First Trip to the Emergency Room

Well, at 3 years, 10 months and 5 days old, Little Man made his first trip to the Emergency Room. It was the middle of the night on Tuesday, October 20. He'd gone to bed without any problems and was feeling perfectly normal. The only sign of anything out of the ordinary was a slightly crusty nose Tuesday morning. However, he had absolutely no problems with it during the day. Around 2:00 AM Wednesday morning, he woke up in a panic and unable to breathe very well. Between gasping for air and coughing like a seal, it was quickly determined that he probably had Croup.

The first thing we did was try to get him calmed down. Then, we wrapped him in a blanket and took him outside in the cool air. Those two things helped quite a bit, but he still had labored breathing. So, we decided to make a trip to the ER for a breathing treatment of Epinephrine.

We got there and were seen right away. He was put in a room where we did a whole bunch of waiting! Apparently, he was 1 out of 4 kids there with Croup at the same time! They gave him the Epinephrine as well as a dose of Prednisone (steroid). They also took a chest x-ray, which came back okay. So, 2 hours later, we were sent home with the diagnosis of Croup and a prescription for 3 more days worth of Prednisone.

We got home and Little Man went back to sleep right away. Unfortunately, even though he was awake for over 2 hours in the night, he was still up by 7:00 AM! Blech!

Thankfully, that was the only signs of the Croup. He was perfectly fine on Wednesday; he ate normally and played normally. It was very weird; I definitely think it was a result of so many prayers for him! He did have a stuffy nose and slight junky cough, but nights were perfectly fine. The cough was completely gone within a few days and the stuffy nose cleared up about a week later.

At least it wasn't the H1N1 virus!!!!! (Knock on wood!)

Here are a couple of pictures from the ordeal:

Is it Summer or Winter??

So, today's high has been 74 degrees. Tonight's low is supposed to be 22. Tomorrow's high...39. Are we ever going to get healthy around here???

Christopher's doing much better today...he still has a cough and a stuffy/runny nose...but with this wacky weather, I'm sure it will only get worse again. :p

On the plus-side of the temperatures being so nice...I love having the house opened up and the heat off! So do Christopher and Bailey. :D

A Trip to the Doctor

While last night wasn't *too* bad, it scared me enough that I decided to take C to the doctor this morning. The diagnosis: Croup. Unfortunately, there's nothing that can be done for it; we just have to let it run its course (takes about 5-6 days total).

With Croup, the nights are supposed to be the worst. I think, at this point, last night specifically was the worst for us. Today was much better for him since he wasn't coughing every 2 seconds and, when he did, it sounded productive and not like a seal barking. We've got the cool air vaporizer going again and I've used Vicks VapoRub on him and, so far, he's been fine. I hope the rest of the night goes as well!

We were supposed to work childcare for a women's Bible study at my church tomorrow morning. I called the medical clinic this afternoon to ask about how contagious C is, or even *IF* he's contagious. I was told he would be okay after being fever-free for 24 hours. He never did run a fever, so I think he's fine to be around other people. However, we're playing it safe and went ahead and cancelled. I don't want to chance infecting anyone else, plus Christopher could use another day home to recouperate. I need to be back at school on Thursday, so hopefully he'll be well enough by then.

As an aside...I made fun of Shad and myself yesterday...here Christopher is sick and coughing, yet he *still* has enough energy to play all day long!!! Amazing!