Our Little RSV Patient

Katelynn and Junior still did not seem to be feeling so great on Monday, but both just had a cough, so off to daycare they went and I went to work for a couple of hours (I have no paid leave left, so I had to get in some hours to cover our medical insurance) and called and made them both doctor's appointments for later that morning. I picked both kids up and turned around and drove back to Loveland and dished out another co-pay for each kiddo. Katelynn had the lasting affects still of that damn cold and had such a horrible dry cough that she just wasn't getting any sleep, which in turn meant, none of us were either. The doctor gave her some cough medicine for us to take home for her, but even as tricky as we tried to be in disguising it in a chocolate milkshake, some 7-up, anything she was smarter than us and the two times she did take some she threw up about 5 minutes later, so she was on her own to get over it. The doctor checked out Junior and he was even coughing in the room when she was in there and she said that he only had an ear infection and that the cold hadn't gone into his chest yet, so no RSV. That night I don't know that he was much better and I slept in the bedroom with him that night listening to him cough and choke and wheeze, the poor little guy, but the next morning even though I didn't think that I should send him to daycare off both kids went. I called and checked on him around 10am and the daycare said he was doing really good, well about an hour later she called and said that she thought he was really having a hard time breathing and his little chest was really going in and out, so I called to see when a doctor could call me back and they couldn't tell me when so I made an appointment for him and called Dan and said he needed to meet me in Loveland for this appointment (I was already expecting the worse I guess at this point). I picked up my little guy and when we got to the appointment (of course with another co-pay) they hooked him up to this little machine to see how much oxygen he was getting and then they determined that he was not getting enough and the cold had gone into his chest and they immediately sent us over to the ER across the street. Off we went and he they did some more tests at the ER and suctioned out his nose with a machine and immediately hooked him up to oxygen. They then gave him a nebulizer treatment and people were coming and going in and out of our room. Next they did a series of chest x-rays and then the doctor came to check him out. He determined that he also wanted an IV on him since he hadn't been eating much the night before and that day. The nurses were really great at the ER and they told us that with a little baby an IV can be really hard to get in, especially if they were dehydrated so if we wanted to we could wait outside. I decided at that point that it was a good time for me to use the restroom while they did this. When I came back the IV was in and they got it on the first shot. Next some other nurses came in to do a blood draw on him for some more testing, he took it like a champ. By this time he was probably already starting to feel quite a bit better and was deciding to get hungry, well, the wonderful parents that we are, we didn't have anything with us. Dan had accidentally forgotten the diaper bag on the table and I had just grabbed him from daycare and went to Loveland. We did get him some pedialite from the hospital and that sufficed him for the time being. Dan eventually had to go and pick up Katelynn from daycare and was able to swing by the house and pick up bottles and formula and some clothes for me in case we ended up spending the night. While Dan was gone the doctor came and told me the chest x-rays looked good and although he did have RSV we could take him home on oxygen if we wanted too. I told him that I wanted to talk to my husband about it when he got back. I think I pretty much had already decided that I wanted some eyes and ears on him for the night and wanted him admitted. Dan returned with our stuff and the nurses were so good with Katelynn. They brought her a stuffed bear, some crackers and string cheese and some juice. Dan and I talked and the doctor came back in and we talked with him and determined that we would be admitted, this ended up being the best option he thought as well since we lived 30 minutes from the hospital. We had one little episode that really scared me while we were in the ER. Dan had gone out to the car to get my suitcase and left Katelynn with me in the room. She decided at that time exactly that she had to go to the bathroom. Well, I was sitting in a rocking chair with Junior and he was hooked up to everything hear and there and there was no crib to put him in where I could take her. She opened the door and took off on me and ran down the hall. I freaked out and yelled at the front desk guy telling him that my daughter took off and I couldn't leave my son laying on the bed in the room. One of the administrative people did catch her and he reassured me that she wasn't going anywhere and they took her to the restroom and back to our room just as Dan was coming back in. This was probably one of the scariest incidents with Katelynn that I've had, I was stuck between chasing her and staying with him. Katelynn was getting pretty antsy in the room at this point and I told Dan to go ahead and take her home and we would be fine. I ordered some supper and around 7pm that night we finally made it to our room. Our nurse that night was wonderful and so nice, she went through everything with me and they came in all night and checked on him. In the morning Junior was doing much better and they were able to turn his oxygen down throughout the night to almost nothing. The pediatrician came in and checked on him the next morning and we tried to take him off the oxygen, but he still needed just that little bit. We hung out for a little bit, had some breakfast and waited to get discharged. They brought up an oxygen tank for me to take him home with and then later that day brought over a machine to hook up in the house for him. He was doing much better at home and me and him slept in the living room for 2 nights. He is quite the little trouper. He never grabbed at the thing in his nose or made a fuss about any of it. Friday morning we went back to the doctor to see if could come off the oxygen (another co-pay) and he passed with flying colors. We had to do a lot of suctioning out of his nose, but he was doing a lot better and not coughing and choking as much. Over this last weekend he made great strides of improvement and by Sunday night he was doing really well. Today is Monday again and even his nose has cleared up and he is our happy little camper once again. This was quite the experience for our family, especially me and Dan since Katelynn was never sick once her first year with us. I am glad it's over.