Whooping Cough

Back in June we received a note sent home from Summer Camp that a case of Whopping Cough was confirmed in the building. Dang! I didn’t think too much of it because I choose to vaccinate. 

Well about two weeks later (late June) Nora has a bit of a cough that starts to build over days. And after seven days, it has not gone away. But she has no other symptoms; no runny nose, fever, congestion... So it can’t be Pertussis, right? 

However, protocol is that if you child has a cough, get a note from the Ped that either confirms or denies the diagnosis. 

Nora was tested; which is also brutal - huge swab up the nose. 

One day later - blindsided - she has Pertussis!! Whaaaaaaat. So even though you are vaccinated, they can still catch the virus - but they symptoms are lessened. 

SO: Hannah was given preventative antibiotics, Tim’s GP gave antibiotics, and my GP decided not to :: eyeroll :: She claimed the CDC did not recommend that. And Nora had to be kept home for 5 days/5 days of antibiotics and could return to summer camp 24 hours after she finished antibiotics. Lord.

So as you can expect - after I was not given the preventative antibiotics and taking care of a whooping child. Guess who else gets a nagging cough? Me. After a week of annoying my coworkers, I tried to track down a Pertussis test - which was way harder than you’d think. 

*Only one Urgent Care in the area tests (and I refused to wait 1hr) and Cincinnati Children’s. 

After a wild goose chase, my GP finally gives me antibiotics and after that, I’m back on track. 

So everybody – take note: Whooping Cough is out there. You can’t prevent it 100%, but you can lessen the effects with the vaccination. It can take a worse toll on infants and elderly!