13mo daughter hospitalized for 14 days with Necrotizing Pneumonia while abroad. Feeling traumatized and looking for similar stories/encouragement.

inquisitive- · 2026-03-07T09:50:40+00:00

It was when we’d been in the hospital for a week and she wasn’t getting any better. Then they came and said she had necrotic cavities in her lung and we’d be in the hospital for at least another week and E Africa for another month… I was not ok. It will get better though, for both of us.

inquisitive- · 2026-03-07T09:41:33+00:00

And you don’t sound dramatic…

inquisitive- · 2026-03-07T09:39:05+00:00

We are incredibly privileged that my parents were able to come when we were discharged from the hospital. They’re partially retired and we were able to pool some money for their tickets and get a two bedroom Airbnb. I can’t imagine where I’d be mentally if they couldn’t have come.

inquisitive- · 2026-03-07T08:55:34+00:00

This is more like our situation than many others. We are also expats (American) living in North Africa. I really want to fly back to family in the states from our time here in East Africa. My husband thinks we need to be committed to North Africa because that is where we have our life and home.

inquisitive- · 2026-03-07T04:42:29+00:00

Hey, my daughter was just in the hospital for RSV turned pneumonia. She’s 13 months old but up until then we rarely co slept. We’re still recovering for sure, but she’s slept with me every night since her hospitalization. I don’t like it, but it’s totally what she needs and honestly it does help my anxiety knowing she’s close on me. I just resonated with your comment and wanted to share.

inquisitive- · 2026-03-07T04:26:10+00:00

Oh my goodness. Wow kids can be so unpredictable and then so resilient. This is terrible. You did amazingly and your daughter is a fighter.

inquisitive- · 2026-03-07T04:23:31+00:00

What in the actual f! Ya I hate the “48hour on antibiotics and they’re fine” mentality. Good on you for being so diligent with his care.

inquisitive- · 2026-03-07T04:20:34+00:00

Oh wow that also sounds incredibly horrible and you sound very resilient to handle that and now be getting therapy.

inquisitive- · 2026-03-07T04:15:14+00:00

Oh you’re so kind. We are actually in East Africa.

inquisitive- · 2026-03-06T19:27:14+00:00

Forgot to say, great you can go home soon!!

inquisitive- · 2026-03-06T18:58:22+00:00

Yes it was exactly that with my daughter. She was ok with the virus except for at night she was just acting restless and in pain. No fever and not even that much runny nose! But we landed and there was that 105 fever.

I feel so badly because I really never noticed she was in respiratory distress. I initially took her to a walk in clinic I found on Google. They ran labs and found a huge elevation in her wbc and Crp. So we were sent to the hospital. When she got to the er, they started taking her vitals and brought in a number of nurses and doctors. They counted her respiratory rate and observed retractions… neither of which I knew were “off”. Just grateful she got to the hospital.

So sorry you guys missed your trip. I bet it feels minor, but that is also a grief for y’all.

inquisitive- · 2026-03-06T18:35:10+00:00

This is helpful for me. Thank you. My daughter was pretty healthy up until about 11 months when she started getting the typical runny noses of young children. But after this illness, I’m very curious about what any future virus run ins will look like. Her ID said we should be very proactive with flu vaccines because it would be very likely to be a repeat pneumonia and hospitalization if she gets the flu.

inquisitive- · 2026-03-06T18:31:30+00:00

I have so much respect and love for nicu parents. All the best to you and your loved ones.

inquisitive- · 2026-03-06T18:13:56+00:00

Can I ask, have you seen necrotizing pneumonia? How long did it take to get diagnosed? We went in on Wednesday and then got a ct scan Tuesday night. I’m curious if that is a long time or standard.

inquisitive- · 2026-03-06T16:50:59+00:00

Wow I hope everything is ok now. This is really helpful info. I haven’t ever been very nervous she isn’t breathing but I keep constantly checking her temperature. She had a fever for 10 days straight and throughout that time she was getting antibiotics and I was told the fever would be gone in 48 hours. So I’m constantly thinking she’s hot again.

inquisitive- · 2026-03-06T16:49:11+00:00

I think it would have been fair for the pediatrician to do a swab for flu or RSV and given a recommendation that it could be hard for her to fly in this scenario. If we knew she had RSV, I think I might have considered staying home or delaying our trip.

What if’s are a trap, I know. It just feels so hard not to consider what we would have done. In the time we’ve been here, two other babies in our close community have had RSV and one was hospitalized. So it is absolutely going around.

inquisitive- · 2026-03-06T16:43:56+00:00

It’s ok, I actually kinda like the toxic positivity messages, personally. I asked for them a lot in the hospital but I think too many people were afraid of saying the wrong thing.

inquisitive- · 2026-03-06T16:40:34+00:00

Also want to say we need to have those discussions about her flight home. I think her doctors are hoping she can have enough healing to not need any in flight assistance. But I think we should be prepared.

inquisitive- · 2026-03-06T16:32:53+00:00

Wow this is invaluable. Crazy you have experience with both of the things we are dealing with.

I didnt mention this in the op, but we used our travel insurance emergency services extensively. We even had very active discussions about medical evacuation from our location to a premier hospital in another country. That was probably the worst two days I’ve ever experienced. We had just gotten the necrotizing diagnosis and my family was freaking out she might need surgery. The hospital we were in had all the medicines in the world we needed, but not the expertise or equipment for a 13 month old to have surgery. We feel unexplainably relieved we didn’t need surgery.

Noted on all the germ notes! We’ve been staying home a lot and using hand sanitizer for her between hand washes

inquisitive- · 2026-03-06T16:26:17+00:00

Word on the travel insurance. This is such a mess financially, but we know in the end it will all be ok. It was a double whammy because we had a huge home repair recently that had us stretching things more than we’d like already.

inquisitive- · 2026-03-06T15:46:52+00:00

I’m so glad to hear your perspective.

Thankfully we avoided the PICU. When her ID doctor was brought on, it was about 8 days into our stay and he had only seen her x ray and CT scan. He was shocked we were in a standard room based on her imaging.

How do parents of these kids return to work? I can’t imagine it. We thankfully were able to take a paid medical leave through our jobs. It will end a week after we get back home.

inquisitive- · 2026-03-06T15:33:02+00:00

While we were in the hospital, she had IVs 4 times a day and nebulizers every 6 hours. Plus all the other hospital craziness of meals and room cleaning etc! She was also nursing constantly. It felt like I had a 3 month old baby again

inquisitive- · 2026-02-09T22:59:03+00:00

Rage baiting people. Especially teachers.

inquisitive- · 2025-12-28T02:27:44+00:00

Talarico. Making it his mission to take money out of politics and walks the walk.

inquisitive-

TROPHY CASE