Ares Onyx road to recovery RSV Awareness

07/11/2021

15/10/2018

RSV season. Adults- you are contagious up to 24 hours before you start showing symptoms! Please keep your mouths/breaths away from a baby's face, hands, and feet. Don't be the reason a baby is hospitalized (or dead) because the baby was "just so cute I had to kiss her!".

It's super awkward as a parent to have to tell someone (especially a family member or friend) to step away from your baby. It's also super difficult to stop someone from kissing your child after they're already going in for the kiss.

Don't be selfish. Don't kiss babies. It's not worth it.

Also, if you're sick, please stay home. What might be a "sinus infection" or "allergies" to you, could translate to a life-threatening illness for a baby.
Do not bring your sick kids to a house with a newborn even if you think it’s just “allergies”

Flashback to almost 3 years ago ares onyx intubated for over a month due to rsv after someone brought their sick child over the house with “allergies”

11/02/2016

Sorry I haven't updated you all. Ares got me sick! We have been home since Tuesday. Ares is still sick but I thought it would be best to keep an eye on him at home! Thank you everyone for your prayers and support

08/02/2016

It's like he missed it here. I've been meaning to update on him but I have been so busy with him. He's been doing so well since I decided on my own to not put the feeding tube back in. Eating like normal. Everything has been going great but
Last week he developed a little cough so I brought him to his dr. His dr has been closely following him and had him on breathing treatments at home but today he decided to admit him. His lungs are crackling and he has retractions in his neck when he breathes. Also double ear infections I haven't slept in 3 days as he has been up all night crying. Drs so far just think it's a different virus but don't know yet. His lungs weren't fully healed yet so any little thing or cold can hit him hard and send him back into the hospital. Let's hope we are out of here soon!

24/01/2016

one 3 month birthday, his first Christmas, first new year, first time seeing daddy since he was born, and 44 days later Ares Onyx Andaya Lawrence is finally home!!!! Felt so weird to leave but so happy to finally be home. We were admitted into the hospital on December 10th of last year which may as well have been 44 years ago.

Ares is doing so much better. He had to come home with the feeding tube as he is still not eating how he should be. I was trained on how to feed him and care for the tube. So that we could bring him home safely. We need to watch him very closely as the doctors think since he got so sick he may have an underlying lung disease. There will be many follow up appointments now.

if his eating doesn't pick up the feeding which the doctors believe he will. they feel he may have suffered a slight brain injury from loss of oxygen. It's unlikely since he is doing so well with his paci but it is something they will watch for if he doesn't improve These are all things we will learn as time passes.

This should show you how serious RSV is and letting your little ones around sick people is never ok. I know not everyone's case was this serious
But you never know and hopefully no one ever has to find out and go through the this.

Thank you everyone for your continued prayers and support for my baby boy. Also thank you everyone that was there for me during that long extended stay! Big shout out to Jessica and Liza for keeping me plump and coming to see little man relentlessly.. You guys are amazing friends. Grandma thanking you for coming all the way from California to take care of us. We love you all! We still have a long journey ahead but at least we are home!

22/01/2016

Day 32555(I stopped counting cause it's been so long) Update... I was hoping the next update I had for you all was we are going home.

Unfortunately he had the tube put back in this morning. He's just not eating enough and they fear he will get dehydrated. I just wanna scream at the heavens. It always seems like a step forward 2 steps back I just want my baby home!

The only thing that's keeping me sane is this smile. I cannot be mad at anything when I see this face. I also thank god he is so much better than he was just two weeks ago.

The doctors said they may just send him home with the feeding tube and we can continue using that at home until he learns to eat correctly again. I have very mixed feelings about that but at least I will have him home. I went back to work yesterday and daddy had been gone for a couple weeks now so it's been hard doing this alone. I just don't know how to feel.

Sorry for such a downer post today I just cannot wait for this to be over with! Trying and praying to remain positive here!

21/01/2016

The feeding tube is out! Oh thank you Jesus! I got to the hospital today and the nurse says ok one thing.. Feeding tube is out. I just about cried when I saw him sleeping and not having anything attached to him. I couldn't wait for him to wake up! The nurse said he did start eating better with the tube out so they are hoping he keeps it up and they don't have to put it back in.

He was very fussy tonight when I tried to feed him. So with the great still came some bad. He cried for an hour refusing the milk. He did drink some but not as much as I hoped. I really thought he would drink a whole bottle but he didn't and that worried me so much I don't want them to put that tube back in! Here's to hoping he has an amazing night and that tube does not have to be put back in. I cannot wait til this is all over with!

20/01/2016

Feeding time for baby boy. He took 10ml through the bottle and the rest had to be put through the tube.

20/01/2016

I just wanted to share one of my fellow army wives post on RSV and her experience with it. Amber kidwell thank you for sharing! Shows that not every baby is the same and RSV affects them in so many different ways! Glad your little man moved past it and is much better!

