So....pneumonia...

[Seraph]

My little one has been coughing for a week now, and a couple of days ago, a really *really* high fever hit (104.9). I managed to bring it down enough so that we wouldn't have to rush her to the ER, but its been sticking around. If I don't constantly keep up anti-fever measures, it spikes right back up.

So, doc office was visited today, and they think she most likely has early pneumonia, due to the noises her lungs are making. She is on a strong broad spectrum antibiotic right now, and she goes in Weds for a follow up. If she hasn't shown marked improvement....chest xrays will be taken.

My question though is...what happens? If, god forbid, they do find fluid, what will they do? Will she be hospitalized for this?

I'm doing my best not to freak out and panic, as I know thats REALLY not a good thing to do, so if anyone can enlighten me, I'd appreciate it.

[MDLackey]

Hey Seraph, for starters, take a deep breath and relax. If you are freaking out, it will not help you make logical decisions.

Since you have already seen the pediatrician and started on antibiotics, then it's ideal that you finish the medication and see if symptoms will improve. As a general rule, stay warm, drink plenty of fluids to flush out the bacteria, and Vitamin C to boost the immune system. If you are concerned for bacteria in the room, the easiest thing you can do is take some eating vinegar, dilatuted in water and heated. Take that to steam out the room. It can kill out any bacteria in the air and helps clear the airways as well.

Be sure to follow up with the doc and see how your child is progressing. Hope this helps.

[Mishi]

Firstly, relax. You've been going and going, looking after everyone and sorting out loads of other stuff too. *Huge hugs* I was very freaked when Bubbles had similar symptoms because we went to our doctor and he said it might be pneumonia. Chest X-rays aren't fun, so you need to be as calm as possible and if you can, have an extra person with you for carrying things and/or helping with the flailing kid. Bubbles hated it, because she was feverish, coughing, vomiting and just wanted to sleep. Turned out that she only had Bronchiolitis (not Bronchitis, they're slightly different). Went home with an inhaler and some prednisone*, she was a different girl after the second dose.

*We saw an older doctor, most doctors no longer treat this condition with steroids. Ours did, and it worked really well.

So basically, it might not be as bad as it seems and I really hope your munchkin gets better very quickly.

[Sapphire Silk]

Yup. Don't put the cart before the horse. Follow your instructions and follow up with your doc as scheduled. Odds are the little one will be better.

Even if things don't get better, sounds like your pediatrician is on top of things. If he recommends a hospitalization, it just means he'll have more tools to make the little one better.

YOUR state of mind will dictate how your little one reacts. If you're good, he'll be good.

[Seraph]

Ok, thanks everyone. I'd heard "draw fluid off lungs" and all sorts of scary things, so I was just trying to feel out stuff a bit before I started freaking. <_<

Tomorrow she goes back for a followup. Her fever hasn't been *as* bad (granted, I'm following the ibuprofen schedule pretty religiously) , but the coughing still is.

[Sapphire Silk]

Ok, thanks everyone. I'd heard "draw fluid off lungs" and all sorts of scary things, so I was just trying to feel out stuff a bit before I started freaking. <_<

Tomorrow she goes back for a followup. Her fever hasn't been *as* bad (granted, I'm following the ibuprofen schedule pretty religiously) , but the coughing still is.

Understandable. Antibiotics don't work over night, so I'm not surprised by the coughing. I'm glad to hear she's doing a bit better.

[AccountingDrone]

Don't know how I missed this...

I had pneumonia pretty much every year november and december from 1961 [when I was born in Oct 1961]until 1974. I have had it sporadically since then. Medical technology has progressed from me spending 3-4 weeks in an oxygen tent to where you take meds and flake out on the couch at home. Unless something goes heinously wrong, there is very little danger in a bout of pneumonia now. About the only time there might be danger is if you get snowed in somewhere and can not get out to get medication or to a hospital. [which happened to my brother in 1966. To keep his fever down my mom packed him in the bathtub with about equal his weight in snow until someone with a snowmobile could get the penicillin to us.]

[Seshat]

Backing up Panacea here.

Antibiotics are like laying .. well, very specific 'poison baits' for bacteria. It's like she's got evil-bacteria-poison in her blood now. (Harmless to her, dangerous to the bacteria.)

In addition to that, her own immune system is fighting the bacteria:
* It's increasing the temperature (fever!) to a temp that she can survive but most of the bacteria won't.
* It's flushing bacteria out of her nose, eyes, and anywhere else possible. (Sniffles, running eyes, loo urgency)
* If it thinks it has bacteria in the digestive tract, it will try to empty that.
* Coughing to get it out of her lungs.
* Coughing to get additional mucous out of her lungs.
* Making her lethargic so the body's energy can be used on defence.
* Sending white blood cells anywhere there's any sign of the invaders.

