Friday, February 13, 2009

The right side

Julius has pneumonia in his right lung, along with a very very bad ear infection in the right ear. We have been admitted to the good hospital but are likely hunkered down in the ER for the night because every runny-nosed kid in TO is clogging up the beds. (Seriously, walk in clinic people--it's a goddam runny nose!)

My pediatrician thought I was crazy runny nose lady the other day when I showed up with Julius saying that he was sicker than last week and that I suspected an ear infection or bronchitis or something in his lungs.

She laughed me off even though he had been up screaming the entire night with a fever of 101 after tylenol and advil and had rales in his chest you could feel and said that I could come back everyday if I was so determined to get him diagnosed.

Who me?

Determined?

Naaaw, not lil ol me....

Anyway, I did come back today, and after seeing just how freakin ill Julius was, she not only finally saw his ear infection, she was worried enough to drop the M-Bomb.

Meningitis!

So we have now had a lumbar puncture, an IV, a blood draw, a urinary catheter for a pee sample, a chest x-ray and a bunch of monitoring equipment attached to him. He's like a bionic pin cushion.

Urine dip is clear, white cells are up, and spinal fluid is clear though the blood and pee and CSF will have to be cultured to know for sure. His chest Xray showed some shadows, and he had crackles in his chest. So for now, he is on IV ceflex and we'll go from there.

I seriously don't believe that they give babies and kids so little painkiller in this joint. I'd score heroin easier than some baby tempra. WTF? Don't children deserve some pain relief? Not cool.

More later, so tired I can't even move.....

16 comments:

  1. stay strong. Let me know if you need me.

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  2. Oh babes! That ficking sucks! Poor baby. rest up love, he needs you poor little mite and poor you come to think of it.

    HUGS

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  3. Ugghgghhhbbllleeeh. I'm so so sorry. I was actually worried about the M-bomb when I took Bella in last December. And they also told me I wasn't giving her ENOUGH pain killer! they upped my dose based on her weight (I was using the silly ol' age marker on the side of the bottle), and boy did that make things better.

    Give Julius a big ol' hug, and I hope this all clears out and soon.

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  4. awww...poor little guy. I hope he's feeling better soon!

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  5. oh my! hoping he improves quickly!

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  6. Oh hon, you (and Julius) need a break.

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  7. Oh man. I hope eveything comes out all right really soon. Maybe you should smuggle in some Tempra for the poor little guy.

    If there's anything I can do, PLEASE let me know.

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  8. Oh no. Poor little Julius. Hope him and his mamma are well cared for and he's well soon.

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  9. Poor little Julius!! :( I hope he is (& you are) doing better soon!

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  10. (((hugs))) Poor little guy. We went through the same thing when Aaron was around that age. I hope he (and you) get some relief soon.

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  11. I'm sorry for Julius and know you must be insanely tired at this point. Sending everyone healing vibes.

    As for pain killers/kids ... I know there was a study out recently that surmised high anti-inflammatory type drug use in the first year of life make the lungs more vulnerable to oxident damage, which might increase the chance of asthma later in life by as much as three times. So perhaps the hospital is trying to be prudent?

    OTOH, that sounds too well thought-out for the average pediatic hospital's philosophy. Probably they just suck?

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  12. Poor little guy . . . he's the fourth baby in our town that I've heard of developing pneumonia this winter (two of the babies I care for have developed it, and at least one of the toddlers at the drop-in). My sample size isn't even that large! Best to you and him, fingers crossed for a speedy recovery!

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  13. Oh poor Julius. Hope he makes a rapid recovery. On pain relief my son only got parecetomol and ibuprofen post his two operations pre 12 weeks - argh. I reckon they try their hardest to give nothing else unless it is dire. Doesn't make it any easier for the baby or the mother mind.

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  14. I'm sure you are taking all steps necessary to get Julius the best care. But make sure you take care of yourself, too. In no time, he'll be feeling better and you'll be too pooped to enjoy it unless you do.

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  15. She brushed you off?! Really? How awful!

    I'm glad he's getting proper care now and hope he gets better soon.

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  16. Actually, I should correct this a bit. I was upset so maybe I made it sound a bit worse She was laughing, but not necessarily at me and certainly not at the baby being sick.

    She said that she did not hear anything in his lungs and did not see anything in his ears, at the time, but it likely was subtle and something only a mom could see. I knew something was wrong, but, not exactly what. So....yeah, I felt brushed off. But she wasn't being horrible....

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