Brayden was also admitted and diagnosed with RSV at just a few weeks old. Brayden acted different then Ares. He just stopped eating. He had alot of mucus and gross stuff clogging him up in his nose his throat his chest his lungs so it made it difficult to suck a bottle and breath at the same time. When you took his clothes off and just layed him flat and watched him breath you could tell he was having some difficulty but he didn't seem that bad. It was more of just my instinct that told me to take him to Children's. The first day we arrived they admitted him because he was not eating and did not want him to get dehydrated, thankfully we only stayed over night and we were released the next evening. He received breathing treatments and has a suction done to get some of the junk out of his nose throat and chest. He seemed to do okay for a few days and then he got thrush on top of the RSV. Which then made him not want to eat again so back to children's we went, this time we were admitted and stayed for 4 days and 3 nights. He had to get a deep suction done this time, they stuck a tube up his nose and down his throat and sucked alot of junk out of him. But it was 2-3 days before he would eat from a bottle. Thankfully he started right as they were discussing a feeding tube. Although his journey was not as long it was still really tough, of him and me. I can't imagine being in your shoes Lily Lawrence your a very strong woman and mom. I'm glad he is getting better and thank you for sharing his story hopefully Brayden's story might help someone too.

20/01/2016

Bath time at the hospital tonight and he HATES it haha.

20/01/2016

Mixed in with stories from this past month I will also update you on his condition today.

Today when I came in we finally finished his Ativan wean! Since he was intubated for so long (3 weeks to be exact) he was on a variety of different narcotics and sedatives to keep him comfortable and pain free while he was intubated. He finished his methadone wean last Friday and it is usually a 5 day oral process to come off of these drugs and monitor for withdrawals. They decided to make the Ativan wean a little longer as Ares was extra fussy and not handling the withdrawal well. So I am really happy to say today is the last day and by the looks of his smiley face he is handling it really well!

We are still stuck in the hospital until ares learns to eat again, we are hoping that being off the Ativan now he will have more interest in eating.

So right now we are still learning how to eat again as well as learning how to hit his milestones as a 4 month old. Speech therapy and physical therapy have been working with him non stop to try to get him out of here nice and healthy and I can't be more grateful for all of the work they are putting in for him!

Ps. Don't mind his slobbery face and unbuttoned shirt we are getting ready for a bath!

19/01/2016

Time for another story,

Today I'm gonna tell you about the day that I will never forget.

On December 12th 2015 Ares daddy's birthday ares was more irritable than normal. He wouldn't stop crying I finally got him to calm down and I went out to eat some lunch. I came back a little bit later and he was uncontrollably crying and struggling to breathe. His nurse shaun said he has been crying for 45 minutes maybe you can calm him down. I held ares for 5 minute his body was stiff and he would not stop crying. Seconds later the doctor rushed in and said mom sadly we need to intubate your son. When babies uncontrollably cry this way and nothing soothes them it's not because he is upset it's because he is struggling to breath. This is turning into an emergency situation. We have the crash cart outside and unfortunately I have to make the call to intubate him. I said ok and again within seconds there was about 15 people in the room. I locked myself in the bathroom and cried. I called my FRG leader to find the number for Red Cross to start the process in getting my husband home. I was in a panic and I needed my deployed husband home.

The Red Cross message read your son is in the hospital he can't breath and he has just been placed on assisted breathing.

I could hear them working on my son outside all the machines going off and nurses and doctors rushing all around the room. After a good half hour locked in the room I finally came out and my son was intubated.

I asked the doctors what is going on why? What is wrong with my son?

They tested him for everything. When The results finally came back my 3 month old son had RSV, Rhino virus, bronchilitis, and Adenovirus. These are all common colds and small virus but all at once can be deadly on such a small baby.

I never was strict about people coming over when sick, I never had this issue with any of my other kids.

I had a friend come over with her 2 daughters who said her kids just had allergies and itchy eyes. Turned out her daughters had pink eye and a cough. I never leave my house this virus was brought into my house. I can't blame anyone but myself for not being More strict on who I let around my newborn. All my other kids had no issues why would number 6 be different? Boy was I wrong. Within days my whole house was infected Ares was hit the worst.

Rsv is very common right now in the area I live in like I said last night this hospital is full of babies that have it. I had never even heard about it until now. This is the purpose of this page to make people more aware of this and how dangerous it can be.

Each year, on average, in the United States, RSV leads to—

57,527 hospitalizations among children younger than 5 years old
2.1 million outpatient visits among children younger than 5 years old
177,000 hospitalizations and 14,000 deaths among adults older than 65 years

Yes even as an adult you can have rsv and spread it to babies.

there is no cure for RSV but it is preventable. As long as everyone washes their hands I can't repeat that Enough! Safe to say I learned my lesson. From now on no one who looks even the least bit sick will be allowed into my home. Sanitizer and hand soap will be all over my home. Lysol wipes will line my closet. The only way to ensure this doesn't happen to your little ones is if you do the same.