{"id":506709,"date":"2022-11-04T18:34:43","date_gmt":"2022-11-04T15:34:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/a-mothers-harrowing-rsv-story-ends-with-a-simple-lesson\/"},"modified":"2022-11-04T18:34:43","modified_gmt":"2022-11-04T15:34:43","slug":"a-mothers-harrowing-rsv-story-ends-with-a-simple-lesson","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/a-mothers-harrowing-rsv-story-ends-with-a-simple-lesson\/","title":{"rendered":"#A mother\u2019s harrowing RSV story ends with a simple lesson"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_85 counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-custom ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title\" style=\"cursor:inherit\">Table of Contents<\/p>\n<label for=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-6a360d418aefb\" class=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-label\"><span class=\"\"><span class=\"eztoc-hide\" style=\"display:none;\">Toggle<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-icon-toggle-span\"><svg style=\"fill: #dd3333;color:#dd3333\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"list-377408\" width=\"20px\" height=\"20px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M6 6H4v2h2V6zm14 0H8v2h12V6zM4 11h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2zM4 16h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2z\" fill=\"currentColor\"><\/path><\/svg><svg style=\"fill: #dd3333;color:#dd3333\" class=\"arrow-unsorted-368013\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"10px\" height=\"10px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.2\" baseProfile=\"tiny\"><path d=\"M18.2 9.3l-6.2-6.3-6.2 6.3c-.2.2-.3.4-.3.7s.1.5.3.7c.2.2.4.3.7.3h11c.3 0 .5-.1.7-.3.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7zM5.8 14.7l6.2 6.3 6.2-6.3c.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7c-.2-.2-.4-.3-.7-.3h-11c-.3 0-.5.1-.7.3-.2.2-.3.5-.3.7s.1.5.3.7z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/label><input type=\"checkbox\"  id=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-6a360d418aefb\" checked aria-label=\"Toggle\" \/><nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 ' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-1'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/a-mothers-harrowing-rsv-story-ends-with-a-simple-lesson\/#A_mothers_harrowing_RSV_story_ends_with_a_simple_lesson\" >A mother\u2019s harrowing RSV story ends with a simple lesson<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<h1><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"A_mothers_harrowing_RSV_story_ends_with_a_simple_lesson\"><\/span>A mother\u2019s harrowing RSV story ends with a simple lesson<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h1>\n<div>\n<p>I began to wonder if this <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/trip-and-travel\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"10\" title=\"Trip &amp; Travel\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">trip<\/a> to a pediatric urgent care with my son was even necessary.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Sure, he had been diagnosed with pneumonia a week ago and didn\u2019t seem to be getting better. His cough sounded uglier. But here Ethan was in classic two-and-a-half-year-old mode: running in big circles around the waiting room chairs and causing the kind of ruckus only a toddler can. \u00a0<\/p>\n<aside class=\"ad-unit ad-unit--mr1_ab\"><\/aside>\n<p>He\u2019d stuff some Pirate\u2019s Booty I had hastily thrown into my purse in his mouth, before returning to his wild banshee ways and dashing around in circles again.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Our pediatrician said their office was too swamped with sick\u00a0kids to see us, and referred us to this place. We had been told the wait to see a doctor would be a minimum of an hour. We struggled to find a seat in the packed waiting room as far as possible from other coughing kids.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>We finally graduated from the waiting room to the doctor\u2019s office, only for Ethan to continue his marathon by scooting a rolling chair back and forth, roaring with laughter every time it hit the examining table. When the physician walked in, I felt like I needed to defend wasting her time with this visit with my seemingly A-OK, albeit destructive, son.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>But Ethan wasn\u2019t OK.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-style-large\"><p>The doctor listened to his chest with her stethoscope and didn\u2019t like what she heard: wheezing, some crackling. <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>She showed me how Ethan\u2019s Pirate\u2019s Booty-stuffed stomach moved heavily each time he inhaled and exhaled.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>They had Ethan complete a nebulizer treatment in the office, which meant slipping a device on his face that resembled an oxygen mask, while medicated air meant to open up his lungs flowed through a frightfully loud machine. I held him in my lap while the nebulizer was on, scrambling to find 100 different versions of \u201cWheels on the Bus\u201d videos on <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/social-mediaa\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"1\" title=\"Social Media\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">YouTube<\/a> to try to distract him from the vacuum-like\u00a0whirring of the machine.