the crud

Jonah is sick...not a big suprise as Dean was sick. But what can you do? When a parent is sick the kid is bound to get sick :( So Monday we went to the clinic and it was all in his upper airways. Tuesday, he was looking worse to me so I called to see if we could give him a little Tylenol. They wanted us to hold off so it wouldn't "mask" an increased temp. In the afternoon he started to sound more crackly and way more nasal congestion and retractions everywhere. I was starting to get kind of concerned because I have seen too many kids this age get REALLY sick so fast. So I brought him back to his doctor and he got an xray. The xray showed an "patchy" area in his right lung that could be a pneumonia, so they started him on antibiotics. I went home feeling better, but Jonah still looked kind of tough. That night he started wheezing. By then I had Dean run to the hospital to get my stethscope. I was worried we were going to end up in the ER that night, but we made it through without needing to. But the next morning he was still wheezing and just really sleepy. Not himself. He was still eating, but only about 1/2 of the usual amount. He also still did not have a temp. but my mommy instincts (and RT instincts) told me to take him back again. So we went to the clinic for the 3rd day in a row. This time his sats were 89-90% and he was working harder to breathe. The doctor said we should try a breathing treatment and if it didn't help we would admit him to the hospital. After the treatment his sats were actually lower 85%. So that was it, we drove straight to the hospital, and got him into the room.

Basically they admited him so they could monitor him, and put him on oxygen. He has been weaned down to just a "sniff" of oxygen, they tried it off but, he still needed it for now. They have been suctioning his nose out, and that seems to be helping too. One of my fellow respiratory therapists made the point that being as he refluxes after each feeding and spits up some after each feeding, that he could have some element of aspiration. The doctor said that it very well could be that too, so they started him on some prilosec too.

Other than that, I have not much else to report...just hoping to get home soon to return to normal. But I don't want him to come home before he is totally ready.