Hello Everyone, I am glad to finally be back online because the past two weeks have been actual H*ll! My daughter contracted the adenovirus through her nursery school, and boy, did we underestimate this beast of a virus.

If you are unaware, the adenovirus, according to the CDC, "causes a wide range of illnesses such as common cold or flu-like symptoms, fever, sore throat, acute bronchitis (inflammation of the airways of the lungs, sometimes called a “chest cold”), pneumonia (infection of the lungs), pink eye (conjunctivitis), and acute gastroenteritis (inflammation of the stomach or intestines causing diarrhea, vomiting, nausea and stomach pain).".

What happened was, the nursery school alerted us that my daughters stool looked loose, so we should go to the doctor and get it checked out. We went to the doctor the same day, and she was actually tested for two viruses: RS virus and Adenovirus. The tests came back negative for both. So, we thought maybe she ate something weird.

Well, the next morning, on Thursday, she had a fever of 38C (100F), so, of course, she could not go to nursery school, and my husband took her to the doctor. This time, the test came back positive for adenovirus and the doctor told us that there is an incubation period and that is probably why it came back negative the day before. He gave us a prescription for a kind of cough suppressant and that's all, as the virus just has to run it's course.

Okay, so I was already at work, so my husband took care of her. He said she just wanted to sleep a lot. Her fever stayed about the same, but we were optimistic that she could sleep it off and rest. Well, we were in for a surprise.

The next day, I went to work, but her symptoms got a lot worst. She had a cough with phlegm, runny nose, lost of appetite, diarrhea, and a fever that kept climbing. She didn't sleep very well due to the phlegm and mucus and woke up several times at night coughing and choking. 

So, on Saturday morning, I stayed home to help take care of her, and it was terrible. We stopped giving her solid food, and just tried to feed her milk. She at that point kept spiking a fever, was super miserable and really not eating. Basically, I kept her in the carrier as much as I could, and she slept on and off all day. That night, I gave her a fever reducer, and it helped a little to bring her fever down to about 98 for a few hours, but it spiked right back up the next day.

On Sunday, her fever was really high, and I was worried because she also threw up everything she ate and it seemed a little long for a fever to go on this long. Also, she had finally developed the sore throat, and the coughing was making her miserable. She also probably had aches and a headache. Fortunately, she never really cried, but she was completely out of it!

So, it was about 7PM when I asked my husband to call the medical advice line because her fever was at 39C (103). He did, and they recommended us to take her the hospital because of the fever/lethargy. Well, it was already about 8PM and the nearest hospital was really far. So, instead, we got a doctor to come to our house. He arrived at around 9PM and he basically told us to give her the fever reducer if she cannot sleep, but she does not have any fluids in her lungs from what he can hear, but if the fever continues or climbs, take her to the doctor tomorrow. 

That night she slept with an icepack and basically with me. She was so restless and tired, but understandably so. She was miserable.

The next day, she woke up with a dry diaper and was completely motionless and out of it. Her fever was at 104 all night. I was so scared and decided to take her to the emergency room. I arrived with her, and they immediately gave her an IV with liquids and nutrition. They also gave her an ultrasound and told me that she developed acute gastroenteritis, which is another reason she kept throwing up. 

So, after spending a few hours there, she was free to come home with the instructions to feed her 300ml of her favorite drink (juice, jelly, electrolyte water, etc.) in 5-10ml increments, every 5 minutes for 4 hours. We did that and she slowly came back to life. She slept for a long time, and when she woke up, we continued. She still threw up, but they said to just keep giving liquids to her.

The next day, her fever continued and I said F*uck it, and gave her a fever reducer. I think that helped her get some rest and be able to properly recover. 

Around day 10, she woke up feverless, and we were so worried it would spike again, as it had before, but it never rose. She continued to have a cough, but her sore throat subsided and she slept a lot more peacefully. We increased her liquid intake and she had finally worked back up to drinking full bottles.

That Monday we took her to the doctor to get the okay to go back to nursery school since we had to wait for her to be symptom free for at least 48 hours. Despite the cough, he allowed her to return. However, he warned us about the RS virus and to continue to monitor her cough because that virus is definitely going around.

So, now we have our fingers crossed that she doesn't contract that because he said she might be hospitalized!

Well, I am happy to say that all of us survived the adenovirus! It was one of the hardest weeks with her in a long time, and I feel so bad that the adenovirus was her first sickness! But, on the other hand, I feel like we bonded a lot. It was the first time in a long time that she slept on me or with me. It was like she was a newborn again, and also I gained a lot of confidence because I had to take her to the emergency room and no one spoke English, and I could communicate with the nurses and doctor to get her help. 

We both learned a valuable lesson, and in sickness we discovered peace and some healing.