Summer is the time where we are all supposed to relax from the onslaught of more “winter” afflictions, like the flu, right? Maybe not this year. My newly turned 14 year old only missed a day or two of school this year and was ready to hit his summer HARD, starting with basketball camp. By day 3, he was puny and not acting like himself. To be honest, I really just thought the 7 hour camp took a lot out of him (fair assumption, I think). But then the fever came.
And it was virtually unrelenting for about 3-4 days, only taking minor breaks when the fever reducers kicked in. But still, not himself and not looking great. So I took him over to Next Level Urgent Care, about four days post symptoms and the cough was just starting. At that time, it wasn’t so bad but I was starting to hear stories of friends with children and a random virus migrating into pneumonia, which put this momma on high alert. We took the conservative approach because he was breathing just fine and his cough really wasn’t super present or uncomfortable. Just the darn fever. Our practitioner (who we loved!) asked us to come back in 3 days if fever was still persisting. Spoiler, it was. And the cough was now super persistent.
We went back and immediately got a chest Xray (hallelujah that NLUC has x-rays on site!) which confirmed the pneumonia diagnosis. An antibiotic later plus inhaler script if we needed, we were on our way to get our boy healed. It did take a good full week or more for him to get back to himself, and it was a little bit scary for me – so I thought it would be beneficial to hear from the true experts about what they are seeing with pneumonia this summer.
Thank you to Dr. Shalini Thomas and Dr. Christine Wan with Next Level Urgent Care for contributing to the rest of this info that you need to know about pneumonia:
There has been an increase in the incidence of children diagnosed with pneumonia within the last month in our community! At one of our Next Level clinics, we saw as many as 14 cases in one clinic in one day. Pneumonia can be classified either as viral or bacterial. After careful review, all of these were thought to be viral etiology. Many viral organisms including influenza and covid can cause pneumonia. Viral pneumonia tends to have a slower onset of respiratory involvement while bacterial causes are severe and sudden in the respiratory symptoms. Symptoms of productive cough, fatigue, fever, tachycardia, back pain/ chest pain/abdominal pain, and increased work of breathing are going to heighten your suspicion of bacterial pneumonia. Viral pneumonia is suggested by dry cough, fatigue, muscle pain, tiredness and weakness.
Provider in our clinics use the chest Xray to correlate abnormal findings to the physical exam. If the vital signs and physical exam are NORMAL, there is no reason to do a Chest Xray as we do not want to overexpose children to unnecessary radiation. However, if we do find abnormal vital signs or breath sounds, we will do a chest Xray to confirm our diagnosis and help to guide treatment. We are suspicious of pneumonia with any child who has an increased heart rate or oxygen saturation less than 96% with increased work of breathing.
See below for a picture of what Xray findings might look like in a child with viral pneumonia.
Any patient that is suspected to have pneumonia with stable vital signs can start treatment in one of our clinics but should have 48 hours follow up to make sure they are doing well. Next Level Medical prides ourselves on serving our community for these types of issues.
Stay Healthy!
Your local Houston RVPs,
Dr. Shalini Thomas
Dr. Christine Wan
Next Level Urgent Care is open 7 days a week, 9am to 9pm, with locations all around the Greater Houston area. By downloading their app, you can get in line, online or even schedule an appointment with a provider.
Dr. Shalini Thomas, originally from New York and now based in Houston, is a distinguished board-certified Family Medicine physician. Her academic journey is marked by significant achievements, including earning an MBA (Master of Business Administration) and an MHA (Master of Health Administration) before completing medical school. Currently, Dr. Thomas holds a pivotal role as one of the Regional Vice Presidents at Next Level Medical, overseeing operations across 15 of their 28 locations in the Houston area.
Christine Wan, MD is in her 27th year of family practice since graduating from UTMB medical school in Galveston. She has been in private practice, faculty at Texas Tech University HSC, Associate Medical Director for Houston ISD employee health clinics and is currently a Regional Vice President for Next Level Urgent Care. She appreciates the privilege of helping and being there for people through their journey of being sick, injured and/ or needing help with chronic disease management. She lives in Houston with her husband Thomas, a civil engineer for the City of Pearland and her 2 teen daughters. She enjoys going to concerts and cooking with her kids.
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