My kids had whooping cough

by Jean Madden

Street Swags' founder Jean Madden knew something wasn't quite right when her children developed a nasty cough. But she didn't suspect that it was whooping cough.

Published 31/03/2011

It all started when my husband Tim developed a terrible cough, it sounded like a machine gun. It was so bad he hurt his back in a coughing fit. Around the same time my eldest son Harvey, four, also had a cough and a chest infection.
I was heading to Perth for Street Swags – the not-for-profit organisation that I founded and run, which provides swags to homeless people – so I decided to take Tim and our two boys with me. Our baby, Ged, was about five months old at the time.
Before we left on our week-long trip, I went to the doctor several times to make sure the boys were okay to travel. The doctor put Tim and Harvey on antibiotics; but gave them and Ged (who had also had cold and flu symptoms) the all clear to fly. They loved Perth, but Tim and Harvey were both coughing the whole week.
The day we got back home to Brisbane, I had to fly straight to Mt Isa. I then had a night at home and then had to fly to Sydney for a conference. By the time I got there I was sick, congested and headachy.
When I got home late the following night the kids were already in bed. The baby didn't sound so good, he was coughing during the night and by morning he was really starting to gasp. I had taken to swinging him to get some air into his lungs.

Something's not right

Like most mothers, I know my kids and I know when something is not right. I was really worried about the baby, so that morning, my husband took Harvey to pre-prep and I took Ged up to the Wesley Hospital in Brisbane.
They tested the oxygen saturation levels in his blood and used a long flexible cotton tip to swab the very back of his nose before sending us home.
A few hours later we got a call to say he had tested positive for whooping cough and that the entire family had to go back in. So my husband and I, our two boys and Granny headed back up to the Wesley. We were all given antibiotics and sent home to be quarantined for the weekend.
During this time, we took it in shifts to keep vigil over the baby. Every time he coughed he needed to be picked up so he wouldn't choke. This meant one of us was awake all through the night.
The hardest part about it was that we were all sick and exhausted. But it was the baby, because he couldn't sit himself up, who was in the most danger. So we took turns sitting in a chair with him laid on our chests to keep him upright.
The Street Swags annual general meeting was also on that weekend and I had to attend via Skype.

A week in hospital

By Monday morning, I was still really concerned about the boys and I wanted to see my paediatrician, Dr Bruce Lewis. I was worried about Ged's oxygen levels and both the boys had really gone downhill. So we went back to the Emergency Department and the boys were then admitted to hospital.
Dr Lewis and all the staff at the Wesley were fantastic. They kept the boys there a week, until I was sure their coughing attacks were manageable. It was still hard going in hospital, as we had to maintain a careful watch over Ged and pick him up whenever he coughed to help him clear his lungs. Harvey's coughing was so violent I was worried it might cause brain injury.
Meanwhile, I was still running Street Swags from my mobile phone and laptop and trying to reassure other parents around us that we are no longer infectious. I have never seen a play room clear so quickly as when the word got around that we were in the hospital for whooping cough.
Once we left hospital, Harvey still wasn't getting better. Several weeks later his breathing at night was still so scary that I took him to our family ear nose and throat doctor. He put Harvey on some serious antibiotics, which did the trick, and he later cleaned out Harvey's ears, because he had started to go a bit deaf.

Trusting my instinct

We suspect our case of whooping cough came from Tim's work. I feel terrible that we did so much travelling before we were diagnosed, I'd hate to think we had spread it to other people. I'm also really sorry to say neither Tim nor I had been vaccinated.
And while Harvey had been immunised, the baby wasn't old enough to have had his full course at the time he got sick. Even though it's possible to catch whooping cough after being vaccinated, the immunisation likely made the disease milder than it would otherwise have been.
Although I hate hassling doctors, I'm really glad that I did act on my instinct and continue to get the boys seen to. So my advice to other parents: get yourselves and your children immunised, and always trust your instincts when it comes to your kids.