H1N1 costly in more ways than one

Last month at Total Health Care Pharmacy in Bolton I picked up two prescriptions for the H1N1 antibiotic - Tamiflu. They charged $114 for my daughter’s medicine and $65 for mine. Unbeknown to me, it was free to the public. Apparently pharmacies can submit the costs directly to the Government of Ontario. If not for a friend's knowledge, I would still be out of pocket $180. Total Health Pharmacy has since refunded my money.
H1N1 flu was costly in more ways than one. Being a highly contagious virus, within two days it passed on to my oldest daughter. I ended up staying at home to care for them both and lost five days pay. My daughter also lost a week's wage as she would have returned to work on the Thursday but they did not want her to return too early and spread it through the office. It seems unknown for certain the length of time the virus remains contagious. 
Make sure you ask your pharmacist to give you the Tamiflu medicine that is covered by the government. There are a couple of ways to prepare it and not all compound versions are covered. Also, the capsules must be prescribed as two a day for five days because one a day for 10 days is considered preventative medicine and not free.
One more bit of advice... the children's suspension medicine has a taste worse than Buckley's so mix it with chocolate milk!