This story includes simple, practical ways for people to know when to call the doctor and when they don’t need to—understanding that there are those I’m-not-sure moments.

In all of the coverage about comments from experts at federal or international agencies, statements about “calling your doctor” are not specific enough for you or me to know when to do that should the pandemic arrive in our homes.

The link to The Washington Post article below should clear up many questions—but not all.

For example, one sign to call for emergency help is that the patient cannot keep down fluids. For how long? There are 24-hour bugs that affect patients that way. The point is that only the patient’s doctor knows if this sounds typical or whether that suggests more serious difficulty. Nothing can substitute for the doctor’s knowledge of the patient’s history or, if you are an in ER, their experience with patients who are in danger versus those who are not.

TPR Tips: Although the Post story does not include tips about what you need in the house, a number of experts have said that people would need the same kind of disaster supplies they would need in a natural or man-made disaster. Water. Power bars . Canned food.

Simple. Were there quarantines which interrupted delivery of food supplies to groceries, or you could not leave to go to the store, such back-up supplies would have their uses.

There is a big difference, though, in huddling in the dark waiting for the power to be restored to your region and piling on the covers in bed because you have a bad chill due to influenza.

Canned tuna is not the best answer for patients who likely have respiratory complaints.

Although weight management is a priority, patients who lose too much weight too fast need to be watched closely. The doctor needs to know that. Rapid weight loss is a risk for the very young and the elderly so keep an eye on that. They may need fluids intravenously. Your doctor will know. But you need to know to report rapid weight loss, an unusually gaunt appearance.

Understanding that the general prediction is that this is going to be a milder pandemic—no huge quarantines are anticipated—you still will need to isolate the patient from well people without making the patient feel any worse. In other words, the quarantine inside your house may be rigorous.

With that in mind, what do you need for personal pandemic management? Here are a few suggestions based on personal experience with family and friends and ideas others have shared.

Food

You want to stock up but remember that many drugs should not be combined with specific foods. Always check on that first before planning how to feed a sick person.

If the patients are very ill, you need to pack as much nutrition in as little food as possible—-and that takes you to soup. It goes down easily. It is warm.  There are many varieties.

If you are a soup-maker, stock your freezer with single serving sizes of soups which would be right for people with influenza. If not, check to find brands with the highest nutritional value per serving that you can. Soup is the influenza patient’s main food source for days.

This is a time to keep calories up, not down, because they won’t feel hungry.  Chicken-noodle is the ultimate sick soup but there are others which combine a protein and a carbohydrate.

Frozen yogurt goes down easily.

Jello does too. Jello is a staple of hospital food trays for that reason. Load it up with canned fruit as the box says. Although everyone tells you not to put bananas in Jello, if it is going to be eaten the same day, they do not go bad. Bananas are a good addition to a sick person’s diet, assuming those aren’t restricted for other reasons. My grandmother used to make a special version of Jello when anyone was sick. Lots of fruit, nuts (again only if patient can eat pecans or walnuts), extra cherries. She made gelatin bowls look like dessert, while still being digestible and good for you. A patient’s tray needs color.

Tea and carbonated beverages (especially if the patient has the GI problems some have had with H1N1).

Toast. In the freezer, you also want the best quality bread, in terms of nutritional value, you can keep because toast, too, appeals.

Pudding/Custard. Few people make pudding and custard any more because it seems daunting. What if it turns into lumps?  Still, pudding is a winner with flu patients. Home-made is, without a doubt, better. There is one commercial brand which is excellent and available, oddly enough, in 7-11s and high-end stores but with a funny name: Kozy Shack.  There are low-fat versions of plain, rice, butterscotch and chocolate as well as the regular kind.

Paper Supplies

No disaster plan reminds you that you may need a summer camp-sized supply of tissues. You want everyone to have a personal box. No sharing of those.

You need extra trash bags so that tissues go straight in to that bag and don’t lie around on the bedside table.

Depending on the risks in your household, your doctor may recommend your using disposable  gloves and masks.

Gel

You want a supply of a gel with enough alcohol content to destroy germs in bottles all over the house. As important as hand-washing is, there is not a sink everywhere you go. Use gel instead.

The higher the ethanol content of the gel, the better. Ask your pharmacist for the gel brand which is the most effective.

OTC cough syrup

Check with your doctor. They are not all the same. Keep one which, in general, your doctor thinks is good for the people in your house. There are differences in ingredients and results by brands. Check. This is especially true for kids or for people with underlying conditions, who may take a lot of other medicines. Just because it is an over-the-counter product does not make it risk-free.

Entertainment

If a patient is very sick, it may be that none is called for. They may sleep or cough. However, you want to have some helpful diversions just in case. Even the biggest readers may not have the strength or attention span for things they would normally read with ease.  Audio books. Movies. Know that what usually appeals may not when the patient is actively sick or on the way to recovering.

Bedding and Sleepwear

The sicker the patient, the more helpful it is to change bedding and sleepwear every day. They are in bed all day and all night.They may be restless. Everything is wrinkled and tangled. If they have fever, the same is true but more so. They need the bed changed.

If you have never had pneumonia or a serious case of influenza, you cannot know the gift that keeping the room fresh and quiet is to the patient.

Hospitals keep rooms clear and change sheets daily. They do it for many reasons—morale is just one of them.

Phones and Computers

The patient should use only one phone which no one who is well uses. The same is true of the computers. Keyboards are germ factories. No sharing.

The Washington Post

“When is swine flu just miserable and when do you need a doctor?”

Source: Washington Post, August 30, 2009

(Ed. Note: If you have tips you can share, please e-mail us.)