14 year old son diagnosed with "A" influenza

Ramius31 · 09-10-2009, 07:23 PM

Hello,

AB suggested that I share my story here in the Discussion room.

My son has always been a real bad allergy/excercise induced asthmatic. His attacks have always come with zero warning and when they hit, his airway closes so fast that he passes out almost immediately. They have always struck him when he was at school (except for one case at home) and he has been ambulanced to the hospital to many time to count. During the ambulance rides his blood oxygen level is usually in the 30 count range and we end up spending a few days in the hospital. He loves that part of it because once he gets the treatments, he is perfectly fine and chipper and enjoys playing the video games and all of the extra attention in the hospital.

Luckily for both of us, he appears to be growing out of this. He has only had one attack in the last 14 months and the doctor finally took him off of the steroid inhalers and allergy medicine.

On Labor Day my son started coughing. It was a chunky but non-productive cough that came from deep in his chest. This is they type of cough that always worries me, so I had him take his rescue inhaler and gave him some Mucinex. Early on Tuesday morning he woke me up complaining of a bad headache. I noticed that he was sweating and took his temperature. It was in the 101 range which seemed typical for a cold, so I took care of him and kept him home from school since he was running a fever.

By late Tuesday night, his fever was up to 103.6 on our digital thermometer. He didn't appear to be any worse with his cough, but I decided to take him to the doctor on Wednesday and called to make an appointment with the the on-call nurse. The earliest they could fit us in was 5:00 pm or they suggested I take him to the emergency room. I have had my fill of the emergency rooms here and didn't think he was in a condition to justify the risks, so we kept to the appointment.

By afternoon of Wednesday, my son was complaining of light headednessbut his fever was back down to around 101 range. His coughing was still very chunky and deep but non-productive. It was also painful for him to cough.

When we arrived at the doctor's office the first thing I noticed was that there were quite a few teenaged children waiting to be seen. When we got back, the nurses assistant asked my son how he was feeling and what was wrong. She immediately said that she was going to administer a flu test and further elaborated that her daughter had tested positive the day before and that they were seeing a "huge amount" of flu cases since last Friday. She adminstered the nasal swab on my son and about 15 minutes later the doctor came in and said that he had tested positive for "A Influenza" and that because of the large amounts of flu cases, they are assuming that the majority are H1N1 without further testing.

The doctor asked me when symptoms began and we discussed it for a few minutes. He said that what he would like to do was put my son on the adult Tamiflu dosage even though we were real close to the "48 hour window" because he fell into a high risk category. We had been down this path earlier this summer when he was diagnosed with "A" type flu. He was given Tamiflu then as well. The doctor also said that he was putting my child back on Symbicort (steroid inhaler), a very strong cough syrup called Tussionex, the 75mg 2 per day Tamflu capsules and a new rescue inhaler. The doctor also told me that I was to go to the hospital immediately if his coughing increased in severity or he had trouble breathing. This is nothing new for me, we've been to the hospital many times for trouble breathing.

I got all of the medication filled shortly before 7pm and he started taking them around 8pm last night. The Tussionex must be extremely strong because he had trouble walking and complained about how light headed he was. He fell asleep shortly before 10pm and was up and down all night long. His coughing is still very chunky and non-productive when he is awake but he is not coughing while he is sleeping. His fever has broken, but he now complains of bad body aches. He has no appettite and I have to argue with him to drink liquids.

As of this evening, 24 hours into this episode, his cough is still the same and possibly a touch worse, I have no clue because of all of the suppresants he is on at the moment. About the only thing I can do is ask him every 15 minutes how his breathing is and help him when he needs something. Otherwise, he is awake for an hour or so and then sleeps for two.

He was also excused from school until Monday and I called them this morning to report that he had been diagnosed with "A" type influenza. He has a follow-up appointment next Tuesday and if his cough has not gone away by then, the doctor said that they would have to pursue other options.

I'm not extremely worried because I think his doctor is on top of things.

flourbug · 09-10-2009, 07:28 PM

Thanks for sharing, Ramius31. Our thoughts and prayers are with you and your son.

.

free ranger · 09-10-2009, 09:32 PM

Oh my - another flu victim. My prayers for a continued rapid recovery.

MicheleMaBell · 09-10-2009, 09:37 PM

I'm sorry to hear how sick your son is, I hope he is on the mend soon! It's always so stressful and tiring for Mom & Dad as well when the kids get sick so take care of the caregiver too!

drummagick · 09-10-2009, 09:40 PM

Tussionex has vicodin in it. That should help with the body aches, as well as the cough!
No wonder he is woozy, besides being woozy from the flu.

