welcome to the organic green doctor blog

i am a family physician who was diagnosed with
early mild cognitive impairment(mci) amnestic type on december 21, 2010
this is a precursor to alzheimers disease
because of this diagnosis i have opted to stop practicing medicine
this blog will be about my journey with this disease
please feel free to follow me along this path
i will continue blogging on organic gardening, green living,
solar power, rainwater collection, and healthy living
i will blog on these plus other things noted to be interesting

Thursday, April 16, 2020

how is covid 19 affecting kids

HOW IS COVID 19 AFFECTING KIDS
when i was in the emergency room that first night i was sick i was put in large room where patients were separated by a movable room divider
while i was there for those 3 hours there were 4 patients there besides me
a young pregnant mom
a middle aged mom
a middle age female icu nurse
me a retired physician grandfather dad uncle gardener school garden volunteer
now i never mentioned the word alzheimers when i gave out my history
i didnt want to be one of those treatment limiting cases
then
next to me was a baby somewhere i guess less than 1 year old
she had fever
she had what i call it that rsv bronchiolitis cough
knowing what i know now i wonder if she had covid 19
she got a chest xray
i dont think they put a oximeter on her
she didnt get any swabs
she didnt get any labs

the rest of us got
a chest xray
continuous oxygen monitoring blood pressure and pulse monitoring
nasal swabs for viruses and covid 19
most of us had blood work
i think i had more labs done than they did since mine came on fast and furious that day with the onset of shortness of breath along with the fever and gi symptoms
now even a month later i have residual shortness of breath with exertion

one person had pneumonia and was placed on zithromax and sent home
i think she was the pregnant one
i wonder how she did and i wonder if she really had covid 19
it seems babies born to moms with covid 19 seem to do ok

another was sent home on the usual covid 19 instructions
dont come back unless you cant breath

the nurse was sent home to be quarantined

the baby
was sent home with bronchiolitis instructions
basically keep them hydrated treat any fever get reevaluated if breathing worsens
no covid 19 test was done

could that baby had covid 19
yes its possible that was the virus  causing the bronchiolitis
especially
i thought about this when i read
this article linked here from a pediatrician
titled
80% of kids may have covid without symptoms
and
this cdc article on covid 19 in kids

only a few kids have died from covid 19
they  usually had other health issues
hardly any kids have even been tested for covid 19
this  pediatrician thinks maybe 80% of kids with those upper respiratory symptoms right now probably have covid 19

why is this important
now
remember kids mostly fare pretty well when they get this disease
however
they easily spread it to other kids and to their parents and to their grandparents and to their aunts and uncles and to their neighbors etc etc etc
eg
you let your kid play with his friend who has covid 19
remember that friend either wont have symptoms or will have minimal symptoms and will not appear ill at all
your child comes home
gets maybe symptoms the next few days or gets no symptoms at all
they start the cascade of germs through your family and their contacts
one person begats hundreds to thousands of covid 19 infections

i have thought many times over the last almost 30 days how i caught this
i realize i will probably not figure it out

mr hudson had a cold with snotty nose and didnt feel good for a few days about 10 or so days before i got sick
could that have been covid 19
man i sure hope it was since that means he may be immune now to covid 19
it will be interesting to do a covid 19 antibody test on him when it becomes available

i went to the grocery store unmasked and to the pharmacy unmasked
before i knew better
granted i washed my hands before and after and wiped things down with my clorox wipes
its possible thats where i caught it
breathing covid 19 into my lungs as i walked the stores aisles

then
10 days before i got sick i volunteered in the kindergardeners garden helping them harvest veggies from the garden
i always wash my hands right before we go out to the garden
then
i always washed my hands as i was leaving the building
i did this way before covid 19 came along
could i have caught it from one of them
possibly
if you have ever been a kindergardener teacher you know there are always kids with snotty noses
so it was that day

so
again
i really dont know where i caught it
again
i sure hope i caught it from mr hudson
even though i got real sick it would definitely be worth it if thats where i caught it

dont forget to protect the kids in all this
remember they can be the one that brings it into your home

be safe
follow the rules

if you stay inside you wont get this unless someone brings it into your home

if you do go outside wear at least cloth mask

wash your hands a lot like after going to the bathroom before and after eating before and after you leave the house
dont touch you face
this virus gets in by breathing it into your lungs or by moving it from your hands to your nose or eyes or mouth
if you dont wear gloves right they are a source of contamination
you might be better off to not to wear them but to just wash your hands a lot

remember
dont forget
the
kids

the organicgreen doctor

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