So we had a late night last night at Dominicans ER. Kai had woken up in the morning with a nasty cough and runny nose that didnt seem too bad at first, but still took precautionary measures and spoke with his Pediatrician. I explained that he had runny nose (no green snot), hoarse cough, no fever, and seemed to be eating fine. He told me I could bring him in if I wanted to have him seen, but I decided to stay home with him and see if it wouldn't get any worse. So i was then instructed to keep suctioning his nose, use the humidifier, and use saline drops. His doctor thought it may have been common cold, but if breathing got worse I had to bring him in. So i did all of that except i did not have a filter for the humidifier so I used the shower and closed the door. And gave him a nice warm bath after.
He was about the same all day, sleepy, runny nose, and cough until bedtime. He started coughing a lot more and had a hard time catching his breath. So I decided to just take him in the ER (10pm) even if it was just a common cold.
After about 2 hours, we saw a doctor and immediately said he has Croup Cough. I was a little surprised, but sort of glad he pin-pointed his symptoms.
Kai received breathing treatment of something with epinephrine and a steroid shot (I forget the name. This was at 1am) then another breathing treatment of Albuterol then a nasal swab to test for RSV, then another dose of epinephrine since he want showing signs of getting better. At about 4am they took an X-ray of his chest in this horrible looking contraption that I had to assist restrain him in. Looked like this
The RSV test came back negative and X-ray looked good. He started to sound a little better, but his O2 saturation were fluctuating a bit so they wanted to keep an eye on him so he was admitted to Pediatrics.
6am now and he's had some milk, clean diaper, and fresh clothes. Now the doctor wants a blood test, CBT to rule out infections.
It's 8am now and we're still here just hanging out resting until he's stable enough to be at home.
A nurse in the NICU once told me "never trust a preemie". Well technically Kai is an Ex Preemie, but he still has these days where he's completely fine then out of nowhere is instantly sick. "They play tricks" she said, it was Grace, the Respiratory Therapist. But this is most definitely not his fault.
I was sitting in that awful ER questioning myself, how did this happen? We were doing our RSV isolation with exception of doctors appointments, walks outside and occasionally going to other family members houses so, what went wrong?! It's frustrating because he fought so hard for those 105 days that I don't want him to be sick anymore. I know this is not the most awful sort of sickness he could have, but he's still sick, and for Ex Preemies that is dangerous. I just hate seeing him like this, looks like it hurts.
Anyways we'll be here. And he's still a happy little boy too. I'll keep you guys posted.
2 comments:
It is always so hard when you are watching your baby be sick and he has special needs. When I was with Eric in the hospital for those 2 weeks with his open heart surgeries, I hyperfocused so much to bring him thru it all, when we came home I couldn't remember the path to drive to the store even. Or how some things on my car even worked. It is like you are giving your child your strength and your awareness on him is protecting him. And it is. It is something I think only a mother has the power or ability to do. It is OK to relax and enjoy in between times. You are doing great!!! We do what we can and must remember some things are out of our hands. And he is gaining his own strength every day. Still praying for you all. Marti
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