It all started the night of September 29th. My 8 month old was running a temperature of 102 & had a dry cough. Nothing was alarming besides the temperature. He was eating, playing & acting normal.

We thought at the most it could be was a cold, but we went to the emergency room at Welch Hospital to check. Not really expecting it to be much of a concern (such as the flu or RSV). The doctor checked him out & told us he had an ear infection. She sent us home with Amoxicillin & told us to alternate ibuprofen & Tylenol every 3 hours. We done that for 3-4 days letting the antibiotics do their job, but it just wasn’t helping him.

He was still running a even higher fever of 103.5. We decided to take him to his pediatrician. His normal doctor wasn’t their (she was on vacation) so we seen another doctor. He said he wanted some tests done. Blood & urine culture & a chest X-ray. He told us the possibilities was a blood infection, urinary track infection or pneumonia. The doctor ruled out pneumonia & blood infection because of his behavior & how well he was interacting & the fact he was still eating normally. The doctor predicted more along the lines of a urinary track infection. We went to another hospital RGH in Beckley to get the tests done. We get home & get an alarming phone call. The doctor wants him admitted into yet another hospital (ARH in Beckley) for pneumonia. As soon as I over heard what the doctor said I started bawling my eyes out while packing our stuff back up. He said it would be a few days so we packed accordingly.

We stayed 2 night at ARH thinking the antibiotics they was giving him would help him, but they wasn’t. The doctor gave me a ultimatum because he done everything he could do for him...we could stay another night their & see how he does or get transferred to another hospital that specializes in children & sicknesses like his. I decided real quick that we was going to CAMC hospital to get him the best treatment possible to finally get him better. The doctor got it all ready to be transported & we drove in an ambulance almost 2 hours away from home.

Still hooked up to the IV fluids & all, we took that long trip to CAMC. Not knowing if they could help him, but praying to god they could. We get their & the doctor immediately start looking him over. They had to redo his IV in his foot because it had popped & had his whole leg swollen. Watching them redo it in his hand made me have a panic attack. He had been through so much already. This momma couldn’t take much more. They finally got him situated & hooked up to the monitors.

The doctor wanted to take him off the IV fluids to see how well his body would react. His white blood cell count was 30,000 (suppose to be around 15,000). By the next day without IV fluids they jumped to 35,000 so the doctor hooked him back up to the IV & gave him a stronger antibiotic. He started feeling better & eating more.

He was doing so good they decided to take him off the IV & let him eat & take antibiotics through mouth again. He done great & his white blood cell count went down to 20,000 over night! They released him on antibiotics.

He had his checkup with his regular pediatrician yesterday & she said he’s doing wonderful! He’s home, eating more & playing. If you would have asked me 2 weeks ago if my baby had pneumonia I would have laughed in your face, but knowing what I do now. I can honestly say this came up out of nowhere. Not even the doctors know how he developed it or where he got it at. All I know & care about is that my baby is getting better each & every day!