Dason, EFY, & Swine Flu - Road Trip Oh Nine

Preface: I was going to drive Dason out to EFY, since I was going to Utah anyway. He didn't want to be in the car for four days, so we made a deal to split the plane ticket with him. He lucked out and at the last minute we got him into a BYU EFY session and found an inexpensive flight. He spent the night in SLC with Nana. Per his request, she took him to get a haircut. On Sunday she took him to The Spoken Word as well as to a concert in the tabernacle. She said he loved the music and that he was a gentleman opening doors for all the elderly people. She was so impressed with him. He spent the rest of the night with Gary and Jen who said the same thing. Jen was a sweetheart and checked Dason into his EFY session.

Let's see, where did I leave off? Oh yeah, we just arrived in Utah. Gary and I stayed up talking until about 5am. I couldn't sleep and drifted off around 5:30am, only to wake up at 6:10am because I was worried about sleeping through picking up Dason from EFY at 7am.

I decided to leave early and as I was on my way, he texted me "good morning." He proceeds to tell me he and some girls wanted to spend a little extra time saying goodbye at breakfast. I said, "sure" and headed to the grocery store to pick up a few of the kids favorite foods.

Dason leaving EFY


Isn't he handsome with his new haircut.

Telling Rick about his EFY experiences on the phone.

Definitely worth listening to. :D

To make it fun, he's not feeling well and has a fever.

The EFY health counselors had given him Advil and told him he was fine, making him skip Friday night's dance. Since we are on air mattresses and have a house full of people at Gary's, Dason asked if it'd be okay if he went early to his Dad's, so he could be in his own bed to rest. I told him I completely understood and that at any point I would pick him up and take care of him at Gary's.

On the way, we're driving by Candace and Andrew's house when Dason demands I pull over so we can say hi. Thinking he just has a bad cold, we stop and chat for a little while. He was careful not to touch anything, cough, etc.. while there. (This is the first time I've met Andrew and I must say that I see why Dason likes him so much). Afterwards, we say hi to Jill really quickly because I know we've kept his Utah family waiting.

Dason calls a few hours later saying he slept for a few hours and feels a lot better. Jen and I go pick him up during a thunderstorm and bring him back to the house to celebrate Orem's Summerfest with us.

On our way back to Spanish Fork that night, I ask him about his doctors appointment. He'd mentioned it and I hadn't noticed what he was trying to tell us. (Remember I've had 40 minutes of sleep in 48 hours after four days of driving). He informs us that he tested positive for the flu. WHAT? AHHHHH!!! Now I feel ABSOLUTELY ROTTEN!!! We've exposed Candace, Andrew, Jill, Megan, his Dad, my mom, brothers, nieces, nephews, not to mention all of Jen's friends who were at the house Saturday.

After everyone left that night I googled EFY & swine flu only to find out that the session before him had a horrible outbreak. Counselors were sent home and almost every participant came down with it.

Reading on, it was reported that in Utah 99% of type A flu positives were coming back as the swine flu. Oh my goodness! He should've been at the doctor Thursday night when he had the first symptom! They knew it was in the session before him PLUS it was marked in his EFY file that he has asthma, PLUS you have to take Tamiflu in the first 48 hours to be effective!!!

I can't even tell you how freaked out I was! I couldn't sleep because I was worried sick about him and who he's possibly infected! I texted, emailed, and called him to find out how he was. Four days later I finally got a text saying that he was "finally feeling better." We were lucky and none of us got it. I hope his Spanish Fork family can say the same.