The Christmas Flu

We have had a very rough Christmas holiday and it is not over yet. Oliver got sick with the flu the Friday before Christmas. Two days later Waverly got it. And the following day it was Matt's turn. All 3 sick, with only me to care for them. Thankfully, my immune system kicked it into high gear and I was able to avoid getting ill. Oliver and Matt were very sick, but within a few days they were simply tired with a bad cough. Poor Waverly just couldn't fight it. We ended up in the ER twice. Her fever was 104.5 and we could not get it to go down (cool bath, outside, cold compresses, meds, etc.). And we are always worried about her aspirating on mucus and ending up with pneumonia. Along with the congestion, fever, weakness, and fussiness, she has also had epic nosebleeds that have taken over an hour to contain. On our second ER visit, they discovered she also had a terrible ear infection. Finally - 8 days later - she is fever free. She still sounds terrible. Lots of congestion to work through, but I hope she may finally be on the mend.

Here she is during our second ER visit. She was so tired and weak, she couldn't hold her head up.

My worry is that her little body won't be able to fully recover from this. I hope she can bounce back, but I fear she may be weakened by this illness long term. We have never seen her so sick and it was scary.