Here’s hoping I don’t get worse do she can rest and get better.
12:37 PM	Kids are upstairs auditioning stuffed animals for Broadway shows. Such imagination! SOO glad they’re feeling better. #pigflu

October 13th *******************************************

3:29 PM

Reports of my perishing by pig pollution were apparently exaggerated…by me! I got off with a mild case. I’m back @work having spent Monday mostly on my back (no fever). Folks @home are slowly getting back to normal. The worst is definitely over. Thanks to all who took time to post. And big phat healthy mojo to you all. If you DO get it, hang on; a few days of porcine purgatory and it’s all over…the flu that is. ;-)

Wednesday morning began with more of my wife’s delicious microwave scrambled eggs!  While the adults cleaned up (everyone clears at home), the kids spent some time playing on the deck, trying out the hammock and the porch swing, but their favorite thing about the deck was . . . the BELL!

They had a ball with that bell, ringing it till I thought it might crack.  So much for quiet, peaceful cabin life!  :)

Day 3 was the day we planned to travel into Nashville to visit some stores and maybe pick up a souvenir or two.  Sadly, we knew we’d be having lunch out and so we had to leave Casper behind.  The only other wrinkle was that it looked like it might rain.

The plan was simple.  Eat first then walk around Nashville.  Since we were on vacation we really wanted to do something for lunch we wouldn’t do at home, so we were option to finding something new.  We drove around Nashville for a while checking out various restaurants (not as many as you might think) until we settled on one – the Holy Cow Steakhouse and Grill.  We figured the menu selection there would likely allow everyone to get something they’d like.  We parked the van in a GREAT spot (one of the few around) right across the street from the restaurant!

That’s when the rain began.

We hurried across the street to the covered deck and picked up a menu from the outer door to check pricing.  The kids menu items alone were around $7 each and adult meals started around $11! (OUCH!)  Okay, so we expected to spend a little more on lunch than normal, but not THAT much.  If we were going to spend $50, we were at least going to go somewhere really nice.

We settled on the Brown County Inn Restaurant and everyone raced through the rain back to the van.  Unfortunately, this was all we ever saw of it because it wasn’t open for lunch.

Alas!  We considered what was left of our options then drove around some more.  45 minutes after we’d left the cabin for a *quick visit* to Nashville, and with four very hungry and slightly cranky kids in the back, we settled on a place we’d never even consider stopping at home – McDonald’s. {sigh}

We still spent nearly $25 (it takes a lot to feed six people).  However, in our new “let’s look on the bright side approach” to our many vacation setbacks, we gave ourselves permission to spend the $25 we’d just *saved* on some family souvenirs! (A Fall turkey for our front entry table and two Christmas ornaments from the Holly Shop – one for the family and one for Casper.)

Note to Holly Shop:
Since your policy states that parents MUST pay for anything children may break, PLEASE don’t hawk over my kids as they admire your beautiful treasures while you explain how fragile they are.  Geesh!

Thankfully, the rain had slackened just after we left the Holly Shop so we went on to the Visitor’s Center to get some maps and find out where the best places are to eat (actually in Nashville) were for next time.  While we were there the kids were excited to get their own illustrated maps of the village.  I was surprised to see how many shops there actually were tucked away on some of those back streets.

After the Visitors Center we hit the Toy Chest to play where my wife snapped this photo of me goofing around.  (It’s good to be king!)

Our last stop before heading back to the cabin to let poor Casper out was the Copperhead Creek Gem Mining Company to pan for gold and  gems,  but at $11.00 per bag of preloaded panning dirt, we opted for six bowls of homemade pumpkin ice cream instead.  No complaints about this from the young’uns!

