Ear infections, pneumonia, and RSV, OH MY!!!

Who am I talking about? My youngest! Last week he started with a little cough. He was on the bed Thursday night rooting around and fussing. When I turned him over he was blue around the lips and hands. Fortunately just the position change began to bring back the pink in just a few seconds, which seemed like hours by the way. He had a low grade fever but did fine the rest of the night. I took him to work with me the next day to keep an eye on him. He coughed a lot and just acted like he felt bad. So we started with an inhaler. Saturday was okay but coughing and coughing. Then Sunday we were using the inhaler every 6 hours and still wheezing and coughing. And he had an ear infection to top it off. At midnight he had a fever and we gave Tyleno and the inhaler. After basically sitting with a stethescope to him for two hours, I finally decided to go to the ER. Of course, the trip perked him up! I think the moving around made a difference. The doc said,"He doesn't sound that bad!" I said, "No, he looks better right now. If he looked this good at home I would still be in bed!" I told him he sounded really awful at home using my medical lingo so he would know I knew something about breathsounds! Then I said you know since we are here can we go ahead and get xrays? He agreed and came back and said he had pneumonia. He gave us oral antibiotics! I was not happy. He was sending us home without an updraft. My 4 month old has pneumonia and he was not giving him an antibiotic shot! I could have done everything they did except for the xrays in the morning for free! I take better care of my patients!!! Anyway, I left not wanting to raise a stink and the baby was doing better.



So, the next morning (just about 4 hours later) I take him to work and we did RSV testing which came back positive. Now he gets the shot and updraft we are so desperately needing. One of the nurses was so sweet and said I should have called her at 2 in the morning and she would have met me at the office for the test and updraft (I can never remember the code to get in!). So now we go to lunch and around 1 I go to change his diaper. It is dry! I think the girls must have changed him before I left. So upon returning to the office I asked and they said they checked him and he was dry. He has now gone 8 hours at least without wetting a diaper. So we start really pushing the fluids. I thought for sure we were going to end up in the hospital on Monday. But he takes the fluids well and over the next 8 hours the dehydration is resolved for the moment.



Today, I basically have just sat and watched him breath, counting his breaths and heartrate. He has had ups and downs but this afternoon he began smiling a little. He has just laid and looked at us for the past few days. Some times he would even arch his back and neck a little. But he now is laying normal agian. And the part that makes me feel the best - they gave me the pulse ox machine to bring home tonight. So now every so often I check his oxygen! I know where we stand and that helps me so much! I am able to treat him like we would in the hospital except for IVs and oxygen. But I have a better handle on when he might need the next step.



So, I am praying that tomorrow is even better than today. When Hogan had this he was a little smaller (1 month) and he rocked along for 3 or 4 days then went down hill and we ended up in the hospital for almost a week. Please keep Josiah in your prayers for the next couple of days. And pray that mommy and daddy have the ability to foresee his needs and respond. I am most worried about when I doze off. I was so tired for Sunday night that Steve took watch last night. I was able to get a few hours of sleep. But now we are both tired. I need to get up and give updraft treatments and just check on him.