Hayden's Hospital Stay

Last Friday afternoon Hayden came home from school with a cough. By Friday night you could tell that he just wasn't feeling that great...not many smiles, not wanting to play, and a cough. We took his temperature that night and it was 102. The next day the fever was gone but he still had a cough...still not wanting to play and only wanting to be held and to sleep. We went to Sophie's party but quickly went home as he was just getting more miserable (and didn't want other kids to get sick)...and headed to Marble Falls. He was breathing really fast and it seemed hard for him to get a deep breath, I had a really bad feeling about him and called "call a nurse" (the best hotline!!! where you can call and talk to registered nurses during off hours at your doctor's office). The nurse said that she thought he was breathing too fast, that he might have croup, and to take him. We went to an emergency clinic in Marble Falls where we did several breathing treatments and were "clinically" diagnosed with RSV. It was clinically diagnosed by symptoms that he was showing, but they didn't do a test because we wouldn't get the results until Tuesday since they didn't have the technology to do it there and it would have to be sent out (and I was going to take him to the doctor on Monday anyway). They said to just watch his breathing and his fluid intake. We were up all night trying to sooth our poor little guy and headed home early morning so he could be at home.

During the day Sunday he just got worse...he wouldn't eat, wanted to sleep all day, still had rapid breathing, started throwing up, and you could tell that he just plain didn't feel well (even after all the home remedy tricks that we were trying). So, I told Matt to get dressed that we were going to the ER. When we got there they checked his oxygen level intake (which was low) and suctioned out his nose. They were going to use the sample from his nose to test RSV and the flu. We were put in an ER room to wait for the results. The doctor came in and hooked him up to a machine to monitor his oxygen intake levels because of his rapid breathing, observed that his tonsils were swollen so much that they were almost touching, ordered a chest xray, and a strep test. He was put on oxygen because his intake was really low (which was hard because he was fighting the mask, so we had to hold it right above his face). The chest xray came back and showed that he had a lot of mass and blockage in his lungs. He was dehydrated so they put an IV in and started fluid. After about 7 hours of testing, breathing treatments, and observation we were booked a room in the pediatric wing where he was going to be observed for several days. We got to our room about midnight. It turns out that he was positive for RSV bronchitis and was having a hard time with it. By the time we were up in our room he was breathing fine on his own so we stopped the oxygen. He had respiratory therapists (RT) come in every 3 hours to do a breathing treatment and several nurse visits in between. He was hooked up to fluid for 24 hours. He was getting stronger and better every day...and we got finally got to go home. We are continuing to do breathing treatments every day (first few days-4 times a day...now we are just at two). We will continue these until his chest sounds/feels clear.

Even though we were there for a long period of time we were very happy with the stay (even though it was a hospital) because the nurses, doctor, and RTs were very diligent and took excellent care of our precious boy. We are so gracious for their help in his recovery and all the phone calls/messages from concerned family and friends. He is doing much, much better and all over the place again!! He is our happy, adventurous, and nonstop little guy again. :) It turns out that there was an RSV breakout at his school...3 others in his room (before him and at the same time), 1 in the infant room (which also had to be put in the hospital), and 1 in the toddler II room. Eeek! The good news is that his immune system is going strong for this strain of RSV and it is unlikely that he will get it again this season. Hopefully when it comes around next season and a different strain, he will be older and his immune system will be able to fight it. One more side note...the doctor said that since Hayden had such a hard time with it that it might indicate him having asthma in the coming years. This was a very emotional time for us seeing Hayden go through it all and have to stay in the hospital. We are just so thankful, thankful, thankful that all is well and continuing to get better every day!

Anne...we look forward to our next (hopefully not sick) visit!!!

Here are some pictures of Hayden playing with his balloons and bear that Morgan sent him!! The card was so sweet...it was signed "from your girlfriend"...hehe. He (and we) appreciated the pick-me-up!!! Thank you Sitra family!!! :)