Very Sick Boys

Today has been a very long day filled with doctors and a hospital visit. This morning both boys were coughing and wheezing really badly. So we quickly decided to take them to the local walk-in clinic to be seen. The doctor looked them both over and then told us what he felt was going on. He said Zak had double ear infections and chest congestion, but it wasn't pneumonia yet. He felt that since his pulse ox was still good and his breathing did get better after Albuterol breathing treatments that he would be fine after a course of antibiotics (Amoxicillin) and oral steroids (Orapred) along with the breathing treatments of Albuterol every 4-6 hours. So I felt pretty good about this information and knew that he would be ok. Then we moved on to Ryder and he was a different story. The doctor at the clinic said he didn't have the ear infections that Zak has, but he felt there was pneumonia in his lungs. He was worried because his breathing did not improve after the Albuterol breathing treatments even though his pulse ox was still ok. So he sent us to the children's ER at the local hospital so he could have x-rays and be looked at by a pediatrician.

Aunt Vicky came to the rescue and stayed at the house with Zak and Piper while my mom and I took Ryder to the ER. I was very happy that we didn't have to wait long at all to get into a room and seen by somebody at the hospital. They listened to his breathing and took his history. Then he got 2 chest x-rays to check for pneumonia. Once the x-rays came back the pediatrician came in to check him out. She said that from the x-rays he did have bronchitis, but no pneumonia yet. She feels that he probably does have RSV with a secondary infection of bronchitis. RSV is what causes the average cold for older children and adults, but for preemies it can be fatal since their systems can't fight it off. She did a breathing treatment for him that had Albuterol along with another medication and then said he could be discharged with a prescription for antibiotics (Zithromax) and oral steroids (Orapred) along with us doing the breathing treatments of Albuterol every 4 hours (including overnight). His pulse ox was borderline once we did get discharged so we will watch him closely and hopefully he will show improvement soon.

Meanwhile, I had to figure out a way to fly home with 2 sick boys on Saturday by myself. While we were at the hospital and I was talking to Ben on the phone we decided it would work best if he flew to FL tonight instead of flying back to MD. Then we switched Zak's ticket for Saturday to a ticket for Ben. This way we will each be able to take care of 1 of the boys on the flight. Our goal is to keep them healthy enough to fly home on Saturday which should work as long as they don't get worse between now and then. I will feel better once we are at home and can see our own pediatrician, but I am also thankful that I was here with my mom when this happened and not at home without Ben!