Upstate NY and the Enterovirus

In the middle of September, we loaded the kids into the car for a 3.5 hour trip to visit the Lucanders in the catskills.  We always have such a great time when we go to see them.  They took us back to Mountain house (we went there 2 years ago which was when we last visited), where we hiked up to the "castle" at the top, played on the playground, and fed some giant fish in the pond/lake.  The kids had a blast feeding the fish, and it is such a pretty area.  After lunch and a nap, we took the kids to the playground up the road, where Mudgie learned how to do the monkey bars.  It was so cool to watch him figure it out.  I think gymnastics is really a good fit for these kids!  That night we had a campfire in the backyard and made s'mores, which of course was a hit.  The weekend just seemed to fly by, and before we knew it, we were back home.

All weekend long Aaron had a runny nose.  We thought it was just allergies to something in NY, but when we got home and it was only getting worse, we knew something was up.  That night he started coughing, and was coughing so much and so hard that he was up 2 or 3 times in the middle of the night.  I decided to keep him home from school on Monday.  That morning, he was wheezing a little bit, which is very abnormal for Aaron.  I decided to bring Tommy to daycare, and then I'd call the doctor to make an appointment for Aaron.  In the hour and a half between when we woke up, brought Tommy to daycare, and got back home, Aaron was wheezing so much I was ready to go to the ER, when the doctor called to say just bring him there right away.  His oxygen levels were only 91, and he was clearly struggling to breath.  It was scarey.  They gave him a nebulizer treatment in the office, and thankfully, he improved immensely after that.  I was a little concerned about how he'd do taking it, but they gave him a "pink chicken mask" (Aaron's name for it) to use with the machine, and it went much better than I expected.  We were sent home and told to continue treatments every 4 hours as needed.  For the rest of the day, he needed them every 3-4 hours.  I was concerned what night-time would mean, and even told Aaron to wake us up if he needed, and he said, "But what if Daddy doesn't know about my chicken mask?"  Luckily, he slept through the night and woke up much improved the next day.  It seemed that it left just as quickly as it came.

Then the waiting game began.  The boys had been sharing germs (and sippy cups) all weekend.  I figured it was just a matter of time before another one got sick, but with Mudgie's normal breathing issues when he has a cold or allergies, I was terrified what this virus would do to him.  I waited, but by Friday when all seemed well, I thought we were out of the water.  We all got flu shots at the doctor at 3:30 that afternoon, and I took the boys to playground afterwards.  Unfortunately, when we got home around 5:15, Mudgie was wheezing...really bad.

I gave him a nebulizer treatment, but it didn't seem to help much.  I waited an hour, and then I gave him another one.  I could still hear him wheezing after that one, so I packed him up and brought him to urgent care (thankfully we had that option...an hour later and we would have been in the ER).  Even after 2 nebulizer treatments, his oxygen levels were still only 91.  When I saw that I began to mentally prepare to go to the ER.  They gave him yet another nebulizer treatment (his 3rd in 4 hours), and his oxygen levels improved to 95.  The doctor said we could go home, but gave Eli a prescription for steroids to help open his airways further.  Again, I was very concerned what the night would bring.  Mudgie did wake up once for a neb treatment, but he seemed to be doing ok.  I watched him like a hawk the next day, and there was a period of time between noon and 4pm when I thought we might have to head to the ER, but then, just like Aaron, he improved as quickly as he got sick.  It was amazing!

Thankfully, Tommy managed to avoid the bug altogether.  Of course, we were panicked all week about what would happen if Tommy got sick, but thankfully we never had to find out.  I certainly wonder if it had something to do with him still nursing, but whatever the reason, I'm quite happy about the result!  Everyone is now healthy again, and hopefully that is worst bug to visit our house this winter!