my son was diagnosed with pneumonia this morning after a round of chest x-rays. he's on these antibiotics that make him puke (biaxin), and they cost me $70 for a 10 day supply. can you believe that? i hate the damn drug companies.



he's supposed to stay in bed for an entire week, and then more chest x-rays to make sure it's cleared up.



the worst thing is that, because our cat died of pneumonia in december, he thinks he's a goner. he's sleeping right now but doesn't want me to leave his side when he's awake.

I'll send him lots of good vibes. I've had pneumonia, and it was miserable. Biaxin leaves the worst taste in your mouth all the time, its terrible and bitter. Make sure he has plenty of hard candies and strong flavoured drinks (like juices and sodas) around to help counter that. That constant taste alone is enough to make you vomit. I had to have something in my mouth at all times when I was conscious or I'd start to feel sick from the taste. Tell him I survived pneumonia and lived to tell the tale!! He should be back on his feet in no time.

i am soo sorry. my thoughts are with you and your family. how horrible that he is relating it to your cats death.

are the rest of you doing well/not sick?

All the best! I'm sure he'll be fine



Staying in bed for a whole week sucks, though...

Awww... hugs to you both My brother had pneumonia last year... I felt so sorry for him. I'm sure he'll be fine though.

Kreeli I am sending you good vibe together with a bunch of warm warm Hawaii Sun !!!

Aww, poor little guy Hope he gets better soon. At least his mommy can make him some good soup!

Sending some positive vibes your way.

Hope he feels better soon!!

Ack! Sending good thoughts for your son and also for his ma and pa

Aww..I hope he gets better soon. My mom started with pneumonia after thanksgiving and is still in the hospital fighting complications. Your son should be fine though..he's a young healthy boy. I'm sending good vibes your way... *good vibes*



Ruthie

thanks everyone. this really had me freaked out at first, but after doing some reading, both he and i are much calmer. the worst part is going to be trying to keep him in bed for a week. help me think of ways to keep him occupied!

First all I had pneumonia a couple of years ago and know how painful it is. I wish your son a speady recovery.



As far as keeping him occupied, there are always movies. What about looking through old pictures and putting them into albums? Puzzles are fun too. Depending on his age, what about teaching him to knit or something like that?



Good luck!!

Maybe you could set up a tray and have him paint those little metal figures from computer games.

Goodness! All my best to your son, Kreeli!

I've had it a couple dozen times throughout my life, so I know how he feels.



Big hugs to you all and prayers (if that doesn't offend you).

Hope he feels better soon! Maybe you could use this time for the two of you to read together, or just spend some quality mom/son time.

I hope he feels better, and that you've managed to explain to him that he's gonna be ok.



As for fun things he can do while staying in bed...(I have no idea how old he is...ignore these if they're way off)



Does he like puzzles? He can do those on a tray.

Word puzzles, word searches and crosswords

all kinds of craft projects - get some modelling clay or something

lots of books



you could have a "beach day"...get the beach towels out and the sunglasses...have lots of popsicles, and laze around all day reading and pretending to sunbathe.



I dont know if he's ever done any sewing or knitting..but my brother used to

origami

writing stories



umm..thats all I can come up with right now...hope some of them are good

thanks for the great ideas. unfortunately we're a little limited in that the cost of his prescription sort of mucked up our ability to buy stuff for crafts or rent movies this week. but we do have some origami paper on hand. and maybe we could make some of our own puzzles.



complicating matters is his two year old sister, who is NOT sick and is having none of this bedrest stuff. i'm run ragged!



thanks again for all the good wishes and prayers (and no, prayers don't offend me at all, unless you're praying for my SOUL because you think i'm headed straight to hell...to which i can only say, bah. at least i'll be hanging out with jimi hendrix and the rest of all those cool dead rockstars. )

Good, warm vibes your way, Kreeli!!



I'm sure he will be fine within a week

Best wishes, and good thoughts your way.

Poor boy! and poor Kreeli! I'm sure he will be better soon. Best wishes to all of you.



Entertainment...

Does your library have videos? Ours has a pretty big kid's section. Of course, that's saying you can get to the library, what with a sick boy and a not-sick toddler. Maybe someone could go to the library for you?



There's that modeling clay you can make from flour and water... Hrmm... I'm short on ideas at the moment. Maybe get craft books at the library too?

Aww... I'm sorry he's sick; that's never fun.



*good vibes* *good vibes* *good vibes*

Best wishes and good vibes to you and your son, Kreeli. I'll be thinking about you two!

how about coloring books?! beatrix potter books? harry potter books on tape? (the library must have an audio books section & you could order from other branches if your branch doesn't have it in)



I hope he gets better. Pneumonia's no fun, but certainly survivable!! applesauce always seems to help, too...



amy

aww poor guy. i second the colouring books idea. if you don't have any handy you can draw your own pictures for him to colour, even trace them from books or whatever. i forget how old he is but you could use the time to practice his reading and counting or math.

do portraits of each other



also it's a good opportunity for you to dress him in embarassingly cute outfits and take pictures for blackmailing when he's older seriously though, playing dressup could kill some time.

for snacks if he's up to eating, make something he can decorate, pancakes or cookies, and bring him different things in little bowls on a tray. nothing too messy mind you, and put towels over the bedding where he might spill. pieces of fruit and syrup maybe.





Amy, awesome signature

I was a big fan of colouring and drawing when I was little... heck, I still love colouring and drawing! And books are always good, and puzzles.

Oh that's cruel ladyfaile....but so entertaining! *makes note



Kreeli, this maybe a good chance for you to do test some new cookie recipes!

thanks everyone. today was sort of a bust for activities because he slept a good portion of it and then did some school work his teacher sent home. he does seem to be much perkier now, though; guess those antibiotics have kicked in.



i would love to test cookie recipes on him but i'm fairly anti-sugar when the kids aren't feeling well. i don't even give them juice (though they can have all the fresh whole fruit they can eat). i just find it slows their healing down.



tonight it was whole wheat scones and sundried tomato and chickpea soup. he ate a whole bowl and a scone too. that's a relief because it's fairly obvious he's lost some weight in the last week and his appetite has been a fraction of what it usually is.

don't worry about the weight; it always comes back once the antibotics kick in and the hunger kicks in. I always used to lose weight and, being really thin as a kid, it would scare people crazy until they got used to it.



No cookies, huh? How about vegetable cookies? Nah, that doesn't sound good, either.



Has his fever broken yet?

yeah, he never had a consistent fever...it would come on when he exerted himself and go away if he rested for a couple of hours. he had a low temp on monday morning and it's been gone for over a day now. *crosses fingers*