Sunday, February 7, 2010

Is it Spring yet?

This has been one tough winter in our house. Poor Christopher has been sick once a month since September. Last Wednesday he was up a bit in the middle of the night coughing and when he woke up he was looking a little 'off'. His temperature was 99.7 and while he could go to daycare, I had a feeling I'd just be picking him up in a couple of hours. So I kept him home and ended up having to drive up and pick up Madeleine from daycare with a 101 fever at lunchtime.

Friday morning I called and got doctor appointments for the both of them. Madeleine has strep throat and would be good as new after a couple of doses of antibiotic. Christopher, on the other hand, tested positive for RSV. RSV is a respiratory virus and while it would be a bad cold to you and I, it poses a risk to those under 1 as they tend to develop pneumonia. I also learned daycare has a 7-day exclusion policy from the date of diagnosis, that is how bad it is for the little ones.

I was given a lesson on using the nebulizer (had to rent one) and we gave him his first treatment in the office. Oh yeah, trying to keep an oxygen mask on an 8 month old. Good times. He was so ticked he pulled on the elastic that you use to tighten the mask and let go - you can imagine how happy that made him and he ended up with a nice red welt on the side of his face.

They checked out his oxygen levels after the treatment and sent us on our way with the instructions to call if he breathing worsened and if we had to use the nebulizer. Knock on wood, we have not had to use it thus far. We have an appointment on Tuesday morning to go back so they can check and see how he is doing. His fever broke this morning, so I am taking that as a good sign.

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