Please understand that I am not trying to alarm anyone but, my son almost died from the flu and flu like symptoms twice.  This was before his ped endo gave us a script for the shot and before he was old enough to get the flu vaccine.

I posted earlier that he had gotten so dehydrated that they had to drill holes into his bones in order to rehydrate him because his veins went flat.  I will never forget that day when they told us "we’re not sure if he’s going to make it".

Ever since we got the emergency shot we have given it to him whenever there is a serious question about his wellbeing.  Granted my son is a severe salt waster and goes in to an adrenal crisis rapidly but my saying is "THERE ARE NO DO OVERS IN THIS TYPE OF THING".  The docs have told us also that there is really no down side in injecting when it wasn’t absolutely necessary and the only change we have seen is that he has a great amount of energy for the next 24 hours.   This is quite a relief from the alternative and the hugs we get are enormous.

I will also add that on some of the occassions when we decided to inject, he hadn’t shown a great deal of lethargy but his personality had changed in such a way that we knew he was struggling.  Remember that these children can not fight off infection on their own!

I will also add that over the years whenever I hear about a CAH child that has died it is usually a child that was not given the shot for one reason or another or it was administered to them too late.

There have been several people to post on this board stating that they felt that giving the shot made all the difference between life and death.  One person even pulled over to the side of the road and gave the shot before getting to the hospital because she had heard horror stories about the ER docs not allowing the shot to be administered once they had admitted the child.

I sympathize with you regarding the fact that the needle is quite a large one but boy is it worth it!!!

Please consider what I have said very seriously.  It is much better to be exchanging hugs of joy rather than of condolences.

Please forgive me if this seems a bit harsh but we have experienced both ends of the spectrum and have come to live by the saying "when in doubt, give the shot"!

My son is now 11 years old and when he was sick about 2 years ago he actually asked us to give him the shot because he knew how quickly it makes him feel better.  That night he danced all night at my sister’s wedding. 

We will keep you in our prayers.