Some of the 'symptoms' of a cold or flu are just signs that the immune system is working.

White blood cells are kamikaze troops - they engulf an invader and die like that. So her liver and kidneys and lymphatic system will all be working hard, collecting and getting rid of the white blood cell 'bodies'.


What can you do to help her?

* Plenty of fluids. PLENTY of fluids. Water, tea or clear soups are best. Otherwise, anything with a minimum of junk (sugar, caffeine, etc). Vegetable soups and fruit juices are great: they get nutrients into her as well as fluids.
* Keep her in a comfortable environment.
* Keep her as calm and entertained as possible.


If the doctor does want her in a hospital, he will probably want it for one of these reasons:
* To get IV antibiotics into her.
* To use stronger antibiotics, that require a nurse to monitor her.
* Because he wants a nurse monitoring her for some reason.
* To have oxygen available if needed.
* Some other reason I don't know enough to know about.

You are entitled to ask why she's going in, and to ask questions until you understand what treatments she's having; why, and what they will be doing.
You are also entitled to ask what the risks are for those treatments, what alternatives there are, and what the risks are for the alternatives. And yes, one of those alternatives is 'do nothing'.
Another is what's called 'supportive treatment' - which is basically 'keep the patient calm and happy, the body as comfortable as possible, and keep up fluids and nutrients'. Sounds a lot like what you're already doing? Yup.

[Kristev]

Agreed. I learned in my human biology class in college that the 'symptoms' of many disease, such as swelling, fevor, and increased waste/mucus secretion are weapons in the body's defense mechanism. If we didn't have an immune system, we wouldn't get most of these 'symptoms', but we'd also be easy prey for any disease that came our way.

[Argus]

I learned in my human biology class in college that the 'symptoms' of many disease, such as swelling, fevor, and increased waste/mucus secretion are weapons in the body's defense mechanism.

If anyone has ever noticed that listed vaccine side effects tend to resemble symptoms of the illness, this is the reason. The purpose of vaccination is to evoke an immune response, after all.

[Seshat]

This is why some people "get the flu" when they get a flu vaccination. They're not actually getting the flu - their immune system is reacting as if they were.

I'm one of the ones who "gets the flu". I just pop in and have one of the nurses make sure I'm having a 'normal' abnormal reaction to the flu shot - see if she thinks I should see one of the doctors. So far there's been no need.

Some other immune responses:
* redness around any break in the skin (blood being rushed to the area, to provide nutrients and white blood cells)
* swelling around any break in the skin (see above)
* pus in an open wound (dead white blood cells that have 'eaten' invading bacteria/virii. wipe them off with a clean tissue, toss it out.)
* scab tissue (nature's bandaids)
* bruising (blood being rushed to an area, to provide healing nutrients)

[Sapphire Silk]

So Seraph . . . updates?

[Seraph]

Ha, wow. Totally forgot to update this, as I usually kept the chat room up to date. My bad, but I'm here to apologize and post what did eventually happen.

Both girls ended coming down with whatever it was. My youngest actually had it WORSE. We did end up having to make one ER trip, when her fever spiked to 105.9 while she was still on a dose on a Motrin.

Turns out, they got a really, REALLY bad upper respiratory infection, and both were put on very strong antibiotics. Youngest's actually spread somehow to her eyes, so she got put on eyedrops for that too.....

And then...they prescribed Prednisone, since the oldest's cough was so bad. Oh. My. God. Oldest was literally running in circles around the house with that stuff.

Thankfully though, both reacted well to the meds, and it cleared up a little over a week later. I'd say we were over the last of it just a few days ago, in fact.

Was a crazy, CRAZY ride, but thankfully, everything turned out alright, and it wasn't pneumonia after all. They thought right up until the ER visit that it was, though! :|

[Mishi]

Yay! They're all better now, so glad that it wasn't pneumonia! Two sick at once is a real pain, I hope you get a chance to catch up on some sleep.

Yeah, prednisone tends to have that effect. I loved it because it was the first time I'd had energy in 2 years and it helped with the joint pain. Bubbles had her last infection spread to her eyes as well, she had a round of Curam Duo and some Chlorsig drops and she was fine in a week. Scared the crap out of the doctor with a 40 degree fever though, she was overdue for a dose of ibuprofen and there was a bit of a wait.

[Sapphire Silk]

Glad to hear everything worked out OK