Whooping cough scare :-o

Well, the last 24 hours I have been rather worried that our household may have contracted whooping cough...

Master D has been at home sick- he had been making this grunting noise and told me it sort of hurt to breathe when I asked him why he was making that noise. Two days after that he starts to cough and doesn't look too good. I took him to the doctor and as usual, before even checking him out he says it sounds viral... I thought here we go - he is gonna say give him panadol and get plenty of rest... Thankfully before I jumped up and started to choke him he had a listen to his chest - he could hear noises in the right side lung.. That's what the grunting will be about- it's a 'secondary infection' from the virus - aka bronchitis. So, we walked out with a script for antibiotics and home we went.

Next thing I get a call from a mate at work to tell me my eldest son asked her to ring me and tell me that there had been a confirmed case of whooping cough at school. Oh brilliant- we have a 5 week old baby at home who would be in terrible danger if she got it. My source at work dug a little deeper to find out if the child was in primary or secondary and it turned out it was secondary school.. Okay- Now I was panicking.

Back on the phone to the doctors surgery.. expecting the brush off from the receptionists- I was pleasantly surprised that when I mentioned the words suspected whooping cough and five week old they got the doctor to call me back!

As you do, I had started googling the topic in the meantime- if ZMaster D or T did have it then other family members should go on antibiotics to help prevent or lessen infection.. Babies are especially at risk if infected and would have to be hospitalized... Now I was freaking out, I couldn't bear the thought of our little one having it.

Thankfully the doc suggested the boys get tested by having a swab of the throat and nose.. That was a circus! Praise the Lord, the results were negative. Andrew and I went in first thing the next morning to get a booster shot- which was a walk in the park, hardly felt a thing! By the end of the day my arm was rather sore and tender. Not to worry though, if it means avoiding whooping cough I'm all for it 8-) bonus that the vaccine was also for tetanus and diptheria etc- we are good for another ten years.

Now I'm onto my next topic- WHY do poeple refuse to immunize their children!! I know there are conspiracy theories about these shots causing autism etc but seriously- do you really want your child to suffer any of these diseases and also expos others? Polio has been pretty much eradicated in Aus thanks to vaccinations..sigh.

Perhaps parents who are anti immunizations need to spend time in hospital with tiny babies who contract whooping cough and see the suffering it causes- grief even for parents who have lost their infants to this disease. It could be them if they aren't careful.

I have also learned that adults can contract whooping cough as their immunity decreases the longer it has been since they have been vaccinated. If they pick it up then they can pass it on to their children too. Hence the government has made booster vaccines for parents/grandparents and caregivers free.

It continues to amaze me everyday how loving and merciful God is- and the power of prayer.

TGBTG xx