Terry vs. the flu

After ever single youth trip, Terry gets sick and dare2share this year was no exception. In fact, it was worse. Saturday night after the conference was over he began feeling sick and only felt worse on the bus ride home the next day. By the time we got home he couldn't even keep his eyes open before we put the kids to bed. You can see the clock says 8:40 but the daylight savings time change had happened the night before so it was actually only 7:40pm. We went to bed that night right after the kids, which never happens. 

 There was a leader from the other church we went with that had similar symptoms so perhaps he caught it from her or maybe he was exposed beforehand. Regardless, he was sick in a severe way. The following morning he had a temperature of 103 so he headed to the clinic where I work, Health Concepts, and was diagnosed with Influenza A. Poor guy came home that day and just crashed in the recliner.

The previous month, during the box maze, Noah also contracted Influenza A and we had shelled out $$$ to get him Tamiflu. We were on the fence whether it was worth it to spend so much again but were spared that decision. The clinic has a research component to it downstairs and Terry was eligible for a flu study they were conducting with get free meds! All he had to do was submit himself to blood draws and nasal swabs and keep a patient diary.

Of course, this drug was not Tamiflu. It's an antiparasitic and they were testing it on the flu. Or something like that. I didn't read all of the information.

The catch was that the study either gave you a placebo sugar pill or the real thing and even the clinic didn't know what you received. Terry spent the entire morning at the clinic, came home and napped, and then napped some more. For two days he felt absolutely terrible. Wretched. Awful. 

I tried to keep the kids away but they just couldn't help themselves. He kept saying it was okay and then passing out.

But after a few day he began to perk up. They figured he must have received the actual drug because he was getting better faster than another study participant who got sick around the same time. But he was still exhausted and the drug had some strange side effects. He had bad cotton mouth the first day, then a metallic taste and smell, mood swings, hot flashes. It was weird.

 That Friday I considered getting us out a little but Terry was still too fatigued. The following day, Saturday, he had a bit more energy. We drove Evie to Aly's birthday party in Hill City, ate out, and went to see The Force Awakens at The Elks theater. By the end of all that, Terry wasn't the only one who was exhausted: 

It was good to get to church on Sunday but again he was pretty tired out afterwards. He feel good enough to let me go mountain biking. I really grilled him about if he was sure it was okay. I got annoying and he booted me out. 

I had a nice time getting away and he just slept and played video games with the kids. The next day, Monday, he was so ready to get back to work. I think he put in a shorter day and was tired. But by the end of the week he was pretty much back to normal. From now on I think we will all be getting our flu shots...