I can hear Vox stroking his half inch ***** all the way over here on the East
Coast. He just loves when those who protect his freedoms suffer.
"=> Vox Populi ©" <vox@popu.li> wrote in message
news:uJ7Bb.299$1i.83338@news.uswest.net...
Father on duty in Iraq when child died of flu
By Julie Poppen, Rocky Mountain News
December 8, 2003
The father of a boy who died of the flu last week was serving his country
in
Iraq when he learned of the toddler's death.
Alvin Beaumont, 26, who serves in the Army's 1st Armored Division, was
expected
to arrive in Colorado Springs late Sunday night to be with his wife,
Lindsey
Beaumont.
His son, 14-month-old Jeremy, developed a slight cough on Nov. 29.
Four days later he was dead.
The child's 18-year-old mother, who is visiting her parents in Colorado
Springs,
said Sunday she will be happy to have her husband home, but is angry that
it
took the Army so long to get him back.
"I think five days is way too long," Beaumont said.
She also is angry that she didn't seek more information at a local
hospital,
where she took the normally healthy boy for treatment, before taking him
home.
Lindsey Beaumont and her son moved to an Army base in Germany when Jeremy
was 5
½-months-old. Six weeks later, Alvin Beaumont shipped out to Iraq.
Lindsey and Jeremy arrived in Colorado Springs on Nov. 3 to visit
Lindsey's
parents over the holidays. A few weeks into their stay, the whole family
became
ill with bronchitis and the flu.
Jeremy had not received the flu vaccine.
His temperature quickly soared to 104 degrees, prompting a trip to Penrose
Community Hospital's emergency room on Nov. 29. Jeremy and his 8-year-old
aunt
were admitted.
Medication reduced Jeremy's fever to 100 degrees, and the family went home
at
4:30 a.m.
Now, Beaumont wishes she had stayed at the hospital and asked about
medications,
the duration and symptoms of the flu, and the potential for death.
All she took home was a dosing chart for Tylenol and Motrin, and a
container of
Tamiflu, an anti-viral medication that reduces symptoms.
Beaumont urges parents to take precautions, such as enforcing
hand-washing, and
to ask for a flu test if flu is suspected.
Still, she knows the outcome may have been the same no matter what was
done. On
Dec. 2, in fact, Jeremy seemed better.
"He did not have a fever Tuesday," Beaumont said.
She said she put her son to bed at 8:30 p.m. "I came down at 11 a.m. to
wake him
and he didn't wake up," she said.
Doctors were unable to determine exactly when Jeremy died
.
