Thursday, November 29, 2007

Ig & Oz Update

If was up to 40 breaths per minute this morning (despite a greatly reduced fever), so I took him to the peds. pulomonolgist this afternoon.

Spent the whole day wiping blood-streaked mucus off that kid --his nose was like a little, hideously disgusting faucet. And we went through two shirts because he kept wiping his nose on his sleeves. Really GROSS.

But of course, by the time we got to the PP, he was fine! No wheezing, moving air well, normal resp rate satting at 97%. Not that I'm not happy that he's better, but the kid pulled a total Michigan J. Frog on me.

Nonetheless, she tested him for RSV, and while we haven't gotten the results yet, the respiratory therapist was pretty sure he had it. So I'm not ruling out an overnight nosedive, and I'm definitely keeping Ig home again tomorrow for a rigid neb schedule!

Oz, on the other hand, woke up congested and coughing - just a bit - this AM. I started him on nebs, too, and given the liklihood that Ig has RSV, I'm glad I did.

We'll see how he is in the AM, but I'm not optimistic. But am I ever, when it comes to RSV?

Read this blog and tell me if that's unreasonable.

Wednesday, November 28, 2007

Ig May Have RSV

Ig was up the last two nights, fussing and congested. He started coughing last night, and sound pretty bad this morning.

I brought him to daycare this morning, knowing that he probably wouldn't make it the whole day. He had no fever, but the cough was a little rough and
he just wasn't himself. He didn't eat breakfast, but he wasn't as congested as he'd been either. I really didn't know what to make of his state, but I had that feeling that he really was getting sick.

Last night, btw, he had me cracking up . He woke up at 3:00 AM (!) crying, calling for me to come get him. I didn't get him right away (3:00 AM, I remind you) so he came up with some GREAT lines to lure me in. Mind you, he's 23 months old now. Here's what I heard:
  • "Mom? Want up-up."
  • "Mom? Want up-up. 'Kay? Kay."
  • "Mom? Want juice."
  • "Mom? Want cheerios."
  • "Dad? Want juice."
  • "Mommy? I smell poopies."
That one got me.

Back to today...he woke up from nap at daycare with 101.9. I went and got him, and he looked SO BAD and sounded so awful that I took him straight to the peds.

The peds noticed he was retracting, but didn't hear anything concerning beyond his cough, which she called a "typical asthma cough." Ears were fine, throat was fine, etc.

She did mention that they've already seen some RSV, and recommended we keep the nebs up and DuoNeb if necessary. I told her we'd watch his resps, too, and she reminded me about hospitalization for RSV. (As if I'd forget staying at the peds hospital with #1 son for five days!)

Keep y'all posted....

Tuesday, November 27, 2007

Asthma, the kids, and the past few weeks

In a nutshell...'tis the season for peds asthma!

Oz: Had a bad cough the weekend before T-day, as well as a horribly runny, icky nose. He actually had to miss a birthday party because he was such a mess that Saturday. Many nebs later, he's much better and finally off albuterol.

Ig: Just getting sick now. Lots of yellow ick all over his face, but no cough yet. Also just found out that the always-sick (and constantly dosed-and-dropped) kid at daycare just had croup and coxsackie (and probably STILL DOES even though he's there today) so the future's looking a little gray on that front. He was also up SCREAMING last night, and I thought he sounded a bit wheezy. No cough (yet), though.

B: Told me he had a cold this morning. Sigh.

We'll see how it goes over the next few days.

Rethink your Tamiflu Stockpile...

Someone just emailed this to everyone at work in response to an invitation for everyone to get free flu shots:

F.D.A. Staff Recommends a Warning on Flu Drugs

By BLOOMBERG NEWS

Published: November 24, 2007

Makers of the two most common drugs used to treat and prevent flu should add warnings that they may cause psychiatric side effects, federal regulators have recommended.

The report, by staff members of the Food and Drug Administration, was posted yesterday in advance of an advisory panel meeting scheduled for Tuesday to review use of the antiviral medications Tamiflu, made by Roche Holding, and Relenza, from GlaxoSmithKline.

Five Japanese children who took Tamiflu and became delirious died, and there were reports of abnormal behavior among some children using Relenza, mainly in Japan, where the drug is widely used to treat flu, the documents noted.

There have been no fatalities in the United States, the F.D.A. report said.

Regulators are not sure if the deaths and abnormal behavior were caused by the drugs, the flu virus or a combination of both, the F.D.A. staff members said in a memorandum written Nov. 9. They did not propose any new limits on use of the drugs. While governments worldwide have been stockpiling the drugs in case of an influenza epidemic, sales have slipped in recent months amid concerns about the safety of Tamiflu.

Tamiflu generated $257 million for Roche in the third quarter. Sales were down 62 percent from a year earlier. Relenza generated $58 million for Glaxo in the third quarter, down 7 percent.

Roche, based in Basel, Switzerland, says studies show the flu, not the drug, causes the reported side effects, but a company spokesman, Terry Hurley, said yesterday, “If the F.D.A. concludes that it is valuable to place additional details on the label with regard to specific adverse event reports, then Roche is open to that consideration.”

Officials for Glaxo did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Tamiflu’s prescribing information was updated last year to tell doctors they should monitor patients for signs of abnormal behavior. The label should be revised again, the F.D.A. staff members said in the Nov. 9 memorandum, to alert doctors and family members that psychotic side effects may happen quickly and can be fatal.

Saturday, November 03, 2007

Everyone's Coughing

...it's the "in" thing to do!

Ig's been coughing for days, a croupy sounding number that rips through my heart every time I hear it. (He actually asks for his medicine. He's 22 months old, and he asks me for "ap-icine." How sad is that?)

Oz is doing better, but still coughing at night. Looser than it was, thank goodness.

I'll be unreachable, working a trade show Monday and Tuesday, so I hope they're OK by the time the weekend's over.