by Heather Moores

Created on: February 07, 2009   Last Updated: February 20, 2009

I have actually never been the recipient of a flu vaccination but that will change. I now have five excellent reasons to get a flu vaccination. Let me tell you what they are: 1) Me, 2) My husband, 3) Our 4-year-old, 4) Our 3-year-old, 5) Our 1-year-old.

Have you ever seen an entire family knocked flat by influenza? It is not a pretty sight. This is exactly what happened to us this last week. It has been an unbelievably nightmarish experience, one I hope to never go through again.

It all began when I arrived home from work last Wednesday. I found my husband lying on our bed moaning and looking pale as a ghost. He informed me that he had food poisoning. Our kids were running all over the place and our apartment looked like a war zone. I didn't even have time to get mad. My husband jumped up and made the quickest dash to the bathroom I have ever seen. Truth be told, I had no idea he could move that fast. I promptly put him to bed and spent the rest of the evening feeding the kids, taking care of my husband, cleaning the apartment, taking care of my husband, putting the kids to bed, taking care of my husband, and feeding myself, etc. Did I mention taking care of my husband. It was a whirlwind evening and I was beat by the end of it. I had no idea what was in store for me.

The next day, my husband was so sick he could not get out of bed. I could not believe how awful he looked and I was beginning to get really worried. I could not understand how he had gotten food poisoning since we had all eaten the same foods. How come the kids and I were okay and he wasn't? It did not make any sense. He had such terrible fevers that he would thrash and shake all over. I was wondering if the emergency room wasn't far off.

I went to bed after we broke his fever and I woke up a few hours later to make my own mad dash to the bathroom. I had terrible nausea and my whole body hurt so bad. My skin even hurt. The worst part was how weak I felt. It was almost impossible to even stand up. At that point I had two thoughts: 1) This is definitely NOT food poisoning, and, 2) How am I going to take care of the kids in this condition? I prayed that I would feel better come morning.

The morning, however, yielded several unpleasant surprises. All three of our kids were throwing up. Everyone had fevers. I had absolutely no idea what to do first. No one could keep any medicine down and I was changing diapers like crazy. There was only one bonus: my husband came home early from work. He just could not handle it. Our oldest child was throwing up so much that I was really worried about dehydration. That is very dangerous for children. I had to drag myself to the store to get some Pedialyte and every other type of medicine associated with this wretched illness.

The madness went on for a few days. Just when I was preparing for a family visit to the emergency room, the kids stopped throwing up. They were drinking the Pedialyte and keeping it down! My husband and I were able to stand up without fear of passing out. We are all still pretty wiped out but the fevers are gone. Our three-year-old still has diarrhea but he seems okay otherwise. Everyone is slowly getting their appetites back and no one is vomiting.

The flu hit us fast and hard. I am so grateful no one required hospitalization, especially the baby. It was a pretty terrifying experience. We were all supposed to get our flew shots last November but we completely spaced it. I could kick myself for forgetting about it. I still can't believe we all got it at the same time. When vaccination time comes again, I guarantee we will be first in line.

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