I hope he feels better soon!

Ramius31 · 09-10-2009, 10:19 PM

Thank you very much for your kind thoughts. We just got back from our Urgent Care. My son said his chest was hurting when he was breathing. I called the doctor and he told me he wanted a chest x-ray tonight and where to go for it. They did the chest x-ray and said that he has a small infection in his bottom right lung. They also said that he has pulled his chest wall from all of the coughing. The doctor prescribed him Cefdinir 300 mg twice per day antibiotic and said that if my son doesn't start improving by noon tomorrow that we might have to consider hospitilization.

Auburn Boy · 09-10-2009, 10:31 PM

Nice report Ramius! I hope your son recovers without further incident (and that you don't catch anything!!)

Good luck.

Mama Alanna · 09-10-2009, 10:35 PM

Healing thoughts going out to you, Ramius.

ladybugs4me · 09-11-2009, 12:43 AM

I'm glad your doctor is on top of his care and I hope he's feeling better soon, Ramius.

CanadaSue · 09-11-2009, 01:28 AM

Ramius, I'm sorry to hear he's feeling so poorly. the doc certainly does seem on top of things. I'll keep my fingers crossed the antibiotics kick in fast.

stars01 · 09-11-2009, 07:24 AM

I hope your son feels better soon.

paula

Exodia · 09-11-2009, 09:23 AM

Wow, round two for him with this bug. So much for "partial immunity". I hope he feels better soon.

Amberglass · 09-11-2009, 01:25 PM

Ramius,

Sorry to hear your son is so sick. It sure is draining for us as parents. Catch every wink of sleep that you can.

Christy · 09-11-2009, 02:43 PM

Phew, this is hard for a parent. All the best for a speedy recovery.

spinnerholic · 09-11-2009, 04:34 PM

More good wishes and prayers for a quick recovery from us, too.

I think that when our youngsters are sick, especially with something possibly very scary, it's harder on the parents than the kiddo.

Take good care of yourselves.

Ramius31 · 09-11-2009, 05:29 PM

Just wanted to take a moment and post an update on how my son is doing. He slept a good 16 hours almost continuously. He still has a fever, but it is now in the 100 degree range. His cough started being productive around 10 am which was a good thing. He still has no appetite but giving him plenty of fluids. Crossing my fingers that we are turning a corner here.

Auburn Boy · 09-11-2009, 05:37 PM

Great to hear that Ramius! Keep up the good doctorin'!!

Give him chicken soup!!

CanadaSue · 09-11-2009, 06:46 PM

Thanx for the update, Ramius... with his histroy, I'm hoping he has turned a corner.

dessismama · 09-11-2009, 09:41 PM

Hope your son is feeling better!! How scary!!

I have 2 sons with asthma and I am totally freaking out. My kids hate all the "supplements" I give them every morning (vit D3, Sambucol, probiotics) but I hope those things work and prevent serious disease in them.

Ramius31 · 09-13-2009, 05:10 AM

Wanted to take a moment and post an update on how my son is doing.

As of today, he is running a low grade fever again, about 99.9 to 100.3. His coughing has shown zero improvement all day and night and might have gotten a little worse again, he asked for more cough syrup (the tussionex) even though he has hated taking it. He is still sleeping around 45 minutes of every hour and when he is awake, has no appetite. I've been force feeding chicken noodle soup and crackers to him.

I'm really starting to get concerned about the cough. I can hear the crud in his lungs rattling around and yet he doesn't have much, if any, gunk coming up. With the drugs he is on, I really expected today to be a turn around day.

Hopefully Sunday will be the big improvement day...

ukmum · 09-13-2009, 07:06 AM

Im not a medic but with a rattling chest, I would take him back again to the doctors if theres no improvment within the next coupe of hours. It may be that he needs a different med.
Hope he's feeling better soon

CanadaSue · 09-13-2009, 08:27 AM

Ramius - I'm realy not comfy with what I'm reading here. You can hear it rattling but it's not coming up & fever is redeveloping.

Take him in.

Mousehound · 09-13-2009, 08:48 AM

Thank you CS. My thoughts exactly.

MicheleMaBell · 09-13-2009, 09:33 AM

Yes I agree to take him in, the sooner the better!

ukmum · 09-14-2009, 11:23 AM

Bump

How is your son today? Hope he is feeling better.