@homerdog, he goes to Xavier in Cincinnati. I was mistaken though - this week is “study week” so classes are over. He has remote finals starting Monday. I have no idea why it was planned this way or what their normal schedule was like pre-Covid, but his fall semester was much earlier than a lot of schools so it is understandable they are finishing much earlier than most schools.
So a little update. This morning he woke up with a fever. I immediately scheduled an appt with his doctor, after he told me one of his college friends has the flu. S21 tested positive for flu A today! And let me add……two weeks into fall semester, he tested positive for both Covid and Flu B at the same time (he was vaccinated with J&J in April). I planned to have him get the flu shot when he came home, but too late. Now he has had both strains, plus Covid. And when he was home for fall break, he had bronchitis. He has never ever been sick like this (has never had the flu, bronchitis, etc), so I attribute it to being fairly isolated the last year and then thrust into a cesspool of kids and germs. Thankfully he will be home for six weeks and can get lots of rest, etc.
His doctor told him S21 is the first case of the flu she has had this year. She also said they did not have a single flu case last year. I told her he just got home from college last night so he caught the flu in a different state.
In better news, xrays did not show a break, but since it is his scaphoid, where breaks are hard to see on an xray, the ortho wants him to wear a brace for two weeks. If pain has subsided, all is good. If pain lingers, he will go for an MRI to see if there is an actual break.
There is a LOT of flu starting to circulate in our clinic as well as reports of multiple cases in two colleges in our home state. CDC has a nice tracker that allows you to see the surge coming, and separates A vs B, and also has a state-by -state map. D21 is out of state and has reported multiple friends positive(she had probable flu 2 weeks ago given that she was a contact with the positive and was 102 for 2 days with classic symptoms). They all got flu shots in September or October (mandatory) and they all were either very mild or just 2 days of fevers. College kids always are high risk to spread germs especially flu, so all of them should get a flu shot every year. Most college kids get viral chest colds/bronchitis/laryngitis every fall especially the first year, with another round or two of illness Jan-Feb, commonly stomach bugs then.
I would recommend getting the shot anyway! There are 2 current strains of B in the US and two current strains of A. So he has only had 2 of the 4 possible strains this year.
S not excited but had his booster and flu yesterday. He was supposed to go a while back and get the flu but too busy. Happily he’s in good shape this morning!
D had to wait two hours at lax last night just for her father to make his way to her. The airport traffic was that bad . She got home around midnight and immediately left to go find high school friends. I can’t wait to actually hang out with her today. She’s getting her booster this afternoon. I hope by the time she wakes up tomorrow she’s ok, or even better to have no reaction at all.
D had her booster at school and said she was never so sick in her entire life. It happened overnight and she said she couldn’t even get out of bed to get to any Advil or Tylenol. She was ok enough by 8:00am to text me to say she’s so miserable. She finally crawled to get some Advil and got back to bed. Was better by mid-afternoon. I hope your S doesn’t have such a bad reaction!
She had J&J so I don’t know if the Moderna booster was difficult for her because of that.
My D got her booster on her way to rehearsals this morning. Not the best thanksgiving plan, really, but the only time she’ll have off to be sick in bed if she needs it. Classes are going well- her one teacher assigned double assignments for the long weekend break, so that sucks. She has been to two auditions with two acceptances so far, and she’ll be filming her video pre screen and auditions for the rest of her schools on Saturday. The change regarding how she views going away to school next year is striking. Two years ago age flat out didn’t want to go. Last year she was ambivalent but happy for the right school. This year she is chomping at the bit and is excited to go. Fifteen to eighteen has seen a lot of growth.
Uh bummer! Moderna has the most MRNA so it packs a powerful punch. My S has had 3 Pfizer - we all decided to stay the course with the same vaccine - and he doing quite well today. The coaches have been working him hard so I took the chance he might get sick while home but then just have it done.
Not a medical professional here - but hearing from all our friends it it is hitting their tired worn out college students hard vs all of us well rested parents with minor reactions - purely antidotal.
Yes. D said her friends at school were also pretty unwell the next day. Scary when you hear the words “the sickest I’ve ever been” and i couldn’t be there to help, but we also knew why she was sick and that it would be short-lived. I told her to wait until she comes home but she didn’t want to be sick during her break at home. She also admitted that she had no idea that she’d be that sick!
