Hello! Long time, no writing! I have missed writing, but my daily responsibilities haven't left much room to write. I wanted to share something with you that I was shocked by. I'm not here to get into a debate about vaccinations/no vaccinations. I did want to share a store with you. This past month my little family has been pretty sick. Each one of us back to back, but my little carter seemed to catch the worst of it. He has always been my sicker child. He runs the higher fevers, and he stays sick longer too. In the past anytime he caught a simple cold and started coughing it would always seem to sit on his chest and we would have to do breathing treatments, etc. EVERY TIME! At the end of January he came down with a cold with a cough and it is the first year that we have not had to do a breathing treatment on him (praise God). The doctors mentioned once that he may have a touch of baby asthma and it should go away as he gets older. I am thinking maybe they were right. Anyways, back to the story. Dexter came home with the a high fever (flu) on a Thursday after school, I came down with it on Saturday, Dustin had it on Monday, and Carter had it on Wednesday. On Monday, however, Carter's eye was blood shot so off to the doctor we went. He had pink eye. Wednesday rolled around and Carter had to go back to the doctor because he had the high fever 102.8 and after an hour on tylenol it even went up. Took him in and of course it had went down after we were there, but he did test positive for flu. So, we take him home with instructions to push the fluids, etc. by the weekend he had stopped running a fever, etc. come the next Monday his fever was back up to almost 103. Doctor instructed us that if he got better and then worse again to come back in because she was seeing alot of secondary infections. So, off to the doctor we went. He had an ear infection. Great, we can do something about that. We get antibiotics and go home. All this time he has been sick he has been complaining about his stomach hurting. Well, when he went on the antibiotics it just aggravated his stomach even more and we had 3 days of explosive diarrhea. I even went to the pharmacy on that Thursday night to make sure he wasn't given too strong of a dose because she had gone up 1 ml than his normal dose. (this is the 3rd ear infection since October so I was familiar with his dosage) She did all the calculations and he was in his range. on the upper end but not over. All you pharmacist will understand that talk. I can't explain it but she showed me what she did. Anyways... she instructed us to do probiotics and double the dose for the next 3 days or so. On the way home I had learned that Carter had vomited as well. We were trying to push the fluids, and honestly I thought we were doing a good job of keeping fluids in him. The very next day. Carter is laying on the couch crying that his stomach hurts so bad. I can't get him to get up so I call the doctor and inform them that Carter isn't getting better. He still has the high fever, etc. By the time of his appointment at 1:30 Carter will not hold his head up and he would not stand up. He laid in my arms the whole time at the doctors office with his head just limp! I am tearing up just thinking about it. I was so scared. I had no idea what was wrong with him. He wasn't getting better. They got us back really quickly and when the doctor came in he wouldn't raise his head up for her. She put her hand around his head to raise it up hoping he would keep it up and it just laid back. She ordered blood work and came in with a popsicle. I had to make him eat the popsicle. They came in with another popsicle and I think he drank a little bit while there too. He finally started holding his own head up. She checked his ear again and the infection had got significantly worse so she stopped his antibiotics and opted to give him an antibiotic shot. The antibiotics he was on were just going straight through and not having time to absorb. While we were there she made sure he would stand/walk on his own before she would let him go home. Thankfully, he did and he wasn't so lethargic. We were under strict orders to hydrate him and also make him eat something (he had ketones in his urine), and we were to return Monday to do a recheck. So, every 15 minutes he had to drink and was made to take a bite. Anyways, to the point of this story..... after the dramatic leadup. haha! Monday morning we go back in and see another doctor. After chatting with her and being all happy because Carter was doing so much better (No ear infection left so no more shots needed, YAY!) she made the comment.... oh, yea, they can get dehydrated really fast when they're going to the bathroom like he was and also vomiting. Even when you are doing your best to push fluids. She then said back before they came out with the rotavirus vaccine, during the sick season, it was very common for me to have 6 or so patients a day have to be sent to hospital because they were so sick and dehydrated! I'll never forget that. Think about it: 6 patients give or take a day for just that one doctor being sent to the hospital because of the rotavirus. I'm not saying that that cured everything and babies/kids don't still get sent to hospital for dehydration, etc., but I do know that from this experienced doctors mouth that 6 patients a day scenario doesn't happen like it used to. Yes, I am pro vaccinations, but I'm not going to be ugly to you or not like you or whatever if you choose otherwise. I do want to say in the most loving way because those who know me know my heart for them.. When you have a very sick child and are scared to the point of total helplessness I promise you that you will do whatever it takes to help them. That includes any medications necessary. That is the love we have for our children. Don't let fear cause you to be afraid of something that is LIFE SAVING. I don't know if your child will ever come down with one of these deadly diseases, and I pray that they never do. I even pray that for my own children even though they've been vaccinated. I also understand that some kids can't take them for medical reasons, etc. Even Carter had a bigger reaction to them than Dexter... We then spaced them out so he wouldn't do them all at the same time. There is options. =D Love you friends and always remember.... it's about protecting our children and families and people. Don't let the fear of a reaction to them cause you to not want them. I hope I don't offend my non vaccinating friends.... I love you, regardless.
p.s. Carter was not to a point to where he needed hospitalization (however, he was close. The doctor was straight up with me that if we couldn't get him to stand or walk that we couldn't go home). I was still scared/very concerned and wanted nothing more than for him to be better.
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