The Baynhams

We often get accused of living a "perfect life" because the blog is full of happy stories and photos. Occasionally I like to bring the blog back down to earth with a bit of a reality post.

Today we have a sick boy in the house. He came home from school yesterday feeling hot and tired. Overnight he got hotter and when the thermometer read 38.9 degrees we decided we needed advice.

We got an appointment for him at the Emergency out of hours GP clinic. Within a few minutes of being in the consultation room the GP left and came back in wearing a mask. She had in her hands a big manual of advice from the department of health about the Swine Flu epidemic.

There were some phone calls about whether he should be given the TamiFlu anti viral medication. The Australian government has just gone from "Contain" to "Protect" mode. This meant that a week ago our family would have been placed in house quarantine. Today's advice was much less dramatic. He has all the symptoms of a "Flu-like illness" so he has to stay in our house and avoid contact with any vulnerable groups, sick, pregnant, immuno compromised etc. The rest of us are fine to carry on with normal life. We can go to work and the kids can go to school. People can come in and out of our house as long as they are not in the vulnerable category.

Gareth will be able to go out and about as soon as his temperature returns to normal. He won't be tested for Swine Flu as per the Governments updated protocol. He wont have to take the course of TamiFlu as he isn't in a vulnerable category. He just needs lots of children's paracetamol and ibuprofen and lots of drinks to keep him hydrated.

Despite this post sounding very dramatic Gareth wanted to share one last photo with you from when the paracetamol kicked in! Yes, he may look a bit under the weather but he is still in fun spirits!