Could it be Pertussis (aka whooping cough)

[mommylinz]

My DD (5yr old) has been sick for over a week now. She got a fever on Labor day of 102. She missed her 3 days of kindergarten and said her throat hurt. My DH took her to the doctor thinking it could be strep, nope. They said just an upper respiratory infection. The fever was gone by Thursday and she finally got to go to school on Friday.
Now she has gotten a pretty bad cough. She has not complained much about her throat any more, but she is not eating much. I figured it was just due to the cold. Well today at school she threw up during lunch. I asked if she was coughing before throwing up and she says yes. No fever today but yesterday it was back up to just under 100.
I am now worried that it could be pertussis. I’m going to take her to urgent care when she wakes up. From what I’m reading online there is not much except I did see if coughing leads to vomiting they should test for pertussis. I’ve had it in the past, but by the time I found out it was very late in the illness and nothing they could do. It scares me because when I had it I cracked my ribs because the coughing was so bad.
Has anyone experienced this with their kids? It says you have to catch it early to have any hope of minimizing it, what is early? How quick can they get the test results for this?

I feel terrible for her

[onlyoneboy]

Is she vaccinated for it?

[mommylinz]

She was vaccinated in 2008 for this, from what I can tell. But it says that it is not 100% effective:(

[lilmermaid]

There is an extremely high rate of it in Wright County, highest case number in the state! They are checking to see if kids vaccinated in that county got a bad dose which left them unvaccinated! If she was vaccinated she should have a less severe case from what I have heard. We were just informed about this at my DD2's preschool orientation. We also got a note from the Elementary school too.

[onlyoneboy]

She should have recieved 5 of them to be totally covered. The last one needs to be given between 4-6 years of age.

[mommylinz]

She had 5, the last one was when she turned 4. Hopefully that is good.

[onlyoneboy]

Have you been vaccinated for it recently? Most adults don't realize they need a booster. They have now started adding it to the Tetnus vaccine. DH and I had to get our's updated after DS2 was born.

With the rise of whooping cough it is one of my biggest pet peeves. Vaccinate your children! If you decide not to then don't complain when they get it. And yes I will be ticked off if you don't vacinate and my vaccinated child ends up with it.

I guess I don't really understand why parents choose to not vaccinate their children when it could mean they can come down with something that could harm them.

[onlyoneboy]

Maybe if someone is reading this that doesn't vaccinate could you please explain why you choose not to?

[mommylinz]

I was vaccinated this year. Having had it I don't ever want it again nor do I want my children to get it. The pain was terrible, no one should have to go though it if there is the option to vaccinate.

I'd bet money my DH needs to be vaccinated, you would think he is a kid when it comes to going to the doctor or getting vaccinated. I'm thinking he'll be signed up for that when we go as a family to get our flu shots as soon as she is better.

[smalltowngirl5]

I want to say it could take up to 5 days to get the results. Can't remember from when DD had to be tested last year for it.

Good luck!

[onlyoneboy]

I had DH vaccinated when we went in for DS2 2 month check up. The nurse was more than happy to stick him.

[cakemakermom]

When I'm in doubt, I call the nurse line.

[mommylinz]

The good news was it is not whooping cough, bad news is it is pneumonia. They gave her antibiotics and said she should be feeling better in the next couple days. I was glad she didn't need the test, I read how that was done, yuck.

[dara1012]

linz- glad it wasn't whopping cough and hope your DD gets better soon with the antibiotics.

At our clinic when DS was a baby the doctor checked DH's and my records too and made sure we were up to date with all vaccines, especially before DS was old enough to get vaccinated.

[megan1201]

Glad that it isn't whooping cough. We were nervous about that with DS recently as well. He had a cough for about 3 weeks, but no other symptoms. Finally figured out that he had braunchitis (sp).