Saturday, March 02, 2013

Bronchitis, Bronchitis, Bronchitis...Pneumonia?

What a week!

Last week, Ig was coughing for days. He started running a fever on the Tuesday, so I kept him home from school for a few days. Then Friday, Ozzy started coughing - always a concern. By Sunday, he was pretty sick, so I took him to the walk-in clinic. They told me his lungs were clear, but he was pretty sick and running a fever, so I kept him home Monday through Thursday.

Of course, B couldn't be left unscathed. He got sick Wednesday, so he was home Wednesday-Friday. He never seemed quite as sick as Oz, but his cough sounded appalling. I forced him to do a few nebulizer treatments.

[As a note, the symptoms of this illness have been a barking cough and fever. The two older guys complained that their chests hurt on the second day of the illness. Sounds like bronchitis, right? The school vice principal told me a lot of kids were out with bronchitis over the last week. Oz got nebs every 4-6 hours for the first two days, then switched to an albuterol MDI every 6-12 hours.]

Hanging this on our front door...
The school coordinated a trip to go snow-tubing last night. Ozzy seemed well enough and had gone to school, so he went with DH and Ig. B and I stayed home and ordered sushi, which cheered him up since he'd really wanted to go! The other guys got back after 3 hours of snow tubing, chattered incessantly for 15 minutes, then (as if on cue) passed out on the couch.

Today, B seemed better, but Oz was super-whiny. He protested going to dance class, which has been the trend lately. (Doesn't like the new school, hates jazz class, etc. I think he just wants to stay home and play video games.) He was much whinier and adamant about not going today, but he missed last week and there's no class next week, so I forced him to go. I have no tolerance for whining. (Really, does anyone?)  He did look a little pale after dance, though, and then he turned down a grilled cheese sandwich. Ozzy turning down fried carbs and dairy is just weird, so I should have KNOWN something was up...

DH decided to take us out to one of his old haunts for dinner, so we ended up driving 30 minutes to go to a dive that specializes in souvlaki and fries. (Men!)  I'm not feeling well, which shouldn't surprise anyone after taking care of the bronchio boys for a week. Ozzy was excited, but once we got there, complained incessantly about how cold he was. Of course, he'd worn a t-shirt and a hoodie only - in Ontario in early March - so I chalked this up to being under-dressed in a drafty restaurant. (What is it with grade school boys not wearing jackets? Are parkas in winter "uncool" or something?) He ate about half his dinner.

When we got home, I went up to put my PJs on, because a) I'm not feeling well and b) I love PJs. When I came down a few minutes later, Ozzy was passed out on the couch.

Uh-oh.

I let him sleep for an hour so, but when stirred an woke up for a minute, I took his temp. 101.3.

Again, uh-oh.

I'll be watching this kid VERY closely tomorrow. The last time (2 times?) he had pneumonia, I'm pretty sure this is how it went down. He got sick, he got better for a day or so, then he took a nosedive.

If he's running a fever tomorrow morning, we're going STRAIGHT to the clinic.

In fact, I'm gonna run upstairs right now and count his breaths...