Back on our cabin, Casper was thrilled to see us!  Everyone, including Casper, curled up while my wife read some more of The Wind Boy (by Ethel Cook Eliot).  My wife and kids are usually reading through a book together most days.  Since I’m at work at that time I miss out.  Although sometimes I read the same one on my own so I can share too.  I hadn’t kept up on this one and didn’t want to come in mid-read. Instead, I grabbed my camera and slipped off to check out the woods behind the house. Following the path past the chain link dog kennel I found we had a third pond on the property.  What the cabin lacked in working amenities, it certainly made up for in natural beauty!

The last thing we did before dinner and bed that night was to break out the swim suits.  You may recall from my Day 1 post that the hot tub had gone AWOL.  So we filled the sunken tub in the master bathroom upstairs and let the kids have at it.  I suspect they enjoyed playing in there much as they would have enjoyed playing in the actual hot tub, even it was a bit cramped. :)

Oh!  I nearly forgot to mention we played one last round of sardines.  We’d actually run out of time on Day 2 for my wife to hide before our movie.  Sardines was her idea after all and she REALLY wanted a turn to hide!  She found a great spot too – under the vanity in the master bath.

We all wandered through there more than once and overlooked her every time.  I was with our 4YO when I finally spotted her so the two of us crouched between the vanity and the closet door with a damp bath towel (all I could find in the dark) pulled over us.  We waited and waited and waited, quietly laughing together about how cramped my wife was getting under the vanity.

Eventually, we started knocking on the walls to help the others find us, but it didn’t work.  Now we couldn’t stop laughing.  Finally, I cranked up my iPod Touch and started blasting timer alarm sounds until they found us.

Day 3 was definitely a high point for everyone!

One thing I neglected to mention about Day 2 was Satellite Television.

We made the choice to be TV free in our home more than 10 years ago (really) and have never regretted it.  However, the cabin rental came with satellite TV, so on Tuesday night I snapped on the TV after the kids were in bed to see how much things had changed in TV land over the last decade.

So with the volume down very low, I began to scroll through the menu of the available options.  With access to satellite you’d expect to have at your fingertips the best that television has to offer, right???  Well once I’d scrolled past the few basic network stations with each click I was more and more surprised by what I found.  After quickly scrolling through about 400 channels (surely time well spent!) I concluded we’d NOT made a mistake to give it up years ago.

With a few exceptions the predominance of what I found fell into three categories:

1) Sports
2) Infomercials for beauty & healthcare products
3) Shopping

As I happily returned the remote control to the mantle and resumed my writing I couldn’t help wondering what sort of social commentary this suggested for western culture.  It is a society very much obsessed with vicarious experience (sports), superficial self-improvement (beauty aids) and rampant commercialism (shopping).

I suppose it should be no surprise then that even with the “holy grail” of television media at my disposal that I would find anything other than a reflection of my society, albeit a not very flattering one.  Still, it’s difficult to know if people are simply accepting whatever is being offered or if people are being offered exactly what they’re asking for.

Either way, I for one am I’m glad my kids don’t have to contend with television media telling them what to think and what they need to do or be to find happiness in life.  Spending this uninterrupted time away with them has made one thing very apparent – they’re figuring out what it takes just fine without it.

Tuesday morning started nicely with hot baths then a tasty breakfast of biscuits and microwave (no skillet, remember?) scrambled eggs!  However, we decided after this meal to abandon eating at the dining table.  While it was a beautiful piece of handmade furniture, it was clearly built for Half-Giants!  Instead of the table top being rib-high, the average height for most dining room tables, this one was chest-high.  My 6YO had to sit on her knees and my 4YO actually needed two pillows under her just to reach her plate.  Even my wife and I felt like little kids again!

Breakfast was followed by a lovely walking tour of some of the property’s 20 acres with our geriatric poodle in tow.  The kids enjoyed watching the grey squirrels all around and the countless frogs in the ponds out front.

We also spent some time checking out a nearly dried out creek bed where the kids were able to stand in the middle of the deep gorge where deep water flowed once upon a time.  We even met this fearless fellow up close among the exposed roots of an old tree.

