Sunday, December 19, 2010

Our RSV ordeal

It has been a crazy month or so in our house. My parents came home from Malaysia for a month so we were spending as much time with them as possible. This meant a lot of time away from home for us--including a trip down to Florida to see my brother and his family. The day we got home from Mom and Dad's house for the last visit before they left, Gehrig had a fever and was coughing and sneezing. It lasted for a few days with him just being irritable, feverish, and listless. Then he got better. Logan didn't show any sign of getting sick so I thought we'd gotten off easy. Hah! Was I wrong!
On this past Sunday or Monday (crazy week, I can't remember exactly when it started), Logan started coughing a little more than his normal allergy cough. He started waking himself up at night, coughing and coughing. He even started choking a few times. He had no fever or any other sign of being sick so I figured it was just allergies. We were starting Zyrtec so I thought maybe it would kick in soon.
On Tuesday night he started wheezing and acting like he was having trouble breathing. Wednesday morning I called the nurse at our pediatrician's office, and she said I should bring him in to see the doctor. The doctor listened to his lungs and knew right away that he had developed bronchiolitis, probably from RSV. She said we could go ahead and admit him to the hospital, but she trusted me if I wanted to take him home. She gave me instructions on when to take him to the ER if need be and made a follow-up appointment for Friday.
He seemed to stay the same, and even get a little better on Thursday, but by Thursday evening he was wheezing pretty badly again. On Friday morning, the doctor didn't like the sound of his lungs at all. We tried a nebulizer treatment since she said he was actually starting to sound a little asthmatic. It didn't really help, and when she checked his oxygen level and it was only around 92, she told me we needed to go ahead and put him in the hospital. She was mostly worried about his levels dropping during the night, and she wanted him to be at the hospital should he need to be put on oxygen.
I ran home to pick up Mike and Gehrig, and we all drove downtown to Levine Children's Hospital. The doctor there checked Logan (she LOVED him and threatened to take him home with her), and discovered he not only had the bronchiolitis, he also had a double ear infection. She said they would just hook him up to the monitors and keep an eye on him.
His oxygen level stayed at about 94-96 (dipping to 91-92 while he slept) the whole time we were there. *sigh* He would have been fine at home. And I got to spend the whole afternoon, night, and morning untangling him from wires. I was also not impressed with Levine. Twice the nurses tried to give him too much medicine and I had to stop them, and their food is horrible. The nurses were very nice, and they all loved Logan and took good care of him.
He also had to wear disposable diapers while we were there since they had to weigh his diapers to make sure he was staying hydrated (with the ear infections, he wasn't wanting to nurse very much). They made me realize how much I love cloth! They stink for one thing--Pampers especially. *yuck* I can't stand the smell of sposies--I kept checking to see if Logan had a dirty diaper 'cause they smelled so bad. And they rubbed against his chunky thighs and gave him a rash. We were very happy to get back to our cloth diapers!
So, anyway, the doctor said Logan was okay to go home Saturday morning. We're just keeping a close eye on him to make sure he's breathing okay. He seems to be doing well, but he's been very cranky. I'm assuming it's because his ears hurt. :(
Now we're home trying to get ready for Christmas. And hoping the hospital bill isn't too huge!
Thanks to everyone who prayed for Logan! We appreciate everyone who loves him and us!

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