\u00a0<\/p>\n<aside class=\"ad-unit ad-unit--mr2_ab\"><\/aside>\n<p>The doctor listened to his lungs again. His breathing still didn\u2019t sound great, but she said the hospitals were too inundated right now.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>I knew all too well what she meant. A few days before our urgent care visit, I had flagged a report for editors at The Hill that said children\u2019s hospitals in the Washington area were at capacity, flooded with young kids suffering from RSV, a potentially life-threatening respiratory\u00a0illness that has no vaccine.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>After a three-hour visit, she gave Ethan a steroid and told us to follow up with his pediatrician the next day.\u00a0<\/p>\n<aside class=\"ad-unit ad-unit--mr3_ab\"><\/aside>\n<p>By the time we got to the pediatrician\u2019s office the following morning, my h<a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/download-scripts-themes-apps\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"9\" title=\"Download Scripts &amp; Themes &amp; Apps\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">app<\/a>y-go-lucky, playful little guy was anything but. He curled up in my lap, as we went through a similar routine that the urgent care doctor had done just the night before. His oxygen levels were too low, and our pediatrician had him do another nebulizer treatment.\u00a0<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-style-large\"><p>\u201cOur goal is to keep you from going to the hospital,\u201d our pediatrician told us. <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>It seemed like an unusual\u00a0\u201cgoal\u201d from a doctor, but I understood her reasoning. But after Ethan\u2019s oxygen levels dipped lower still after the nebulizer, she said we should rush him straight to the hospital after all.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>My \u201cBlue\u2019s Clues\u201d and vehicle-obsessed son, usually the epitome of toddler \u201cI can do it myself!\u201d independence, wouldn\u2019t let me put him down for even a moment as we waited in the emergency room lobby. Surprisingly, a separate waiting area in the ER just for children wasn\u2019t completely full, and I wondered if\u00a0maybe <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/news\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"2\" title=\"News\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">news<\/a> reports of endless waits were overblown. \u00a0<\/p>\n<aside class=\"ad-unit ad-unit--mr4_ab\"><\/aside>\n<p>Not so.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe\u2019s so cute,\u201d a young mother in the waiting room told me, as she motioned to Ethan\u2019s head of curls. She cradled her two-month-old in her arms, patiently rocking the baby after telling me she had waited three hours so far.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>I held Ethan as my husband rushed from work to the hospital, meeting us there and with us as we were brought to an ER triage area. They ran more oxygen tests on Ethan, got some of his history, and then sent us back to the waiting room.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Finally, they called Ethan\u2019s name and we were in the ER. My vibrant, otherwise-healthy kid was lethargic, laying on me with a glazed look in his eyes. We struggled to fit the two of us on an exam table meant for a single adult. They draped a lead apron over me and Ethan as they took X-rays of his tiny lungs. The nurse placed a cannula in Ethan\u2019s nose for\u00a0supplemental\u00a0oxygen and put an IV in his arm to give him fluids, before wrapping it with a diaper so he wouldn\u2019t try to take out the tube.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large is-style-default\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"3024\" height=\"4032\" src=\"https:\/\/thehill.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/11\/EthanJudyHospital.jpg?w=540\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-3719461\" srcset=\"https:\/\/thehill.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/11\/EthanJudyHospital.jpg 3024w, https:\/\/thehill.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/11\/EthanJudyHospital.jpg?resize=225,300 225w, https:\/\/thehill.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/11\/EthanJudyHospital.jpg?resize=768,1024 768w, https:\/\/thehill.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/11\/EthanJudyHospital.jpg?resize=540,720 540w, https:\/\/thehill.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/11\/EthanJudyHospital.jpg?resize=1152,1536 1152w, https:\/\/thehill.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/11\/EthanJudyHospital.jpg?resize=1536,2048 1536w, https:\/\/thehill.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/11\/EthanJudyHospital.jpg?resize=645,860 645w, https:\/\/thehill.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/11\/EthanJudyHospital.jpg?resize=100,133 100w, https:\/\/thehill.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/11\/EthanJudyHospital.jpg?resize=200,266 200w, https:\/\/thehill.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/11\/EthanJudyHospital.jpg?resize=520,693 520w, https:\/\/thehill.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/11\/EthanJudyHospital.jpg?resize=1040,1386 1040w, https:\/\/thehill.