Sick, Sick, and More Sick

Where do I begin???  My poor kids can't catch a break when it comes to getting sick.  Just as we get over strep throat we are sick all over again.  This is going to be a long one I'm just warning you. 

March 5, 2011
It all started last Saturday when Lincoln started to get a little cough.  My first thought when I hear a cough is strep throat because that seems to be how it starts with my boys.  We went to basketball with Timothy and Lincoln was happy as can be...running around and interrupting the tumbling class as usual.  He fell asleep in the car on the way home.  I tried to get him out without waking him but he woke up and started coughing again as I was bringing him inside.  He was coughing really hard and he actual puked!!  He puked all over his bedroom floor, all over this coat, his shoes, his hat, and my UGGS!  I thought he puked only because he was coughing so hard.  I layed him down for nap and he went right to sleep.  We had a birthday party to go to that afternoon so I woke him up to see how he was doing.  As soon as I woke him up he started coughing again and puking.  At this point I knew it was more than just puke from coughing.....it was the stomach flu!  Lincoln stayed home with Ryan and Timothy and I went to the birthday party.  When we got home Ryan said Lincoln had puked 4 times since we left.  He continued puking all afternoon and into the evening.  He had puked so much that it turned to the dry heaves.  At dinner that night Timothy refused to eat anything and was complaining of his tummy hurting!  Normally I would push him to eat his dinner but I had a feeling he was going to start puking soon so I let him go without dinner.  Lincoln threw up one last time about 8 pm but was still coughing a little and very uncomfortable all night.  About 9 pm Timothy started.  I heard a little cough and then the puke.  Timothy continued to puke all night long until about 7 am Sunday morning.  I'm sure it was a sight to see that night.  My boys and I camped out on blankets and towels on the living room floor all night.  Let me tell you it's hard enough taking care of one sick baby but when they are both sick it's really really hard.  Ryan was at work that night so it was up to Mommy to care for the sick babies!!!

Sunday March 6, 2011
Sunday was pretty much a day of disinfecting and washing everything we had.  Most of our blankets and towels had puke on them so our new washing machine was definitely put to the test.  For the most part the boys were doing o.k.  A little bit of diarea but no more puking.  They still had no appetite but they sure were taking down the fluids.  Lincoln still had a little bit of a cough but it wasn't anything that I was that concerned about.  One of the little ones that comes here had a cough and a running nose the week prior so I just thought he caught her cold.......now I'm thinking she had more than just a cold.

Monday March 7, 2011
Timothy woke up happy as can be and his appetite was back.  I choose to still keep him home from preschool that day because he did have a little bit of diarea still.  Lincoln woke up coughing still and had no appetite at breakfast.  For those of you who know Lincoln he is an eater.  He is not one to miss a meal so when he does it is very unusual.  I decided I'd make him a doctors appointment just to make sure he didn't have strep throat again.  Our doctor the great Dr. Moustafa is now off on Monday's.  I didn't want to wait until Tuesday so I decided just to make an appointment with one of the other doctors in his office.  We went in for an appointment @ 12:30 and Lincoln had a low grade fever around 99.5 and his strep test came back negative.  Sometimes Lincoln will test negative at the office but when the test gets sent away for a coulter it comes back positive.  They did another test and sent it way and said we'd know in 24-48 hrs if it came back positive.  The doctor spent all of about 5 min with Lincoln and said he probably just has some sort of virus and sent us home.  By 2:00 p.m. Lincoln was definitely not himself.  He layed on the couch and didn't move for several hours.  I never took his temp but could tell his fever was rising and he was also struggling to breath.  I called the doctors office back and spoke the the MA that we normally see.  I told her we were there once but I know something is not right with Lincoln.  She said she would call Moustafa at home and have him call me.  He called me back about  6 pm and I explained to him everything that was going on.  He said you need to get him back to the office immediately and more than likely he will need to be admitted.  Lincoln has a history of respiratory illnesses so when he gets sick he gets really sick.  I took him back and we saw on of the nurse practitioners (who was fabulous by the way).  She said that Lincoln was wheezing when breathing and he was also retracting.  She tested him for both RSV and the respiratory flu.  The test came back positive for RSV and positive for Type A Influenza.  As soon as she said that I knew we were headed to the hospital......and that we did.

