2:30

In two months, it'll be one full year since Ethan contracted RSV. I don't do well with abbreviations. RSV, RAD -- they're all just abbreviations that spell out really, really scary things with really scary symptoms. Last November, we simply thought Ethan got his first cold and then were kind of unexpectedly thrown into nebulizer territory. Since this is a blog about breathing, I thought I'd explain more about RSV, the virus that got us into this whole mess in the first place.

Last November, Ethan got a "cold." My husband and I both had colds and pretty bad colds at that. One afternoon Ethan sneezed and I knew he'd caught the cold despite my trying so hard to stay away from him, which is hard when I'm Ethan's sole caretaker, my husband was at work and my mom was also sick. I had brought him in for a last minute check up at the pediatrician to make sure he was okay as we were all set to travel up to Central Florida for me to photograph a wedding. The fill-in pediatrician said it was just a cold and we'd be fine, so off we went, stopping only to pick up a humidifier on the way. Days went by and Ethan wasn't getting better. He was vomiting all of his formula, filled with mucus and seeming to get worse. When his breathing starting a little suspicious, I brought him back to the pediatrician to see one of our usual doctors who swabbed his little nose and diagnosed him with RSV. I was in tears, unsure of what RSV even was at the time. She sat down to explain it to me and began it all by saying "you'll never forget the sound of this wheeze right now." She was right. I never, ever will forget that wheeze. It was the scariest thing I'd ever heard.

The next few weeks were horrible. Weeks spent cooped up indoors, not even allowed to take a stroller ride around the block in the event children were playing outside. Relying on cracked windows for fresh air was the best we could do as we did nebulizer treatments every couple of hours. For weeks, we didn't move from the couch unless it was to retrieve more vials of medication from the boxes on the table.

Thanksgiving last year? A mess. A disaster. We couldn't join anyone in my family for Thanksgiving dinner, which I debated not even making for us. There felt like little to celebrate that year -- Ethan was so sick and we were both so stir-crazy and out of sorts.

On Thanksgiving day, we got the all-clear to take Ethan to the beach at sunset. We went on a walk after dinner, breathed in the salty, fresh air and tried to find happiness in the fact Ethan was finally starting to feel better. If anything, I think the outing and the fresh, ocean air helped tremendously. It always does.

Ethan eventually beat RSV and continued to recover and grow stronger, but his respiratory troubles (as you know) didn't end there. Almost a year later, we're still relying on the nebulizer, even for silly things like him running too fast or playing too hard. He still has that wheeze or that rattle in those instances and even though it's mild in comparison to how it was, it's still there. He's still on a daily corticosteroid given through the nebulizer twice daily for a virus he contracted nearly a year ago.

So what is RSV?

RSV stands for respiratory syncytial virus. RSV is the most common germ that causes lung and airway infections in infants and young children. Most infants have had this infection by age 2. Outbreaks of RSV infections most often begin in the fall and run into the spring.

You can catch RSV if: a person with RSV sneezes, coughs, or blows their nose near you, you touch, kiss, or shake hands with someone who is infected by the virus, you touch your nose, eyes, or mouth after you have touched something contamined by the virus, such as a toy or doorknob. The virus can live for a half an hour or more on hands. The virus can also live for up to 5 hours on countertops and for several hours on used tissues. (Source)

Children born at 36 weeks or earlier (that's a check for Ethan!) have a more increased risk of lung damage if RSV is contracted. Children who contract RSV before 1 have a heightened risk of developing asthma.

Did you know that exposure to tobacco smoke not only increases the risk of RSV in infants and children but can intensify the symptoms of RSV in a child? As someone allergic to cigarette smoke, I found this fact extremely interesting when I learned it.

RSV takes the lives of an average of 400 infants per year. While this is considered "minor" in comparison to other illnesses and viruses, it doesn't seem at all "minor" to me. I thank my lucky stars for the medical care that Ethan was able to have and for that nebulizer that I spent everyday cursing for a long, long time.