RSV
Posted on February 3, 2006
Filed Under Uncategorized
Most everything in life now has an acronym. For example, I drive an SUV on PCH to get to FCCHB every day where I work. Well I learned a new acronym this week and one that I would have been fine not getting to know… RSV is a highly contagious virus that nearly 1 in 3 children in the general population and nearly 100% in childcare situations will contract. Here are some fun facts about it… it is contagious before any symptoms are exhibited, so there is literally nothing you can do to prevent your child from getting it… it can be serious enough to hospitalize a child if not treated properly… and once a child has had it they are more prone to future respiratory problems later in life.
Why do I know all of this, you may be asking… well the answer is simple. Sally has this condition. She has had a persistent cold for the last few weeks and then developed a fever that would not go away, so we took her to the dr. Our regular dr. was not available, so we saw the “sub,” He was great! He was determined to get to the bottom of what was going on. He ordered blood tests (don’t even ask about getting blood from a baby… not a fun thing!) and an X-ray. He decided that she needed some aggressive treatment and so he ordered an injected antibiotic and that is followed up with a 10 day treatment with the strongest antibiotic she has taken yet. The goal is to eliminate the ear infections and get her healthy once and for all. We are also treating her with an inhaled form of Albuterol to help open her lungs and get the excess fluid out. In the moments when a parent is feeling scared and helpless, it is nice to know that the Dr. is doing the best he can to help you out. He answered all our questions and was very patient with us. He even found a way to joke about Anaphylactic Shock (a possible side effect of the injection she received).
I has been 24 hours since the shot and Sally is already well on the road to recovery from my point of view. We go back to the Dr. on Friday for a follow-up to see how she is progressing. I am hoping and praying that we get a positive report… I am sure we will! I am just chalking this whole experience up to one more thing that you are not told in the parenting book of experiences you will likely have. Hopefully it will be awhile before more blood has to be drawn… that was harder for me than it was for Sally… she is one tough cookie! To end this post I would like to leave you with a picture of Sally… I have joked since the day she was born I wanted to get her some sweats with the word Juicy on the butt and to my surprise, Christie found something like it… here you go!
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no pic.
no pic.