Virus Update

Thanks for all our family and friends who have helped us so far with this nasty little virus plaguing the Moss house. Today was not great, but at least we didn't end up back at the ER. I have to say phenomenal things about both our pediatrician, Dr. John Simpson and Vestavia Pediatrics. As adults, we usually have to wait days before a doctor can see us. Each time we have needed a pediatric consultation by phone or examination in person, Vestavia Pediatrics has been there with not one bit of anxiety or frustration for us. Night nurses call us back within 5- 10 minutes of our initial call. Walk-in and call-in appointments are also never a problem. Beyond that, our first experience with the emergency room as parents was at Children's Hospital here in Birmingham. It was a good decision by Dr. Simpson to whisk us downtown for the IV fluids where we were treated with quick care, lots of kindness, and comfort by everyone there. It should tell you something if we can remember each of the names of the doctors and nurses in such an emotional situation. So, if you have to go down to the Birmingham Children's Hospital ER, look for nurses Clay or Wilson, as well as Dr. Jennifer Collins, who will probably be on maternity leave by June. Tell them we said hi and thank you again.

Little Philip had not thrown up since 10:00 p.m. Monday night and had one wet diaper (barely) by morning and an even smaller one this afternoon. When we headed into the afternoon today, we gave him a little more pedialyte in a sippy cup rather than the oral syringe. He kept everything down until about 5:00 p.m. when a good bit came back up. This happened just before Mommy started crying while watching the movie Dumbo, where "Baby Mine Don't You Cry" is sung while Miss Jumbo gently rocks Dumbo to console him. Little man has been terribly lethargic, basically laying on mommy or daddy all day, napping on and off. He'll verbally respond every now and then and he even played "get your nose" once or twice today. Now the diarrhea has started back up and we are giving it a little bit longer before we call the night nurse to ask if we need to do anything different before morning comes. Little Philip is actually quite content right now, even eating a bit of applesauce and about four bites of a plain baked potato. Nurse Vicki from Vestavia Pediatrics called to check on us today and said to call first thing on Wednesday with a progress report. Incidentally, Nurse Vicki was nurse to our Dr. Simpson's father, Dr. David Simpson. Dr. David Simpson was mommy's pediatrician. Nurse Vicki, after realizing the connection, called little Philip a grand-patient today and said how much she enjoyed having been at Vestavia long enough to see families like ours, the next generation of patients and families.

If there is any good news in this, mom and dad are still virus free and we pray we will stay that way rather than pass it around like so many of our friends have experienced.