So...#2 son was diagnosed with Reactive Airway Disease today. (You'd think I would've remembered to ask for an info sheet so I could've gotten a proper definition, after my last post!)
Just to document how this came about, here are some snippets from emails I sent to the asthma parents' list over the last week or two:
From 10/14: Oz is still coughing. Let's just hope they don't decide to share illnesses. As they do share a room, there's little I can do to prevent it, but really -- let's hope!!!
From 10/17: BOTH boys are coughing now, and #1's cough has picked up a little punch. I'm still going with the albuterol 3-4X a day. He didn't cough much (if at all) overnight, but definitely started up again this morning. The fever had broken by Sunday AM, and he hasn't thrown up since Friday.
Oz's cough is getting worse (louder, more frequent, still wet), so I need to check my notes to see when that started. Since I had him at the doctor last Weds., I'm guessing it's been about 10 days since the cough started, maybe longer. Mucus is yellowish now, but it was clear for the first week or so. Could be a sinus infection, but I've never seen one start with a cough. Don't know...
From 10/19: Oz is doing much better with the pinkeye, but he was coughing a LOT last night. I gave him some Dimetapp, which dried the cough up but didn't stop it. Even though he's not officially RAD, the doc said I can give him a neb of Xopenex if he has another night like that.
From 10/20: Had a REALLY bad night with Oz, not #1. Gave him Dimetapp at 8:00pm, but ended up needing two nebs at 11:00 and 4:30 as tight coughing would not stop. Could be bronchiolitis. Have a call into the ped's office (he's not with a PP - yet!) to see about a Zithro RX, or another appt.
From 10/21: Now, about the kids -- Oz is a MESS. He's so much worse today. We were up three times over night. He's responding well to Xopenex, but he's running 101.5 right now. He sounds terrible (need to neb him now, actually) and he's not drinking well. He was coughing his head off overnight when the nebs wore off.
Took him to the ped today, who changed his RX to Zithromax (thank you!) for a sinus infection. She said he may have RAD, but said she didn't hear any wheezing, that his lungs sounded clear. But she said I should call our PP, given his history, and see if she wants to start seeing him.
So I did. And we're going Monday.
Honestly, I think he has RSV, and I'll be amazed if we're not at the ER over the weekend. But I'm a freak, could be wrong. If he doesn't respond to the Zithro and he's still sick on Monday, $100 says that the PP here's something and that his sats are around 95%.
Ugh. Thank goodness he's happy. He sounds so, so awful, it makes me want to cry
Later that night: Ugh. Oz woke up from his nap with 101.5 and sounding SO MUCH WORSE. Sounds really chesty now. I nebbed at 4:00, which helped. By 7:00, as we were finishing dinner, he was coughing til he gagged. Almost paged the peds., but held off.
Nebbed at 8:00, and gave him Dimetapp. Definitely took the edge off the cough. He went right to bed afterwards.
It's 9:30 and he's just starting to cough again. I have a feeling he won't last beyond 11:00, and I'll have to page to make sure he can have his nebs 3 hours apart instead of 4.
I'll be amazed if we get through this weekend without a trip to the ER.
From 10/22: Miraculously, not much coughing overnight and very little this morning. He's definitely not himself, though. Yesterday, when he was coughing his little head off, he was still acting like a happy little toddler. Today, he's much quieter, not eating or drinking. Also more visibly congested.
LATER....Zithro is for a sinus infection, which I'm not convinced he has.
He was doing surprisingly well all day, then we noticed he was breathing really fast at dinner. I was going to neb him, but I noticed he felt really warm. Turns out his fever spiked back up to 102.1, after being 99.5 earlier. Ugh. He fell asleep, and I'm going to check his resps in a little while. (I managed to get some Motrin into him.)
October is sucking, so far.
3 comments:
dear angry asthma mama:
my 4-year old son has dry, barking coughs every once in a while. They either result in red throat, reddened ears or an ear infection. for the past five days he's had a hacking cough - worse at night - complete with vomit. i went to the doc this am to find out what i could do to prevent and she diagnosed him with RAD and prescribed the breathing treatments - 4X day. I work and he goes to daycare and that won't work. so she said three. but when i went to the pharmacy they said each treatment needed to be 4-6 hours apart. and they told me 2 treatments a day would work. i'm so confused! which is it? but now i'm ready internet info on RAD and i'm really wondering if my son's condition is serious enough to warrent a breathing treatment.
how did you know that your son had RAD?
after reading your posts - i certainly feel for you. thank goodness boys love their mamas.
thanks,
d
My name is Wesley Brown and i would like to show you my personal experience with Zithromax.
I am 45 years old. Have been on Zithromax for 2 days now. I took this drug (generic azithro 500 mg bid) to get rid of an 2+ week old sinus infection that did not clear with decongestants and antihistamines. The drug made a substantial difference within 2 days. I'm a physician and needed to return to work, and the tiredness was just excessive, so I stopped the drug after 48-72 hours. The infection did not return. I would take this drug again if I needed to kill off an infection. I don't expect to feel good all the time. If a drug is making me healthy in a particular way, it's up to me to weigh that benefit against the cost of side effects.
I have experienced some of these side effects -
Fatigue. I just didn't want to move or get out of bed while on the drug; it was a bit hard to figure out that this was an effect of the medication rather than the sinusitis. Otherwise I was fine.
I hope this information will be useful to others,
Wesley Brown
I have a 5 yr old daughter who had rsv at 3 yrs old..DONT WAIT BRING HIM IN TO THE ER. It's a simple nose swab. She was in respitory failure by the time I realized what it was. Always listen to your instincts. She now has asthma as a result and a cold lasts forever. Hope this helps
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