Pork is a Nice, Sweet Meat

Swine flu is taking over my state. It is considered "widespread", we've had eight deaths, and Utah is considered one of the eleven state hot spots right now. In my ward, we have at least two confirmed cases, one a young woman and one a Primary-age boy. According to the Deseret News,

"And with so many confirmed H1N1 cases — more than 700 as of last week — he [state epidemiologist Dr. Robert Rolfs] said the state will begin to track only those who are hospitalized"

People like my friend Lindsay, whom I hugged and chatted with on last Saturday and Sunday, and who started feeling ill on Sunday night, aren't counted in that number, because she was able to start taking Tamiflu pretty quickly and is doing a lot better. And my friend Lisa, who just called to say she developed chills and fever on Friday night at the temple. (They had to wheel her out to her car in a wheelchair!) (And I was in an earlier session, so I didn't even know.) I spent three hours with her on Thursday night, in our RS meeting. She even gave me a ride home.

Intellectually, I know that if I get the H1N1 flu, it's going to be just fine in the long term (short term I might be pretty miserable). I know that if my husband gets it, he'll be fine, too. Even if my kids get it, chances are they'll be fine. Even if my pregnant sister gets it (Hebs has been hanging out at her house for the last week and next week during swim lessons), she'll be fine.

Probably.

It doesn't help that some people around me are more than slightly worried, it doesn't help to watch my friends get sick, it doesn't help that we are STILL not 100% over whatever has been plaguing us the last four weeks, and we still have coughs and slightly raw throats. The media, thankfully, has toned down the doom-and-gloom of early May, so at least they're not driving me batty.

I like to be prepared for things--it makes me feel more in control, so I don't stress as much. (Ask me sometime about the sheer crazy-level of preparedness I underwent between Gee's spina bifida diagnosis and birth. Psycho-levels, I tell you.) But I'm not sure how to prepare for swine flu, besides the obvious, like food, medicines, and loads of hand santiziters. What do we do if one of the adults gets sick? Do we pull the kids out of their long-awaited preschool? What if both of us gets sick at the same time? What about the class Bradley and I are teaching in a week?

I hate feeling like this!

(Edited to add: My friend Lisa ended up getting the "last" prescription of Tamiflu in Utah County. She had to call around to different pharmacies to find it, and ended up driving two towns over to fetch it.)