What is RSV?
RSV is a respiratory illness and stands for Respiratory Syncytial Virus. It can be very serious in young children. Most often treatable with oxygen therapy, and sometimes nebulizer treatments to assist with opening the airways. Some children need to be hospitalized for these treatments and monitoring.
Our son at the age of 6 months acquired a cold which very quickly, less than 24 hours, turned into RSV. He started with a cough, had difficulty getting breaths in and got a fever. We had taken him to our urgent care on a Sunday morning and at that point did not test him for RSV. By 4 am the next morning he was having issues with getting breaths in and had a fever. We contacted our on call nurse at our clinic and were advised to call 911 because of the difficulty in breathing. When we arrived at the ER by ambulance his temp was 102.6 and his saturation level (blood oxygenation level) was at 88 percent. They immediately did an x-ray of his lungs and a nose swab for RSV, Influenza and pneumonia. After a short wait we were told he was positive for RSV and were going to admit him. He needed the oxygen therapy and monitoring. It was not until 31 hours later that his oxygen level was at 96 percent without the oxygen therapy. The other thing to note is; dehydration. He was not feeding well at all and had very dry diapers (13 hour dry/non-wet diaper). They watch for the level of dehydration and keep track of intake and out-take; because he started feeding somewhat more and had a small increase in a wet diaper they felt that he did not need to have supplements of water and such. After a 36 hour hospitalization we were released to come home, but to continue the nebulizer treatments to keep the airways open. As I write this, we are 72 hours + past the beginning of the hospital stay. Apparently it can take 5 - 15 days to recover from RSV. Infants less than 6 months are even at higher risk. Our daughter also had RSV at 2 weeks of age and was hospitalized for 5.5 days and took at least 15 days to recover or more.
For a parent or loved one caring for children, it can be difficult to go through things such as hospital stays or taking care of very sick children. Please try to support those that you know are going through such a difficult time, no matter what the illness/disease is, support is a positive need. When your child is suffering it is hard to know what to do at times, because children cannot always tell you exactly what is going on, especially if they are non-verbal. Trust your instinct and listen to their cues. You are the loved one who knows them best, if they are acting different you will know. Sharing this with the medical professionals assists them in their diagnosis and if you need a second opinion, get one. You are the advocate and their wonderful loving parent.
Here are a couple of websites to go to for more information on RSV.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_respiratory_syncytial_virus
http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/respiratory-syncytial-virus/DS00414
Blessings on being a parent and/or loved one, Katie
