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Ugh! Enough of this already!
We took James to the pediatrician yesterday morning for some more vaccinations and he seems to have had a bad reaction to one of them. Before I get to that, let me quickly go over the vaccines that he received.
Today he got the rotavirus, Haemophilus influenzae type b, and inactivated polio vaccines. This is the second dose of each of these vaccines; he received the first dose of each on November 27th.
The following information about each vaccine was taken from the US Centers for Disease Control website. I have linked each vaccine to their website if you would like further information.
Rotavirus spreads easily among infants and young children. The virus can cause severe watery diarrhea, vomiting, fever, and abdominal pain. Children who get rotavirus disease can become dehydrated and may need to be hospitalized.
Two rotavirus vaccines are currently licensed for infants in the United States:
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- RotaTeq® (RV5) is given in 3 doses at ages 2 months, 4 months, and 6 months
- Rotarix® (RV1) is given in 2 doses at ages 2 months and 4 months
Both of the above vaccines are oral, and not given through a shot. Because James is unable to take anything by mouth, it was given through his G-tube.
I was unaware that there were two vaccines for rotavirus until I started typing this up, so I do not know which one James got.
Haemophilus influenzae type b can cause many different kinds of infections. These infections usually affect children under 5 years of age, but can also affect adults with certain medical conditions. Hib bacteria can cause mild illness, such as ear infections or bronchitis, or they can cause severe illness, such as infections of the bloodstream. Severe Hib infection, also called invasive Hib disease, requires treatment in a hospital and can sometimes result in death.
Before Hib vaccine, Hib disease was the leading cause of bacterial meningitis among children under 5 years old in the United States. Meningitis is an infection of the lining of the brain and spinal cord. It can lead to brain damage and deafness.
Hib vaccine is usually given as 3 or 4 doses (depending on brand). Hib vaccine may be given as a stand-alone vaccine, or as part of a combination vaccine (a type of vaccine that combines more than one vaccine together into one shot).
Infants will usually get their first dose of Hib vaccine at 2 months of age, and will usually complete the series at 12-15 months of age.
Polio, or poliomyelitis, is a crippling and potentially deadly disease. It is caused by the poliovirus. The virus spreads from person to person and can invade an infected person’s brain and spinal cord, causing paralysis (can’t move parts of the body).
Polio can be prevented with vaccine. Inactivated polio vaccine (IPV) is the only polio vaccine that has been given in the United States since 2000. It is given by shot in the arm or leg, depending on the person’s age. Oral polio vaccine (OPV) is used in other countries.
CDC recommends that children get four doses of polio vaccine. They should get one dose at each of the following ages:
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- 2 months old
- 4 months old
- 6 through 18 months old
- 4 through 6 years old
Almost all children (99 out of 100) who get all the recommended doses of polio vaccine will be protected from polio.
Below is the US Center of Disease Control (CDC) recommended immunization schedule. Note that the schedule below is for 2009. If you are reading this sometime in the future, this schedule may be different. Please refer to the CDC’s website for the most current schedule, or talk to your doctor.
Bad Reaction
The day after he received the first doses of the above vaccines back in November, James had a lot of mucus running out of his nose. We had a hard time keeping up with the suctioning. We ended up putting him on oxygen to keep his sats up and continued suctioning as much as we could. We got through the night without any improvement so Stacy called the pediatrician to let him know what was going on and that we were taking James to the ER. James was in the hospital for 10 days before they felt he was stable enough to go home. If you want to read about that hospital stay, you can read it here.
Okay, so now that we’re all caught up…yesterday James received the second doses of the same vaccines that he received two days prior to the 10-day hospital stay mentioned in the previous paragraph. Guess what? He had another reaction. His stomach seemed to stop working; he didn’t seem to be digesting his food. His stomach became distended just like it did in November. We put a call into the pediatrician and he recommended breathing treatments every two hours. For the breathing treatments, we use a nebulizer that takes a liquid medication and vaporizes it. James inhales this vapor through a mask. Here is a pic from one of his breathing treatments yesterday:
We’re not positive, but we have a strong feeling that it was the rotavirus vaccine that James had the reaction to. The haemophilus influenzae type b, and inactivated polio vaccines are both shots. The rotavirus, however, is an oral vaccine. It was given to James through his g-tube and straight into his stomach. We think that because the rotavirus vaccine went into his stomach that it messed up his digestive tract, which then messed up his breathing. If you’ve read the blurb about the rotavirus vaccine above, there are two rotavirus vaccines available; one is two doses, and one is three doses. Unfortunately, the rotavirus vaccine that James received is the three-dose version. Stacy and I will talk with the pediatrician and see if James can skip the third dose. The first dose put him in the hospital for 10 days. He’s having a similar reaction to the second dose and we’re hoping and praying that he won’t wind up in the hospital again!
James did have a better night last night than he did the night before so I think we’re on the right path. We had him on oxygen and did the breathing treatments like the pediatrician recommended. It looks like that’s all he needed. Stacy says the love and kisses helped, too. I’m sure they did.
