RSV

RSV is a nasty little bug. it stands for Respiratory Syncytial Virus and here's what Kids Health and my friend Dr. Marty have to say about it.

Natalie had RSV January of 2008, one week after entering preschool. Her runny nose turned into a cough and that turned into pneumonia. A classic RSV Right Lower Lobe Pneumonia. After a round of antibiotics cured the pneumonia, the cough left over from the initial viral infection lasted for more than a month. She had a sinus infection shortly thereafter, no doubt, still a complication from the RSV bug.

Well, now it's Lindsey's turn. Natalie brought home the cough her preschool class was passing around and had a fever one day, and it's so hard to keep the big sister from loving on the Baby Winsey. On Friday, yep, the day after Christmas, Lindsey was clearly getting worse instead of better and that night she began wheezing, in her right lung particularly. Oy Vey. Off to the local ER with her at 9pm. They did a wonderful job of triaging us quickly, letting us sit in our own room to wait rather than the busy germ filled waiting room, and then Dr Dougie (young and cute!) was wonderful about getting the RSV test and Chest Xray (to rule out pneumonia) and getting those results back to us and reassessing little Lindsey ASAP. As we were in an adult ER, he even consulted the Peds Doc on call for a second opinion. We were sent home on Orapred, a corticosteriod for her wheezing, and told to come back if anything concerned us. At 1am the Pharmacist at Walgreens was nice and quick even doubled the amount of the Rx in case we had spillage or spitting out issues. A+ for everyone we encountered that night!

Yesterday my poor mom, who had cuddled Lindsey non stop last week, particularly on the Friday she felt so bad, called and sounded like crap (love you, Mom!) and asked if adults can get RSV. Sure enough, they can, and it sounds like she's got a whopping case.

Also on Friday Lindsey's boyfriend Griffin started wheezing and was put on albuterol and at work I admitted an "RSVer," as we call them, to the PICU.

Oh, Lindsey is much better now! She never stopped eating and kept having playful periods throughout the week, but there is barely a cough left and last night I thought I heard a wheeze last night but couldn't find it again. Yay for strong immune systems!

Please, right now, go Wash Your Hands! =)