He's suffering from RSV-Respiratory Syncytial Virus infection-which has had him pretty darn sick since last Saturday. This virus, which we never heard of when our kids were young, was first named in 1956 and resembles a bad chest cold but gets into the lungs much deeper. This is a very contagious virus and with older kids it usually takes the form of a bad cold, but with babies it can be much more serious.
With Jake the RSV took the form of initial congestion then added a spiking fever, and yesterday the doctor discovered he has also developed an ear infection. He now has antibiotics for the ear infection which I believe may help everything else. Although antibiotics are not prescribed for viruses, the secondary ear infection qualifies and could well help the fever. He also got a lung nebulizer to help the lung congestion and last night was his first go at it.
It's so hard to see a baby suffer and be scared of that contraption, but I feel better after talking to a friend of ours whose son had RSV as a baby. She said that the crying actually helps move the medication in the nebulizer deep into the lungs where it needs to go.
Hopefully today will be better and tomorrow more so.
Never good to see a little one like this. Best wishes for speedy recovery.
Posted by: Ron | March 08, 2013 at 08:51 AM
Thanks Ron
Posted by: Diane Meyer | March 08, 2013 at 09:31 AM
Poor Jake :-( & yes- the crying will actually help the nebulizer do it's job better. Hope he's back to smiling, rolling and playing with Drew real soon.
Posted by: Pam | March 08, 2013 at 09:50 AM