Bronchial pnemonia?

[Amanzi]

What a few weeks my family has had !

My son came home 3 weeks ago with the flu. He got over it pretty quickly. My baby girl ended up getting it with secondry ear infections as well. I have it now, and cant shake it. My sinus are horribly infected on top of large amounts of sleep deprivation I feel like....well Doggie doo doo.

Yesterday my son woke up and started throwing up and had a high fever, so off we went back to the doctors office. The poor child basically deteriorated in front of my eyes. He looks terrible, his eyes are all sunken in his face and has these horrible black rings around his eyes. He has also lost 2 pounds in the last 2 days! The doctor took one listen to his chest, and told me he has bronchitis, and his concern was that it could be bronchial pnemonia. I have to watch him like a hawk today and hope the antibiotics start doing there thing, otherwise its off for a chest x-ray. My concern is though that he has thrown up a dose of the antibiotic....

Does anybody know if this is contageous??? Or is it a secondry infection as well?

The amazing thing is that my husband has not even had the sniffles or so much as a sneeze!!!!!! I swear it is because he eats at least 2-3 raw really hot chillie peppers a day and drinks half a bottle of red wine a night.... nothing can survive in his blood stream

[weathermom]

Pneumonia is contagious. My daughter had it a 1.5 years ago and about a month later her older sister had a cold/fever/cough that seemed to be on its way to getting better except for the cough and the pediatrician made me get her checked 3 times. The third time it had become pneumonia. If your son can't keep the antibiotics down you have to let the pediatrician know.

Good luck!

[Amanzi]

Thanks weathermom... Im just praying my 8 month old does not get this! She has had 2 lots of antibiotics in the last 2 months. I know they are a necessary evil, but I think to many of them can cause damage.

What treatment did your daughter have?

[GalvestonDuck]

There are several causes of bronchial pneumonia and several ways to catch it. It can be caused by bacteria, a virus, or mycoplasma. If it's viral, it will heal on it's one. But antibiotics treat the other two. Unlike lobar pneumonia which affects one particular lobe of a lung, bronchial pneumonia affects areas of both lungs.

Did they do blood or sputum cultures to try to determine what type of pneumonia this is? My guess would be the myco -- it's most common in children and takes a while to develop.

I'm praying for him and hope he recovers soon.

[weathermom]

My daughters were treated with antibiotics also. That seemed to do the trick. One of them used an inhaler for a few days until things started to get better. They had no issue with keeping the antibiotics down though. I hope that is no longer an issue for your son. I agree about not giving them too many antibiotics, I hate to see them take any drug that isnt absolutely necessary.

Keep us posted on how he is doing.

[sunupgal]

I have a lot of parent experience with pnuemonia. My daughter, who is 14 now, was hospitalized with it for a week when she was 4. It ended up injuring one of her lungs, and she has since developed reactive airway disease (similar to asthma) since then. She ends up with pnuemonia about once a year, and we end up in the hospital at least once every other year from it. The antibiotics should work...zpac works well. They can also give a shot of Rosephin (spelling?) if antibiotics aren't working. My son, who is much healthier has been close once or twice, but with antibiotics and inhalers, it clears up. The thing about pneumonia is that they usually don't cough alot when it's bad, except at night. Keep an eye on your child and use your best judgement. If he looks really sick, is unusually lethargic, or is running a high fever, don't take any chances...just take him back to the doctor or hospital. The virus,bacteria that can lead to pneumonia is contagious, but not everyone will develop it. This is opinion based on experience. Hope it helps! Good luck to you and your family!

[streetsoldier]

I'm thinking that the cleanup in FL is not going as well as one might think...God knows what the backwaters are producing!

Say it ain't so?

[Amanzi]

Thanks for the advice sunupgal. My mom actually told me the same thing, (that it can cause long term damage) I had NO clue about that.

We had a good night last night, and he seems to be much better. I think the antibiotics did the trick. The doc gave me another dose for him to replace the one that ended up in the toilet! I feel much better about it right now, and he looks like he will be ok.

Im keeping an eagle eye on my daughter as well.

Bill, I never thought about that... the intracoastal is salt-water, but it has been a really nasty color red-brown ever since the first of the hurricanes blew through here (I refer to that because its part of my back yard). I would hate to think what could be hanging around in the fresh water

[Guest]

Hey Bron. Glad to hear your son is showing signs of improvement. It's terrible having a sick child. My heart goes out to him. Dustin has bronchitis right now too. A comfort measure you can provide is elevating the head of his bed. It will keep the secretions down and allow for easier breathing at night. Let us know he is doing. Take it easy.
...Jennifer...

[Amanzi]

Thats a good suggestion Jen, it really does help. The humidifier with vicks vapor is also great (I found vicks rub for babies for him as well, so it does not burn his skin).

He is doing much better. The cough is still there, but it sounds different now, more productive I think. I am taking him for a check up on wednesday just to be sure.

Hope Dustin gets better too!

[Stephanie]

I'm praying for both of you Bronnie and Jennifer! I'm glad your little one Bronnie is doing better.

[vbhoutex]

Praying for each of you dealing with the sick children. Been there done that and know it is not any fun at all!!!

Good to hear that yours is improving Bron. Jen keep us posted!!

[isobar]

Hope everyone's all better soon!