We've had a bit of a scary weekend, the family and I.
It all started earlier this week when Hayden seemed to be having some allergy issues (runny/itchy eyes, runny nose, etc.) I gave him Benadryl and that seemed to work for the first couple of days. Wednesday, however, it did not. He had a runny nose all day and a cough was developing. I figured within the next couple of days we would be in the doctor's office for a fabulous nebulizer treatment--since I am out of the albuterol needed for our neb machine at home. Sure enough Thursday morning H. woke up at 6:30 crying and sounding horrible. He was wheezy and his cough was extremely tight. I gave him a puff or two from his inhaler and that seemed to work for about an hour then he tightened right up again. I called the doctor's office and made an appointment for 9:45 and hoped I could hold him off until then. He cried and was barely able to talk and just wanted to be held. Finally I couldn't take it anymore and we went to the doctor's about 30 minutes early. He fell asleep or passed out on the way there (I couldn't tell which) and the nurse rushed us right in to check the O2 levels in his blood and give him a treatment. They like the oxygen level to be at at least 90% and Hayden's fluctuated between 75 and 82% and with the oxygen on his face it was only at 88%.
The doc then came in and told me that we were going to have to take him to Primary Children's Hospital. --You know, somehow saying "Primary's" makes it all sound so much more scary. I mean, if she had just said, "He needs to go to the hospital." I don't think my blood pressure would have shot up nearly as much. --Then she (the doc) said he'd have to go by ambulance because they didn't want him to be off the oxygen for the amount of time it would take for me to drive him. GLORY BE! There it went again! My heart rate just spiked... I called Brent, on the office phone since I'd forgotten my cell phone, and told him the situation. Only what he heard was that Hayden wasn't breathing and they were taking him by ambulance to Primary's. Imagine the thoughts going through his head... what I actually said was that Hayden was having a
hard time breathing, still scary but not as life threatening as if he'd already stopped.
Long story short, too late, several things happened at once: B got to the doc's office the same time the ambulance did, and H. set his mind at ease by looking up at him and saying, "Hi, Daddy." B. took Scout to our house where she was handed off to her uncle Luke and H and I rode in the ambulance to the Hospital. You know, ambulance rides look
much smoother on TV.
We were in the ER for 3 hours while they gave H several treatments, but he didn't really respond to any of them so they admitted him. I can't tell you how hard it is to watch people put oxygen tubes in your 2 year old's nose and have him cry and say "Take it off, mommy. Take it off." and not be able to do anything but hold him tell him it's ok (especially if you're not sure it is). We were in the hospital until Friday evening when H finally responded to treatments and was able to sleep without the oxygen.
So, now we are home and still have to give him albuterol every 6 hours and prednisone twice a day and he still has a horrible cold (which Scout now also has). We will also have to give him a Flovent puff (inhaler) every day whether he is showing symptoms of an asthma attack or not. Pretty scary stuff, I must say. But some good things did come of it and here they are, listed in no particular order:
* Luke and Megan didn't hesitate one bit when Brent asked them to come get Scout and to keep her indefinitely.
* Julie drove down to the ER to see little H just to make sure he was ok. While she was there she asked H if he would like her to sing him a song about trains to which he politely responded, "that's okay."
* Michelle brought us food and coloring stuff while we were waiting in the ER
* My parents kept Scout over night and brought her up to the Hospital to eat.
* My down the street neighbor and morning walking buddy brought by some food, a toy, and much needed caffeine.
* Hayden said lots of funny things like when the nurse would tap tap tap at the door he would say, "come in!" and he told one of the nurses, "bye, lisa" after she introduced herself.
All in all I am grateful for our families and our neighbors and the people who love us. I hope we don't have to do that again any time soon. AND I hope B doesn't freak out too much when the bills start to arrive, we just finished paying for little Scout after all.