Thrilled to have my D home…her boyfriend is at our house at the moment…I hear happy laughing so I don’t think the infamous “Thanksgiving melt” is in the picture.
This morning I was able to schedule Moderna for myself for next week (YES!). My D doesn’t want a booster until she comes home for break in December… she’s finally feeling better after five weeks of severe bronchitis and says she just can’t face the idea of booster symptoms now or anytime during the next weeks of papers and finals. I’ll have to keep my fingers crossed. I just read an article about one vaccine study that found evidence that young people may keep a good level of immunity longer than older adults do…it even suggested that it may be a good strategy for young adults to stretch out the time between vaccinations in case new waves and variants in the future call for yet more boosters. I’d rather she go ahead with it, but reading that did give a little reassurance.
So glad to see all the kiddos who are able to come home. It sucks not having S21 home (okay, I think I even miss the chaos) but I’m thankful he is where he is. He did treat himself to a nice seafood meal with stimulus poppa and grandma’s money. Haha. That’s what he is calling it. He opened up his own bank account (the Alliant one I have for him doesn’t take Zelle) to get Zelle from gramps.
He made an appointment for a booster at a Walgreens near school. He will be using his Lyft/Uber app for the first time today to go get his shot. There was none within walking distance that had openings and I told him to give this week to recover in case he gets sick post booster like he did after his second shot. He did get the flu shot but apparently went to CVS and paid for it since he missed his campus appointments. So much for paying $1k/yr for health services when your kid will not use the perks. Goodness.
So I wouldn’t say I’ve received a ton of info during the break but it sounds like my S is one of those kids walking around in shorts and tennis shoes when it’s snowing. We spoke of layers and waterproof shoes. Now if he’ll just wear them. Sheesh.
D21 was at White Sands National Park in New Mexico this week while on Thanksgiving vacation in the Southwest. She took a baggie of sand as a memento. (It’s not like beach sand; it’s more powdery and very white - gypsum.)
When she was going through the TSA checkpoint at the airport this morning to go back to school, she was pulled aside so that her bag of sand could be drug tested.
They had the first measurable snow at my son’s school. He sent me a picture of himself in shorts and flip flops. He did mention bringing some gloves back to school so that when a snow ball fight breaks out, his hands don’t get cold. I wouldn’t buy anything - seriously - unless they ask. We’re from CO and my son went through many, many winters in tennis shoes, shorts and a hoodie.
It’s so interesting how it affects different people differently. My daughter had Covid in February, then got the J&J vaccine a couple of months later. She got the Moderna booster a few days ago and only had a sore arm, nothing else. I was surprised.
Super wonderful to see S for first time this past week since Aug drop-off. He flew home last Sat and returns to DC today. He did classes online Monday and Tuesday which was a nice option so that he could be home the entire week.
He is very happy at GW. He’s doing well in all areas with the exception of needing to eat more. We assured him he can certainly spend more on food for heaven’s sake. He worked a lot on Russian language class over the break and reading and tweaking a paper for a philosophy class.
It was sooo nice to just watch him walk around the house, play with the dogs, talk with his younger brother, and go out to dinner with friends.
But as much as it was wonderful to have him here, I am happy to have him return to his new family group of friends and environment; bc his happiness for school and the city, and for what he’s doing is uplifting and reassuring. I’m thankful.
(And only three weeks and two days until we see him again for winter break!!!)
I was worried that my daughter might get taken down by her booster this week, but fortunately nothing happened. Her first two were Pfizer and her booster was Moderna.
Still waiting for my son to text me back the day after the booster. He was out after the second shot. He could be in one of his coma sleeps in his dorm or sick after the shot yesterday. He did officially get his first Lyft ride on his own to the Walgreens
He texted back. Aches and headaches. Same as the second shot symptoms. I did recommend that he got out Tylenol from the storage bin from under his bed yesterday
. She got home around midnight and immediately left to go find high school friends. I can’t wait to actually hang out with her today. She’s getting her booster this afternoon. I hope by the time she wakes up tomorrow she’s ok, or even better to have no reaction at all. 
I’d rather she go ahead with it, but reading that did give a little reassurance.
He worked a lot on Russian language class over the break and reading and tweaking a paper for a philosophy class.
