This time of year brings back a memory of a time when we celebrated a renewal of life that is different than most. We had gone to visit relatives in East Texas for a few days. When we returned home I noticed Lathom’s breathing was fast and shallow. I called our pediatrician who agreed to see him immediately. The minute she examined him she called the Children’s Hospital to admit him. He was diagnosed with RSV (Respiratory Syncytial Virus), an extremely contagious viral infection that is also known to cause SIDS (Sudden Infant Death Syndrome). He was put into isolation where we had to enter through 2 doors, clothed in sterile gowns and masks. His temperature soared to 105 degrees, but the staff worked to decrease his fever as quickly as possible. I watched as nurses and therapists pounded on Lathom’s back to loosen the congestion in his lungs as well as giving him treatments with a nebulizer. This went on constantly for the next 24 hours. So much of what happened for the next several days was a blur as machines were beeping, people were constantly coming and going, taking vital signs, and treating this tiny boy who didn’t deserve to be in the hospital again. He got through it.
I was thankful when he was released a few days after New Year’s Day and we brought him home – weak, but breathing on his own and healing from another assault on his small and compromised body. I thought I would gradually forget this experience as the years passed, but it raises its head every year around this time. So the New Year is a bittersweet time for me. I celebrate – that as many problems as Lathom has endured, he has stayed relatively healthy and never contracted a bronchial infection again.
And so, as I start a new year, I am grateful for bringing my son home 23 years ago, alive and well. That is a memory that I want to keep. -K
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