fevers and sore throats
Wednesday, August 22, 2012 at 10:43PM Kopila Valley Children's Home got hit with a nasty virus this week that seems to be taking down one kid after the next. We counted 18 last night in Satsung and then two more were sick when I went to check on things this morning. As you can probably imagine we have our hands full and it kind of feels like living in a hospital ward. This is definitely one of the challenges of living in close quarters with so many little ones. We've been quarantining as much as possible, but it seems like this thing is pretty contagious.
We're doing everything we can to fight off these nasty fevers and sore throats. Safira, Aunties, Uncles and I are walking around with thermometers, dispensing warm salt water for gargling, and trying to get the kids to drink as much water and ginger lemon honey tea as possible. I'm pretty sure it's viral so we're trying to simply combat fevers with cold cloths on foreheads and echinacea plus, but temperatures are hitting up to 103 and 104. The red-glossed over eyes, tears and seeing the kids in pain is the hardest part of all. When I walked into the girls room this morning they all started crying like dominos.
Yesterday was Maya's birthday, and despite all the sickness, we tried to get out and do a little something special. Tope, Matt, Safira and I took her for a special little birthday outing as per her request. She's been counting down for weeks and weeks. We're looking forward to our big August birthday party this weekend. Hopefully Kopila kiddos will be feeling better by then.
Can you spot Maya, 7 years old! Can you believe it?
Reader Comments (4)
Just a thought. Perhaps bunk beds, which could free up the room, where they could have their own tiny individual space, would help prevent the spread of viruses, but I'm probably talking out of the top of my head. In any case, I'm very sorry to hear of the children's illness and wish them a speedy recovery.
hope your beautiful home Nepali staff gets an extra day off when when this finishes.
"This too shall pass".... Thank your team for me. Love, Mom
Happy birthday miss mayamayamaya.
Wish I was there to throw you a disco party....
I can't believe your 7 already.
Hope your have a great one, Love ya
in addition to echinacea, i'd suggest you try elderberry syrup at the first sign of flu. personally found it amazingly effective, but there's also been double-blind clinical trials:
http://cms.herbalgram.org/herbalgram/issue63/article2702.html
Standardized Elderberry Syrup Shortens the Severity and Duration of Influenza in Adults
the brand name of elderberry syrup in the study above (Sambucol) is a bit pricey, but you can make your own from elderberries much more inexpensively. (i purchased 1 pound dried elderberries locally for ~$15. just checked amazon, and it's $12 for a pound from frontier, the same brand i used. another $10 for a quart of vodka to make a tincture. that will make a whole lot of tincture.) for kids, you can mix the tincture with water, and some sugar to make it taste ok, then boil for 5 minutes or so to boil off the alcohol and make it syrupy.
also see:
http://abc.herbalgram.org/site/DocServer/Elderberry-scr.pdf?docID=165
THE The American Botanical Council CLINICAL GUIDE TO ELDER BERRY
--sgl