Mission Trips and Swine Flu

What, you ask, does one have to do with the other? Everything! You go off on a mission trip, you bring home swine flu! Not me, luckily. But Kat and Banana and several of their closest friends!

Last week was our middle school mission trip. This is "my" trip, in that it is the summer event that I am solely responsible for. I get help, as needed, but I am in charge of planning and implementing it. It is my favorite trip of the year. I am usually more geared to older kids, but there is something about this week with the middle school kids that is special. You get a glimpse of what is to come. And this year was particularly special for a couple of reasons. First, this trip involved the group of friends that my girls have grown up with. I have known most of those kids since they were in preschool or before! Kat's very best friend, JMatt was on this trip. All of her girlfriends were on this trip.

The other reason it was special is related...for four years my girls have traveled with me on student ministry trips. They have been the "little kids", the "tag-alongs". They have hung in there and enjoyed themselves as much as possible. They have made older friends and lifelong memories, but they have always been on the outside. Last year was a little different for Kat, it was her 7th grade year and her age group went, but not her close friends. Her closest friends are all a year behind her in school (another story). So this year it was HER year! Banana was with us, and I am blessed to be able to say that Banana and Kat share a friend group. Now Banana's two "BFFs" weren't there, but she enjoyed the group of girls just fine. It was so special for me to see my girls fully enjoy this experience.

It was a good week. Relatively little drama. Most of the kids were very well behaved. We worked hard in the hot sun. We had the usual church van problems, including a broken van window caused by a the meeting of a rock and a weed-eater. We played hard, slept little, and ate good food (yes, good food on a mission trip). I witnessed some wonderful emotional and spiritual growth of two girls I have been praying for all year! I saw some incredible potential in some young men. I spent some special time with my high school helpers, some of whom will be leaving for college in a couple of months. It was a good week.

But all good things end....and ours ended with a bang. On Thursday, kids started "dropping like flies". First one with a sore throat and a fever...home she went. Later another (Banana, actually) feeling sick and tired and puny. And another, and another... Unbeknownst to me, two more girls arived home that night with fever. Around 4 am, Banana woke me up with a terrible cough and a temp of 102. By the time I got up the next morning I had a message to call CB (boss, aka student pastor). One of the girls had tested positive for Influenza A-possible swine flu. I needed to call parents. Ooops...let me call the doctor first! We were in his office by 2:30. Anna was positive for influenza A. Kat was positive (let me mention that Kat NEVER felt bad). I was negative. Another girl was postive too. There were a few others who felt sick but tested negative (false negative, I wonder?).

Let me insert here the girls' sleeping arangements. There were 4 positive flus, and 3 others who didn't feel well. That is 7 girls. These 7 girls slept in a little "cubby", an area of the dorm, with 3 bunk beds. How did 7 girls sleep in 3 bunk beds? Why, they pushed them together of course! 4 slept on top, 3 slept on bottom! Yes, if you ever wonder what is the best way to spread germs and cause a flu epidemic, it is by putting a bunch of girls in one bed!

In the end, we learned that the whole swine flu hoopla has been tremendously overblown! At least in our area, swine flu symptoms resemble a bad cold. The symptoms lasted no more than about 3 days. Like I said, Kat never even had symptoms. Banana was puny and feverish no more than 18 hours. Our doctor, as well as a couple of other health professionals told us that is what they have been seeing. I do know that there have been more serious cases, but compared to "regular" flu, this was nothing. We did observe the standard 5 day isolation aka go crazy in your house for 5 days. All four of us took Relenza. Everyone seems to be well now. It will give us something to talk about for years to come!

A mission trip to remember.