He got admitted to the hospital about 7 pm.....meanwhile Ryan had to go to work.  He tried to call off but the supervisor that was there said he needed to come in.  My sister Kim went to the house and stayed with Timothy and my parents came to the hospital to help me.  When we got there I was told that Lincoln would be in isolation.  Both the RSV and the flu are very contagious so anyone entering the room would be wearing a mask, a robe, and gloves.  I completely understand the reasoning behind this but it does make you feel as if he had some sort of nasty disease.  I of course had already been exposed so a mask was not necessary for me.  It took them a little while to get the IV in because Lincoln was very dehydrated and he has deep floating veins.  My dad stayed in the room with him while they put the IV in because I just couldn't handle it and Lincoln screamed worse when I was in the room.  Throughout the night Lincoln received breathing treatments every two hours so needless to say we didn't get any sleep.  He also spiked a very high fever about 4am of 103.9!!!  Anytime someone would walk in the room Lincoln would freak out....he was so scared of getting poked with another needle.  Oh and by the way Ryan got all the way to work and his supervisor told him to go home and to take the next 3 days off.  So he came up to the hospital and spent a few hours with us and then went home to Timothy.

Tuesday March 8, 2011
Tuesday morning Lincoln was still not doing well.  Dr. Moustafa came up and said he would need to stay one more night but he thought with the breathing treatments every two hours that he would be able to go home on Wednesday.  He also stared him on an oral steroid to open up his airways and tamaflu to help with the flu symptoms.  All day Tuesday Lincoln was still not himself.  He slept on and off all day long and his color would go from as red as a tomato to as white as a ghost.  Also on Tuesday my sister took Ellie to the doctor who had been coughing since Thursday and Sabrina took Gavin who had started coughing on Saturday.  The both had RSV as well but were negative for the flu.  Neither one of them have any respiratory issues so their breathing was not affected the way that Lincolns was.  They were both ok to be at home and just let the virus run it's course.  Most of the time when kids have RSV hospitalization is not needed and it just runs it's course as a really bad cold......however it is VERY VERY contagious.  By Tuesday night Lincoln had started to purke up a little but was still not eating or drinking anything.  I wasn't very worried about him not eating but the no drinking thing was freaking me out!!!!  I knew we would not be able to go home until he started drinking some fluids. 

Wednesday March 9, 2011 
About 4 am Wednesday morning Lincoln finally started drinking!!!!  He drank a whole glass of milk!!!  He was also starting to breath a little easier.  He was still wheezing a little but his tummy was not retracting in when he breathed.  Dr. Moustafa came up that morning and said that he was doing much better and that we could go home.  He told me that he knew I was capable of taking care of him at home and trusted that I would do what needed to be done.  If he didn't think I could handle it he would have had us there another night.  We were to continue with an oral steroid for three more days and finish up the tamaflu which we had four more days of.  We have to continue to give Lincoln breathing treatments every fours hours for 5 more days.  Lincoln was so happy to get home and his big brother Timmy was happy to see him.  Mommy was also very happy to see Timothy because I hadn't seen him in a few days!!!!  I missed my big little man.

Lincoln is doing much better now.  He still has a little cough but nothing like he had and his breathing is improving everyday.  We are finished with all of the oral meds now but are continuing the breathing treatments.  Yesterday he finally started to get his appetite back.  This was the first time he had eaten anything since the Friday prior!  One whole week with no food!!!  Poor little guy lost his beer gut!!!!

This really truly was a tough week for all of us.  It's so hard to see your child in so much distress and not be able to do anything about it.  I kept telling Lincoln that if I could trade places with him I would.  I hated to see him like that!!  It just broke my heart.  I've defiantly learned something from this whole experience.  I need to have a much stricter SICK policy for the kids that come to my daycare.  I can't be positive that it came from one of the daycare kids but because of the symptoms the others had it's a good possibility.  This was my first experience with RSV so I had no idea what it even was.  It seems like it's just a bad cold when really it is something else that spreads like wild fire!!!!!!!!!!!!!  I must also mention that I am so grateful for our amazing doctor who took time to call us on his day off with his family.  If he wouldn't have called I'm sure we would have ended up in the ER that night which would have made for a more traumatic situation for Lincoln.  Also we wouldn't have made it through those couple of days without the help of my family and friends!!!!