Not another virus!

Sorry for delay in update but as usual life has been busy.

We got home to Aberdeen 15th February following Max's hernia repair and all was going really well. Max was coming on so much and you could see how much the reherniation must have slowed him down because he took off crawling the day he was discharged from hospital! It was fantastic to get home and to start over again with our now healthy little boy. However, within a week of being home he picked up a cold which turned into a cough, i'm not normally one to panic about Max but given the ride we'd just come through I was worried it was RSV again and took him to have his chest listened to, which was clear. This went on for around 3 weeks with Max not getting any worse but not getting any better either. I eventually took him into A&E on the Tuesday of week 3 due to him crying so much, seeming quite lethargic and retching way more than usual, he was checked out and they felt he was good to go home - just cold & cough. I felt there might be more but as all his stats were fine off we went. By the Friday he was no better and I still had the same concerns so again I headed in to A&E to have him checked out and again we returned home. On Saturday morning with Simon off work we decided to head out for a walk, however Max was still very letharic, retching what felt like every 5 minutes, was now having really horrific diarrhoea and showing temp of 39.6deg C! Simon actually made the decision to take him in and i'm so glad he did. The nurses could see how dehydrated he was and started him on some fluids through his gastrostomy, he was also having some very jumpy movements due to his temperature which is apparently very common (but worrying to see). A stool sample had been taken on the Friday and within a couple of hours on Saturday the results were back that Max had picked up a virus known as Rotavirus. Rotavirus is the most common cause of severe diarrhoea among infants and young children infecting and damaging the cells that line the small intestine causing gastroenteritis. Max was given fluids to hydrate him and pain relief for the tummy cramps he was also having. I felt so sorry for him given what he had only just gone through and now this, he really deserved a break (and so did we!). By Monday afternoon Max seemed much better and the Drs felt he was good to come home. Tuesday was a very hard day as he seemed to get worse again crying all the time, having tummy cramps etc but we had started him back on his milks as advised and I think given the severity of his virus it was too soon. Its now Saturday and he seemed to be almost back to his usual self although we have still not put him back on full strength feeds.

We're back on the right path now and with winter almost behind us & RSV season fading we can look forward to a much healthier summer.

xx