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/11\/EthanJudyHospital.jpg?resize=38,50 38w, https:\/\/thehill.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/11\/EthanJudyHospital.jpg?resize=876,1168 876w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 899px) 100vw, 876px\"><\/figure>\n<p>My husband and I, loopy from what was happening, laughed at the sight of a diaper being used MacGyver-style. \u201cHey, it works!\u201d the nurse said, explaining that he\u2019d done the maneuver with kid after kid in recent weeks.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The ER doctor finally came in our room and delivered a crash course in what might be to come. \u201cEverywhere is full. The entire Eastern seaboard,\u201d he said of hospitals.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019ve been airlifting kids to Pittsburgh, sometimes to Richmond,\u201d he added. This hospital had a pediatric unit, but not an intensive care geared towards kids. So if Ethan\u2019s condition became even more dire, they wouldn\u2019t be able to treat him there. Our only hope was that the pediatric unit, which had just a few remaining beds, accepted him.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>It was a gut punch. As the doctor left, my husband looked at Ethan, who had fallen asleep with a mask on as the nebulizer loudly buzzed away for another treatment.\u00a0<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-style-large\"><p>\u201cHe\u2019s just a baby. He\u2019s not supposed to be here,\u201d my husband said, defeated.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>The pediatric unit doctor finally came into our room. She examined Ethan, and briefed us on how they\u2019ve been dealing with case after case of the same thing: RSV. \u00a0<\/p>\n<aside class=\"ad-unit ad-unit--mr5_ab\"><\/aside>\n<p>But she offered us hope: he could head to the pediatric unit at the hospital. We wouldn\u2019t need to travel for his care, as long as he didn\u2019t worsen. Ten hours after we first entered the hospital, we had a bed for Ethan.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>We\u2019re among the lucky ones. We were told beyond airlifting, plenty of families had been spending multiple nights in the ER because there were no beds. \u00a0<\/p>\n<p>In Maryland, Gov. Larry Hogan (R) announced last week that that hospitals would receive $25 million in additional funding from the state to prioritize pediatric intensive care unit staffing. Children from birth to age two comprised 57 percent of hospitalizations last week, according to Hogan\u2019s office.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Next to the ghost decorations for Halloween adorning the doors of the pediatric unit, room after room had the same notice taped up: isolation guidelines. The rooms were all filled with kids facing the exact same thing as Ethan. RSV was everywhere.\u00a0<\/p>\n<aside class=\"ad-unit ad-unit--mr6_ab\"><\/aside>\n<p>There\u2019s no cure for RSV. Every two hours on the dot, the nurses would give Ethan the nebulizer treatment. <\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"3049\" height=\"2034\" src=\"https:\/\/thehill.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/11\/AP22305052268159.jpg?w=900\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-3719503\" srcset=\"https:\/\/thehill.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/11\/AP22305052268159.jpg 3049w, https:\/\/thehill.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/11\/AP22305052268159.jpg?resize=300,200 300w, https:\/\/thehill.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/11\/AP22305052268159.jpg?resize=768,512 768w, https:\/\/thehill.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/11\/AP22305052268159.jpg?resize=1079,720 1079w, https:\/\/thehill.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/11\/AP22305052268159.jpg?resize=1536,1025 1536w, https:\/\/thehill.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/11\/AP22305052268159.jpg?resize=2048,1366 2048w, https:\/\/thehill.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/11\/AP22305052268159.jpg?resize=645,430 645w, https:\/\/thehill.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/11\/AP22305052268159.jpg?resize=50,33 50w, https:\/\/thehill.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/11\/AP22305052268159.jpg?resize=876,584 876w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 899px) 100vw, 876px\"><\/figure>\n<p class=\"has-small-font-size\">New research announced by Pfizer showed vaccinating pregnant women helped protect their newborns from the common but scary respiratory virus that fills hospitals with wheezing babies each fall. (CDC via AP)<\/p>\n<p>A monitor affixed to his foot would alert nurses if his oxygen dipped dangerously low, which it did several times throughout the first night. I thought at one point to ask what happens if Ethan stopped responding to the treatments, but then didn\u2019t ask because I didn\u2019t want to know the answer.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The goal was to get him going without the need for additional oxygen, and breathing well for at least four hours between treatments, two times in a row.\u00a0<\/p>\n<aside class=\"ad-unit ad-unit--mr7_ab\"><\/aside>\n<p>That seemingly simple goal proved elusive for two full days. I originally thought it would be a nightmare trying to get a two-year-old to stay in a hospital bed for more than five minutes, but Ethan was in such bad shape that he barely made a fuss. Then, after midnight on our second night in the hospital, Ethan suddenly perked up.