Same Song Second Verse

Around 11:30 PM last night, Jon came downstairs struggling to breathe. It wasn't just the normal wheezing that is cured by a breathing treatment, it was more like what we dealt with about six weeks ago, and after two unsuccessful neb-treatments he and I were on our way to the urgent-care ER again. This time was worse, as he was struggling so much to breathe and cough that he threw up before we left the house... then again and again in the car on the way, ... then a couple more times at the ER. I was struggling to keep my cool and prayed the whole way there (except when I was assuring Jon it was okay to throw up in the car.) At some point, on the way there, I was calmed. When we arrived, I scribbled our names on the list, but before I dotted the "i" of our last name, they were rushing Jon back for treatment. Thankfully, the nurse was the same nurse we had six weeks ago, and for Jon and me, that was really quite reassuring.

Last time, they gave him a breathing treatment and an oral steroid, and eventually he was able to breathe fine. This time, he had several breathing treatments, a steroid shot (which would act faster and not be thrown up), chest x-rays, a super-charged breathing treatment (that meant we had to stay three hours for observation,) several saline breathing treatments with oxygen, and an oral antibiotic once he was stabilized and not sick to his stomach. I thought I was scared before, but nothing compared to the fears I had when he was gasping for breath with his eyes wide in fear. Eventually, he was able to breathe better and he kept dozing off (understandable, considering the time and that he was sick). When all the meds kicked in, he was breathing comfortable, not struggling at all; his heart rate, breathing, and oxygen levels were back to normal; and his burst of energy hit. By that time, I was struggling to stay awake, but he kept on talking and talking and talking. I explained that I was a bit scared, and that sweet boy said, "Mom, I wasn't scared. Well, only when they gave me a shot - that was scary. But Mr. Phillip (the nurse) is a nice man and he helps you take care of me."

When he was discharged at 3:30 AM, he seemed just fine. Since he had messed up his jacket and pants, I wrapped him in a towel and clean shirt from the trunk, and we went home to get some sleep. Today, he is coughing a little bit, but you would never know what we were dealing with twelve hours ago. We are set up to treat croup and pneumonia with steroids and antibiotics for the week. Since the steroid will help his lungs but depress his immune system, he won't be going to preschool, MOPS, Wednesday night church, or play dates this week. He is a little bit bummed that he will miss the field trip to the pumpkin patch, but I promised we would do something fun and he is (so far) taking it pretty well. We have a follow up doctor visit later this week and I will talk to her about getting us some emergency steroids in case this happens again.