RSV and Facebook - #7

We had a scare in our house this past week, seems like we are having a lot of those. Janika had been really sick and Angie took her to the doctor on Monday. She had taken her the week before, but he dismissed it as being a little sick and to let it run its course. When she wasn’t getting any better we thought it was time to visit the doctor again. Well it turned out Janika was not just a little sick, she was very sick. She had infections in her ears, kidneys, urinary track, and lungs. That is quite a lot for a 7-month old to handle. So on Monday we put our baby girl in the hospital. She was treated and we were able to take her home a few days later on New Year’s Eve. The infections in her ears and urinary track are basically gone. Her kidney infection turned out to be small, but we have to take her back to the doctor to make sure this won’t be something she’ll battle for the rest of her life. The infection in her lungs was a different story. Janika was diagnosed with respiratory syncytial virus or RSV. It causes infection of the lungs and breathing passages. Adults can get it too, but it will seem very mild to us. In babies Janika’s age it can seriously affect the lungs, heart, or immune system. It is also highly contagious; our 2-year old Lenka had to wear a mask when she was around her little sister. Luckily the disease usually lasts about a week. That would explain her complete turn around.

Because RSV can be easily spread by touching people or surfaces that are infected, frequent hand washing can go a long way toward preventing the virus from spreading around a household. It’s best to wash your hands after having any contact with someone who has any cold symptoms. And keep your school-age child with a cold away from younger siblings, especially infants, until the symptoms pass. When it comes to treating RSV most cases are mild and require no specific treatment from a doctor. Antibiotics aren’t used because RSV is a virus and antibiotics are only effective against bacteria. Meds may sometimes be given to help open airways. In an infant though an RSV infection can be more serious and may require hospitalization so that the baby can be watched closely, receive fluids, and if needed, be treated for breathing problems; just like our little Janika. Below are some of the symptoms to look for.

-high fever with ill appearance
-thick nasal discharge that is yellow, green, or gray
-worsening cough or cough that produces yellow, green, or gray mucus

While Janika was going through her ordeal my wife found refuge in the social network Facebook. She was able to give updates to her friends and family through wall-to-wall messages, status updates, and personal notes or blogs. For awhile my wife and I were on MySpace. We were able to talk to a few of our friends and blog and what not, but there was always that constant thought running through my head, are we too old for this? I mean I was 30 and I’m on the same social network that seems to be populated with the 14 to 22 year olds. I finally made the move to Facebook where I felt a little more welcome. I didn’t feel like such a dirty old man. Facebook is more PG and seems perfect for my age range, and older. I was able to touch base with people I hadn’t seen since I was nine! I’m still able to blog as well, which you can tell is something I like to do. Soon Angie jumped on board and as I bragged about my 150 plus friends, she had shot above 300 in only a couple months. This is not only a perfect way to keep in touch with people, but to do what I think MySpace was suppose to do and that was connect with friends and family all over the world. I still have my MySpace account, but I’m not on it as much.

So a topic that comes up with social networks such as MySpace and Facebook are should parents and their children have accounts and should they be “friends”. I can admit that teenagers have to grow up a lot faster than I was at their age; and that wasn’t really that long ago. There is an excellent article I found about parents and kids with Facebook accounts and should they be “friends”. It is a very good article, but what is even more interesting are the comments made by parents and kids so make sure to check out that part of the article. While reading it I was thinking if I would have to go though this with my girls in 10 to 12 years from now, but who knows what they’ll have by then.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28318138/wid/11915829?GT1=40000

Have a great new year and be sure to make a resolution in 2009 to be to spend more time with your kids.