Next, we made our way across the meadow-like front yard and made of a game of looking for snake holes.  When we reached the lake and the dock it was clear the photo on the website had been taken some time ago.  It was in disrepair and there was no paddle boat.  Nevertheless, we enjoyed watching the minnows swim along the lake’s edge and tried to spot fish swimming further out.

On our way back to the house I suggested we let Casper off leash.  There were no woods around and I couldn’t see him getting into anything he shouldn’t in the open meadow.  Not even a minute after he’d been let loose one of the few cars we’d seen came rumbling down the road pulling a U-Haul trailer.  At that moment our very old, very lazy lap poodle decided to act like a young dog.  He’s nearly deaf and so must have seen the car, even at that distance at the edge of the property because he immediately began barking and chasing it.  Well, there was no way he was going to catch up to it, but he’d barely gone a few yards when I realized he wouldn’t be able to hear me calling him back.  And perhaps it was the clean country air making him frisky, but he can apparently be fast when he wants to. Yikes!

Thankfully, his old age kicked in before he’d gotten very far and he gave up the chase.  He made his way slowly, but proudly, back to us panting as if he’d never catch his breath.  In fact, I don’t think he stopped panting for the rest of the trip. ;-)

After our walking tour we had a simple lunch followed by a few hands of Nacho Loco (one of the few engaging games we’ve found for our 12YO through our 4YO) and the longest round of UNO I’d wager Moonstraka has ever seen!

Games was followed by a fun felt and glue Halloween craft my wife had planned.  Here is the result!

Dinner that night was frozen pizzas which, thanks again to Moonstraka’s “fully equipped kitchen”, I was forced to snap in half over the handle of a wooden spoon so they would fit into the only air-bake cookie sheet we felt safe using.

Between pizza swaps in the oven we played sardines hide-and-seek.  For anyone who’s never played sardines the basic rules (at least the ones we use) are as follows:

• Turn out as many lights as possible depending on the age of the players (and their boogieman barometer).
• One person goes to hide while the rest count loudly with their eyes closed.
• When the counting is done, the seekers seek.
• Whoever finds the hider (they get to be the hider next time), silently hides alongside them until all the seekers are packed into the hiding place like sardines.

We had a BLAST using every nook and cranny on all three levels!

After sardines was pajama-time then popcorn and ‘The Whipping Boy’ (movie), which was great fun.  NOTE: it was surprisingly irritating to watch movies without a working VHS/DVD remote (I may have actually been surprised given what we’d experienced so far if it actually had worked) as we had to get up to pause the movie for every potty break or similar interruption.  Still, everyone thoroughly enjoyed the movie and the youngest three played ‘Whipping Boy’ while hunting for rats (imaginary of course!) till bed and on into the rest of the trip.

All in all, we found day 2 to be much more relaxing than day 1.

Day 3 post coming soon . . .

My family and I were very excited about our recent family vacation trip to Nashville, Indiana in Brown County. We were one 4YO, one 6YO and one geriatric poodle lighter the last time we’d been on a family vacation. For that trip we stayed at Songbird Cottage – a trip my 10YO and 12YO still talk about, so needless to say, the idea of another family cabin was quite appealing to everyone.

After reviewing size, pricing, amenities and optimally one where we could bring our dog, we settled on Moonstraka managed by Hills O’ Brown Real Estate. We made our lists, determined what few groceries to take, packed our many bags, double-checked the carsickness kit (a barf bowl, a box of Queasy Pops, a spray bottle of Fabreeze, etc.), borrowed a luggage carrier and we were off! We made it all the way to Nashville with no carsickness and so our hopes for a trouble-free vacation were very high!

Unfortunately, that was all about to change.

First stop, the local IGA (the only grocery store in Nashville) to pick up food for the simple, stress-free meals we’d planned.