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>He sat up and rolled over in the hospital bed. Then, he rolled onto my head, spreading his arms and legs out as far as he could stretch, and giggled.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cShould I sleep here?\u201d he said, cracking himself up.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>It was like someone hit the power button on my kid, and suddenly he snapped back to himself. I didn\u2019t care that it was midnight and we needed to get some extremely interrupted sleep before the next nebulizer treatment. My son was back.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>A nurse later told me that she enjoyed working with kids because for as quickly as their health can deteriorate, they can just as speedily bounce back.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>After that, the doctor advised us to try stretching out his time between treatments. Finally, we were told he was stable enough to go home. I somehow hadn\u2019t shed a tear the entire time we were at the hospital, but when the doctor signed off on us leaving, I bawled.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>As nightmarish\u00a0an experience as it was, I realize how incredibly fortunate my family is. \u00a0<\/p>\n<p>My husband and I have jobs that allowed us to drop everything when our son needed help, we have health insurance policies, and resources to get through spending days at the hospital. \u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Perhaps most importantly, we had access to an incredible team of doctors and nurses and the sheer fortune of being able to get a bed for our son during an unprecedented and unthinkable time for hospitals.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>At the risk of repeating one of those parenting cliches that I would\u2019ve rolled my eyes at a week ago, I\u2019m thankful that I trusted my gut. Even when Ethan was being a wild child at urgent care, I knew something just wasn\u2019t right. What I didn\u2019t know was how much he had been struggling to breathe.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>At the hospital after being discharged, Ethan and I waited in the lobby as my husband went to get our car from the parking lot to pick us up. Ethan spotted some empty wheelchairs in the corner of the lobby, and immediately ran over to them. He giggled as he tried to roll one of the chairs into the automatic opening and closing doors. As I looked on as he laughed and laughed at the pint-sized commotion he created, I breathed a sigh of relief.\u00a0\n<\/p><\/div>\n<blockquote><p><strong><span style=\"color: #ff6600;\">If you liked the article, do not forget to share it with your friends. Follow us on\u00a0<span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><a style=\"color: #ff0000;\" href=\"https:\/\/news.google.com\/publications\/CAAqBwgKMLG0nwswvr63Aw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\">Google News<\/a><\/span>\u00a0too, click on the star and choose us from your favorites.<\/span><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">For forums sites go to <span style=\"color: #ff9900;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/forum.buradabiliyorum.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Forum.BuradaBiliyorum.Com<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>If you want to read more News articles, you can visit our <span style=\"color: #ff9900;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/news\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">News category.<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"color: black;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/thehill.com\/policy\/healthcare\/3719441-a-mothers-harrowing-rsv-story-ends-with-a-simple-lesson\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Source<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A mother\u2019s harrowing RSV story ends with a simple lesson I began to wonder if this trip to a pediatric urgent care with my son was even necessary.\u00a0\u00a0 Sure, he had been diagnosed with pneumonia a week ago and didn\u2019t seem to be getting better. His cough sounded uglier. But here Ethan was in classic&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":506710,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thehill.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/11\/EthanJudyKurtzRSV.jpg?w=1280","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[70897],"tags":[134343,135084,134353,71525,115,135085,135086,4965],"class_list":["post-506709","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-campaign","tag-children-virus-surge","tag-court-battles","tag-national-security","tag-news","tag-rsv","tag-rsv-vaccine","tag-technology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/506709","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=506709"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/506709\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/506710"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=506709"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=506709"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=506709"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}