Child With H1N1 Hospitalized 3 Months

[Guest guest]

They make it seem as if the child had the swine flu for three months. No, she was being given therapy on how to walk, talk and eat again.

Winnie

(http://www.justnews.com/health/21306656/detail.html)

Child With H1N1 Hospitalized 3 Months

Girl Released From Hospital Thursday

POSTED: Thursday, October 15, 2009

MIAMI -- A third-grader who has been hospitalized with swine flu since June finally got to go home Thursday, just two days before her ninth birthday. Cameron Pirozzi, who was known to have asthma, developed flu-like symptoms in June and suffered from a fever that topped 105 degrees.

"I had a bad cough so I stayed home for a little bit. I remember one morning waking up and feeling very hot and barely could keep my eyes open," Cameron said. A throat culture ultimately told doctors that Cameron had swine flu. The girl's condition deteriorated rapidly and she suffered respiratory failure. Inflammation is a common characteristic of flu strains, and Cameron's nerves and tendons swelled so much that she lost the ability to walk, talk or eat on her own. Doctors at the Holtz Children's Hospital at Memorial in Miami installed a tracheotomy to help Cameron breathe. "She was on a ventilator. She could barely move her arms and she couldn't move her legs. She couldn't really talk," said Pirozzi, Cameron's mother. The pediatric rehabilitation team at Holtz worked with Cameron, teaching her to walk and eat on her own again while preparing her to return to school. The hard work paid off. Physicians allowed Cameron to go home with her family Thursday, although she'll still require months of therapy. "I'm happy because it's the first time that I get to see my brother in three and a half months," Cameron said and burst into tears. "These are happy tears," Pirozzi told a room full of news photographers and reporters at a news conference Thursday. Experts believe the swine flu is affecting the younger population more severely than others -- especially those with underlying conditions-- when compared to the regular seasonal flu. Doctors suggest that families seek immediate treatment at the first sign of flu-like symptoms and vaccinate all children against swine flu. "They think, 'Oh, well it can't happen to me,' but it can happen to anyone," said Cameron, who celebrates her ninth birthday on Saturday.

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