My wife dashed in to shop the list. 35 minutes later she came out with several shopping bags containing very little of what we’d “planned”. Turns out the local IGA is much smaller on the inside than it looks. Most of the items we could simply grab at any three grocery stores within five minutes of our house they didn’t have. My wife, using one of her brilliant gifts, quickly improvised three days and nights worth of meal based on what we had, what the IGA had and what would still leave us lots of relaxing time NOT cooking even if we were now another $64 lighter. Plan “A” to improvised Plan “B”. Problem solved!

(NOTE: How do people in Nashville afford to buy groceries when the ONLY store where people can shop overcharges for EVERTHING??? Come on! $1.13 for a can of tuna?!? $5.49 for a 2c bag of shredded cheese?!?)

Next stop, Moonstraka!

First up the steps, my 6YO proceeded to sit down on a deck chair with a large puddle in the seat. At the same moment, my 4YO had a similar wetting on the deck, only not from a deck chair.

While we quickly unpacked the van my 12YO took our dog, Casper, for a walk before wrapping him to keep him from marking the furniture. Once wrapped, however, he proceeded to poop on the floor. Another minor inconvenience, but all was still well.

I went to run a bath for the two youngest while my wife prepared some dinner magic. It only took a few minutes for me to learn there was no hot water. I found the water heater in the basement and confirmed . . . it was cold. The pilot was out and I had nothing to light it with. I went upstairs to inform my wife whereupon she informed me the “fully equipped kitchen” lacked a few essential pieces of equipment . . . such as a usable skillet. (Actually, there were two; both were deeply scratched and even a bit rusty, neither of which we felt good about eating from.)

By now it was 8:00pm and the natives were getting restless (and hungry). While I dialed the after-hours emergency paging service to get the water heater running, my wife began to formulate Plan “C” since a portion of the afore mentioned $64 in groceries was now unusable.

Plan “C” was simple, convert the skillet recipe into an oven recipe. Almost anything could be made into a casserole! The only problem was we couldn’t open the door! The programmable oven apparently thought it was in self-clean mode so the latch wouldn’t release to open the door. After fifteen minutes of trying in vain to release it we saw our options for the remaining $64 in food dwindling.

Plan “D” break out the cold cuts!

While my wife prepared sub sandwiches I gave the 4YO and 6YO a quick (rather cold) sponge bath from the bathroom sink, all the while waiting for a call back from maintenance. The paging service said to expect a return call in 20 minutes. After 30 minutes I called the number for the property manager whose son said she wasn’t home but that he would pass along the message. Fifteen minutes later the phone rang and a very friendly man named John said he’d be right out to help.

Finally, some good news! Although, I’m still not sure if he called me back from my initial call or from my follow up call.

Twenty minutes later he arrived and set to work on the furnace while we finished a very late dinner. I told him about the oven and he couldn’t open it either. I suggested we trip the breaker to try and reset the program, but John couldn’t locate the breaker box. Eventually, he was able to coax the oven from self-clean mode, without the need for a total blackout, and the door opened with the helpful suggestion that we not lock it again and apologizing for the “5” strangely displayed on the LCD. We were perfectly content to overlook this minor detail in exchange for being able to cook over the next few days.

Rather than detailing the rest of the surprises we had that first night I’ll just provide a quick rundown:

Here’s a picture of the billiard table. The ball tray is torn off so the billiard balls would come shooting out onto the floor (and our toes!)

Here’s a picture of the hot tub (different than the site photo).
Six pairs of swim suits and no place to soak. :(

These, ahem . . . lovely ladies, greeted us in the downstairs bedroom we’d selected for the 10YO and 12YO, but were promptly taken down for the week. (Ack!)

• No treadmill as pictured in weight room.
• No air hockey table as pictured in game room.
• No darts for the dart board as pictured in the game room.
• No paddle boat as pictured at the fishing pond.

Despite all these amenity failures, we kept reminding ourselves (and each other) we didn’t chose to get away to be pampered, but to reconnect as a family and spend time enjoying each other in an intentional way. From that perspective, we could laugh at the imponderables of vacationing and look forward to what the next few days would bring.

I’ll be posting more on those soon!