Some children get serious bacterial infections that require hospitalization and then a long course of antibiotics to completely treat the infection. Examples of these serious infections include ruptured appendicitis (when the appendix gets inflamed and bursts, releasing bacteria into the abdomen), complicated pneumonia (when an infected pocket of pus forms either in the lung or between the lung and chest wall), and osteomyelitis (an infection of the bone). To extend the duration of antibiotic therapy after discharge from the hospital, doctors will often insert a long catheter called a PICC line in the child's vein, which can stay in the body for several weeks. However, PICC lines require a fair amount of maintenance and training of caregivers in their use, require children to restrict their activities, and can lead to serious complications, such as blood stream infections and clots. An alternative to PICC lines is extending the duration of antibiotic therapy with oral antibiotics (pills or syrup) that achieve high levels of medicine in the blood and do not have the extra work, inconvenience and risks of PICC lines. Unfortunately, there are very few high quality studies that have demonstrated that oral antibiotics are just as good as intravenous antibiotics delivered via a PICC line, and so many doctors still recommend the PICC line treatment option. Also, no studies have been done to compare the impact of these two treatment options on the quality of life of the child and their caregivers.