Saturday, January 14, 2012

Cough, Cough, Hack, Hack Goes My 4 Year-old

My 4 year-old is sick.  He started coughing on Wednesday, by Wednesday night I could tell that he wasn't feeling well at all.  He started running a fever and by 1 in the morning I was running the nebulizer giving him a breathing treatment.  He had a fever of almost 101.  So, the meds started coming.  Thankfully, he likes medicine.

I gave him cough medicine and ibuprofen.  This was after the breathing treatment.  We call it the cloud machine, it makes it a little more enjoyable than just sitting still with a piece in your mouth breathing.  This is my child that had RSV at 3 weeks old.  It has been almost exactly 4 years since that incident landed us in the hospital. 

He was initially diagnosed with with RSV on Jan 6, 2008.  He had stopped breathing long enough for the area around his mouth to turn blue.  It wasn't very long, but it was long enough for me to call the ambulance.  We spent several hours in the ER, just to have the doctor tell me had RSV.  He sent me home with my 20 day old baby telling me to make sure that he kept breathing.  Needless to say, I was a wreck.  By the time I got to the doctor a few hours later, I had no sleep in more than 30 hours, been crying a lot, and had the hormones that go along with being postpartum working against me.  His pediatrician immediately arranged for him to be admitted to the hospital, she said we both needed it.  That he needed to be monitored and I needed to be able to sleep, knowing that he would be well taken care of.  I miss his pediatrician... she was wonderful, but we moved 1900 miles west.  He was well taken care of and discharged from the hospital the next day.

Today he is doing much better.  I know when he needs to have his breathing treatments.  I keep them handy.  I give it to him on an as needed basis.  I give it to him when he starts developing a cough.  I am still giving him allergy medicine (instead of cough medicine) and ibuprofen.  His nose is running like crazy, but the medicine seems to help.  He is still his cheerful self even when he is sick.  He just gets agitated a lot easier.

I am thankful for healthy children.  It is sad to me when they get sick.  I worry about them a lot when they get sick.  Thank goodness for cans of soup!  They love to have soup and it gives them fluid as well as nutrition.

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