Kids with physical differences handle colds differently than typical kids. Not quite a shocking statement, but one that is widely forgotten now that we are on the back end of the COVID pandemic (hopefully). In fact, with mask requirements evaporating, it seems that we have pretty much decided as a society that kids under 12, who cannot as of this writing yet receive a COVID vaccine, are generally expendable from a prevention standpoint. As the adults go on the honor system for mask-wearing and social distancing, kids can just deal with it, I guess.

Except, not all kids are equally equipped to deal with even common respiratory viruses, much less the deadliest one in the past hundred years.

When you can’t stand or walk, as my son can’t, all the muscles for breathing and coughing just aren’t as strong. Then when a nasty virus attacks the lungs, it gets that much harder to keep oxygen levels up. And that’s what happened when my son was admitted to the hospital again. I can’t tell you what number admission it was for him with a virus. I can say, however, that it was not COVID or even the flu. It was a common cold virus. Specifically, it was Parainfluenza Virus 3. So our Viral Bingo card is complete. We won a waffle maker.

It took a full week for our little guy to be well enough to go home. And by “well enough,” I mean that his oxygen levels would stay up within the 90%+ range without extra oxygen. To get there, he had to start his stay with a full face mask that basically blows oxygenated air into your face to keep the airways open so it gets to your lungs. It’s rather hard to take in oxygen if everything is so congested that it can’t get in. Also, fun fact, every few hours my son got to endure a tube going up his nose and down into his throat to suck out all the mucus building up in his lungs.

After a couple of days, it’s time to step down to the high flow setup where air is blasted straight up into the nose at all times. Sure, the kid makes it look good, but he also knocked the thing out of his nose about every minute and set off the hospital alarms in his sleep when his oxygen dipped too low. Pretty great, fun time in the middle of the night.

When one child is in the hospital, it affects both kids. My daughter can’t visit the hospital because visitors are banned due to COVID. She also got sick herself and required care of her own. It was a bad week, and it’s not normal to have a brother stuck in the hospital, no matter how often it happens. Every time is a new trauma. Every time is a struggle to be fairly paid attention to. And night after night in a half-empty house with an empty lower bunk bed where her brother should be takes its toll. Facetime and phone calls get us through as best they can.

After the nose-mounted air blaster comes the regular nasal cannula. It’s at this point that we get transferred out of intensive care and to the acute unit for the rest of the stay, where the snot sucking continues and the oxygen is slowly turned down until we can finally go home.

This was a regular cold and it took five days in intensive care and another two after that to get better.

Keep Up Those Masks

When was the last time you went to Target or Walmart or any grocery store and there wasn’t at least one child somewhere in the store? Then again, maybe you go to some hip, urban, all-night grocery store with free alcohol and strippers. My local stores do not offer that. So even though I have been vaccinated against COVID-19 for months, I still wear a mask in indoor public places. How can we tell kids they still have to wear masks and then not wear them ourselves in areas with the most people? Sadly, many don’t, and so more and more kids aren’t either.

Not all kids can easily brush off a COVID infection. Thank goodness my son didn’t have to this time. Maybe we can all stick with things just a little bit longer so he and his friends never have to.