A little freak out

[Jason's Dream]

My 3 year old has a croupy like cough, that you can hear and feel it when he breathes. He has a fever ranging from 100.8-101.3. He says his head and throat hurts. My husband now has it, and can't cough without the cough assist machine. I am freaking out. Is this something to be worried about with how advanced he is in the progression of the disease?

 

[LornaDoone]

This is definately something to be concerned about. Colds are often the last straw for PALS. With already compromised lung funcyion, it can be deadly quite honestly. It's much harder for a pals to get over a cold in many cases.

However, I will say that the emotional benefits from being around the kids often far outweigh the physical health consequences from colds. You will want to talk with your spouse about this.

What we do with colds.. if a caregiver or housekeeper have an illness, we ask them to stay home. If one of the kids has a cold, we dont let them climb all over our her. However, we all still sit at the dinner table, etc. We had a talk about this about a year ago in fact.

 

[LornaDoone]

You know, I've read a little bit about his condition and my hat goes off to you. Seriously. Lots of love to you sister. It's gotta really suck sometimes for you. We are here when you need us.

 

[Katie C]

It could definitly become an issue... I would recommend putting a call in to his primary care doc or his neuro, whichever you feel most comfortable with, for advice.

 

[Jason's Dream]

Thanks for making me not feel crazy. I called his GP and she is going to prescribe something while I am at her office with our son. We haven't let our son crawl up on Daddy. Its been hard cause he is a Daddy's boy and he doesn't understand and all he wants is to curl up on Dadda.

 

[Marjorie R. Wilcox]

Get whoever has a croupy-like cough into some steam, even just going into the closed bathroom and running the hot water to make quick steam. Make sure the child doesn't have an ear infection or strep germs with a visit to the dr... I raised six kids... one with asthma.... Don't forget to wash dishes in very hot water... maybe with a couple drops of Chlorox added. Remember to change the pillowcases of someone with a cold, every other day. (Two clean sides to be used.) This can help lessen the spread of germs. That's my added 2 cents! Best wishes.

 

[KKay]

We have two young ones as well. I can't add much except to say I have a heavy hand with Lysol and Clorox wipes. My husband also gets vacinated for flu and pneumonia each year. So far, so good.

 

[Jason's Dream]

Thank you for your replies. My 3 year old has an upper respiratory infection and 2 ear infections and is on antibiotics and singulair. I have been using steam for him as well as a cool mist humidifier.

Our GP also prescribed my husband a Zpack and I crushed that in a powder, added that to water and gave it to him via his PEG tube. Hoping this works, along with the cough assist machine, suction machine, and nose sucker. *crosses fingers*