Sunday, February 15, 2009

The Three Dreaded Letters

So on Monday Addison got a fever and started throwing up. We kept her home Tuesday, and Tuesday night, in one of the many times I got up with her she vaguely waved her hand by her ear and said, "My ear." It really wasn't alarming at all, but it was enough for me. The next day I took her to the doctor's.

I always feel guilty going to the doctors when she's just throwing up (but still keeping liquids down) and only has a mild fever. I always want to go, but when we get there, they basically say, "There's nothing we can do, just make sure she keeps having wet diapers, if not, bring her back." But now that there was a chance that she had an ear infection (something I doubted because she never really complained of pain and wasn't really fussy) I had an excuse to go.

When the doctor looked in her ear she literally gasped. She was absolutely shocked that Addison wasn't screaming in pain because her ear infection was so bad! My poor brave little girl.

The doctor also heard wheezing in her chest. RSV has been going around lately, so she checked her for it and she tested positive!!! I couldn't believe it! I thought RSV was just something little babies got! Fortunately, since she's older it wasn't as dangerous. But still, it was scarry!

We did have to get a nebulizer, and gave her albuterol every four hours for three days (including at night). Saturday she hadn't improved at all, and was even sounding worse. I hadn't heard the wheezing before, but I was hearing it from time to time now. The doctor had told us that if this happened to bring her back in to make sure she hadn't developed pneumonia. Fortunately she didn't.

We also mentioned that the nebulizer didn't really seem to be doing anything. The doctor said that a lot of times it won't really do anything unless the person has asthma, so we didn't have to give it to her as frequently any more. We've still been giving it to her right before she goes to bed, but I'm not sure that we even need to do that...it doesn't seem to be making any difference.

Her fever is gone and she hasn't been throwing up, so she seems to be doing better. The worst part of it all was that her cousin McKenna who is a year younger than her was supposed to come up with her parents to stay with us. Since Addison had RSV, she couldn't be around ANY kids younger than her! So we had to call them and tell them to stay somewhere else. I felt so horrible.

While she was sick before we went to the doctor, whenever Addison seemed to be having a hard time, I'd tell her McKenna was coming to visit, and she got so excited. Then she couldn't even come! And, on top of that, Charles & Heather's baby, Andrew, was born on Thursday. So we haven't been able to see him either! Dreaded sickness. Oh well. She will get better and we'll be able to see them soon. But man, what a crazy week!

5 comments:

Christa Jeanne said...

Oh, poor baby!!! I hope she gets better quickly! Apparently RSV is the same virus that causes pneumonia and bronchitis for adults, according to a quick bit of Web research (since I didn't know what RSV was). Those abuterol inhalers are fabulous! It saved the day when I had bronchitis a while ago. Anyways, sorry to hear Addison was so sick, but I'm glad she's on the mend!

Jones said...

poor little girl. I HATE sickness! it's all been going around in our house too. I wonder if the day will ever come where we're ALL healthy at the same time, lol.

feel better Addy!

janae said...

I always thought RSV was a baby thing too, until a few years ago when I was living with my oldest brother. We only had Seara then. My other brother's two girls had RSV and accidentally gave it to all of us - so my oldest brother, sis-in-law, Sam, me, Seara (who was 7 months and just sick like Addison), my 5 & 3 year-old nieces, and my 1 month-old niece all got it. The 1-month old had to be life flighted to primary childrens, which was terrifying. But that is how we found out that all of us had it. Apparently in adults it acts like all other viruses - you just have a cold. Anyway, I'm glad Addison is okay, but sad that she missed her cousin!!

shayla said...

RSV almost took my McKenzie's life at 6 days old--it is a nasty one! It make make kids who get it actually develop asthma...You did McKenna a favor by not letting them stay! I'm glad she's feeling better--that with the ear infection is the worst!!

Anonymous said...

I can't believe how much RSV has been around this year. Pretty much everyone that I know in SF that has a little kid has had it in their family. Reid had it about two weeks ago. The wheezing was the scariest thing ever. We ended up taking him to the ER because I thought he was going to stop breathing. Luckily his case wasn't that bad. We were able to bring him home and just have a humidifier on in his room and make sure to suction him.

I hope Addison gets better soon.