March Madness

It has been a rough couple of weeks for the Okrzesiks.  Big, mean germs have been circulating through our family.  It started with Colin being the sickest we have ever seen him and being diagnosed with walking pneumonia on Tuesday, 3/4.  He had started feeling poorly that previous Friday.  He vomited randomly and had the highest fever we've ever seen him have (up to 103.4).  He had watery eyes and complained of a sore throat.  He took naps and fell asleep while playing (naps are pretty unheard of for Colin) and cried because he felt so bad.  It was awful.  Once we got him on antibiotics, he responded quickly and started feeling a lot better and just had a lingering bad cough.  He missed a week of school where two other kids in his class have also recently been diagnosed with walking pneumonia.

We started watching the girls closely though for any signs of pneumonia.  They had runny noses already (not uncommon at our house) but then started developing a worse cough and started acting more cranky than normal.  On Friday morning Julia had a fever.  Her fever continued to Saturday and we were treating it with Tylenol.  On Saturday around dinner time I noticed that her breathing did seem a little bit labored.  She made an audible sound when she was breathing and her chest seemed to be heaving slightly.  Then we took her temp and it was 103.7.  So we decided to go to urgent care and after some debate decided to take Caroline too who was obviously ill but much better off than her sister.  I wanted both of them to go ahead and get started on antibiotics if they needed them and not wait until Monday.

The urgent care is a branch of Nationwide Children's Hospital in Columbus so its only for kids and it is attached to Dublin Hospital so it is very close.  They measured the amount of oxygen in both of the girls' blood with a monitor and Julia's was low.  Caroline's was fine but they immediately diagnosed her with an ear infection and prescribed amoxicillin.  They measured Julia's oxygen 3 more times because they thought they must be getting a false reading for some reason.  I guess she wasn't acting in congruence with such a low reading? But each time it was the same...low.  Caroline was free to go but Julia needed a chest x-ray.  So Keith took Colin and Caroline home (we took 2 cars in case something like that happened) and I stayed with Julia. They did the x-ray and put her on oxygen while waiting for the results (the little tubes that go in the nose).  The x-ray didn't come back conclusive for pneumonia but still we needed to go to the hospital and they were going to transport her there in an ambulance because she needed to stay on the oxygen.  They gave her a popsicle and a sippy cup so she was fairly content even though I had to ride in the front of the ambulance and she was in the back with 2 strangers who were giving her a breathing treatment with a little mask.

When we arrived we were taken to an emergency room intake room and seen by doctors and nurses.  They gave her several breathing treatments (with the drug albuterol) to see if that would help to open up her airways.  While we were in emergency, Keith came and met us there with an overnight bag for us.  He had called my sister to come over while Colin and Caroline were sleeping.  It was about 10 PM or so when he arrived (after first having gone to the Dublin hospital due to a mis-communication between us!)  The doctors told us that they were going to admit her for the night.  Keith was going to stay until we got settled into our room but it kept getting later and later and we knew he'd have a long, busy day ahead so he finally left around 12:15 or so.  We got to our private room around 1.  Poor Julia fell asleep just about the moment I laid her in her hospital crib.  But the poking and prodding was only just beginning.  All she wanted to do was sleep but the poor thing had to have an IV inserted and more breathing treatments.  They also suctioned the congestion out of her nose with a vacuum type of machine which was most unpleasant for her.  It just seemed to go on and on before she could finally rest.  I was glad it was the time change weekend...I was happy to lose an hour of that night!!

On Sunday morning her condition was about the same.  The doctor assured me that there was no way she would be going home that day which surprised me a little.  I crept out to get some lunch while she was napping.  Or at least I thought she was napping.  When I came back the nurse was checking on her because in her distress she had kicked off her oxygen monitor.  She was standing up and crying "Mommy" when I came back in the room.  She was interested in my cookies and chips and actually ate a decent amount and wanted milk too.  She had a couple of solid bowel movements and continued to have an interest in food which I thought was a good sign.  By the afternoon she wanted to read books and watch Sesame Street YouTube videos on my phone so her spirits were improving.  Keith called my sister again to watch the kids so he and I could switch places (we had no car at the hospital which is a good 25 minutes away from our house).

Getting some much needed rest

She stayed two more nights in the hospital for a total of three.  They ended up diagnosing her with pneumonia and gave her antibiotics at first orally and then through her IV which seemed to help a lot.  Before she could be released they weaned her off of the oxygen (and IV) to make sure she could handle it and by Monday afternoon she could.  Keith stayed with her both of the subsequent two nights and I took off Monday and Tuesday from work to be home with Colin and Caroline.  The three of us picked them up Tuesday morning from the hospital and it was a happy reunion indeed.

She really took to the sippy cup they gave her at urgent care and even insisted on sleeping with it while at the hospital

There's that pretty Julia smile.  Feeling a little better.

Unfortunately, I started feeling poorly Monday morning and went to the walk-in clinic at work on Wednesday and was diagnosed with a virus and a secondary ear infection, so now I'm on amoxicillin too. And not to be left out, Keith also does not feel that great and seems to have a lesser degree of the virus that I have.  What a crew we are!

Luckily the kids all seem to be pretty much back to normal by today (Sunday).  Even Julia's cough is no longer with us.  It's just Keith and I that aren't 100% yet, but I'll take sick parents over sick kids any day. Remind us never to book a trip in March.  That is when the germs always seem to take over our house!