When I came home from work to take Drew to his appointment I was shocked to see that he was eating lunch and acting quite chipper. I was so happy that he seemed to be feeling a million times better. I was thinking we really didn't need to see the doctor but figured it couldn't hurt. At the doctor's office he was still in a good mood, very talkative and energetic. The doctor listened to his lungs and decided that he had the early stages of pneumonia. So early, in fact, that he didn't even want to call it that. He prescribed some medicine and we went home relieved that he was okay. We figured some rest and little pampering would be the trick to recovery.
Fast forward to one hour after we got home. Drew was really not feeling well and complained of his stomach hurting. He threw up and when I was giving him a bath I noticed his breathing was off. Way off. Every time he would take a breath his skin would suck in between his ribs and when he talked he couldn't even get a full word out without taking a breath. I told Mike that I wanted to take him to the ER but Mike thought he was fine. (I swear, men don't get the worry gene!) I decided to run out to the store to get some juice and prime pampering material (books, crayons, movies, etc.) When I got home only 30 minutes later, Drew was even worse. So worse that he was completely out of it and looked horrible. I mean scary, horrible. Mike was convinced and we took off for Urgent Care.
When we got there they immediately took him back in the room and started breathing treatments. He had chest x-rays, blood tests, and shots. After the first round of breathing treatments he was much, much better and we even thought it might be possible that we would get to go home. Just as the doctor was about to let us go she decided that it might be best to check his blood pulse oxygen level, just to be sure. She checked it and it was such a low number that she thought maybe it was wrong so she checked it on another finger. Three fingers later and she was convinced that we would be admitted to the hospital.
We rode to the hospital via ambulance. I think Drew was stuck between scared and excited. He didn't know what to think. I was terrified. This process wasn't something new to us, we went through the exact same thing two years ago. But still, it was so scary to know that he had to be on oxygen to breathe.
Drew ended up staying in the hospital for two nights. Two nights of what I consider torture. Drew very much remembers having to have an IV the last time and was terrified to go through that again. It didn't go well. Sleep was impossible because they had to do breathing treatments every two hours the first night and every four the next. Plus they were giving medicine, checking his vitals, and every time he would roll over in bed the oxygen tubes would fall out and the alarm would go off. It was exhausting. One night a nurse came in at 5 a.m. to weigh him. I gave her a look like, "are you kidding me!" Let the poor kid sleep!
For the first day and half we had to basically be on lock down. They thought it was possible that he had H1N1 and so they had to be super careful. Every time someone came in the room they had to wear a yellow protective suit and a mask and we had to wear one if we were sitting at least three feet away from him. Thank goodness, the tests for the flu came back negative.
So, what happened was he had pneumonia and it caused his usually very mild asthma to go crazy. We had thought that we were somewhat in the clear with his asthma but I guess we are going to have to be super careful when flu and cold season rolls around. I was a little nervous to take him back home since we don't have an alarm that goes off every time his blood oxygen level falls. Scary stuff.
Thank you so much for all of the messages, prayers and thoughts. It really means a lot to us. I've come to the conclusion that Facebook is the most genius thing on the planet. Mom, Stacey and I were able to keep everyone updated on Drew with a few clicks on the keyboard. :)
7 comments:
Poor guy. You can get a peak flo meter that they blow into and it measures his lung capacity. It would at least give you a heads up when his lungs are getting a little off. I hope he is feeling better. I'm bummed I missed the Kansas City CK convention, I had sick kiddos...athma. bleck. Maybe next time.
I had seen the post of the Scrapbook generation blog but didn't know it was quite so bad.(I just recently starting reading the blogs and didn't know about the asthma.) I feel so bad for the little guy. I had asthma as a child and had pneumonia several times and it is NOT fun by any means. (((HUGS))) to you and him.
I thought you were totally talking about my son about 9 months ago. Similar thing, he didn't seem really sick, but then all of the sudden got worse. Took him to the ER and waited hours... they found tha the had pnemonia, double ear infections and RSV which then allt caused a severe asthma attack... We had to wear the yellow gowns and the masks. Our littlest son, who was 2 couldn't come in and visit brother. Breathing treatments every 2 hours, and 3 iv's had to be put in from them falling out or getting kinked. We spent 4 days in a hospital 2 hours away. They DIDN'T let me ride in teh ambulance to transport him down there, and we had to drive ourselves. We finally got released on his 4th birthday. SCARY stuff is so right. I feel your pain... It is so hard when you cannot take away your childs pain.
Glad he is doing better now and you got to come home.
Nicole M.
I agree, having a tool like facebook or a blog is wonderful for giving updates and recruiting prayers. So thankful he is home and out of harms way.
I was praying for you. We were in a similar situation a few months ago with our youngest son Blake. He was only 5 DAYS old when he woke up with a 103 temp. We took him to the ER and they did every test imagineable including a spinal tap. VERY SCARY! We were admitted and stayed for the longest 2 1/2 days of my life. Yes, giving medicine, changing IV fluid bags, alarms going off because oxygen tubes kept falling out or the pulse ox reading was way too low, etc. Another thing that was frustrating is they could never give us a definite answer as to what happened. They just chalked it up to 'some virus'. Thankfully, he is doing great now. If I never have to deal with it again, it will be too soon.
Jen Schmitt
So sorry for all of you it is very difficult to go thru that. Last year at this time my niece was just a little sick, few hours later she was really sick. Turned out astma and other problems. She was in hospital for 5 days out of school for 14 days. This year it's already started again but not to that degree.
Hang in there all of you hope he feels better soon. Big hugs from me and my girls who love reading your blog.
Erica, thanks for letting me know about the flo meter. It would definitely be nice to have one around! :)
Nicole, I can't believe they didn't let you ride in the ambulance! That would have had me furious. I hope you never have to go through that again! You said it right, it's scary stuff! :)
Gloria, thank you so much. If it wasn't for facebook we would have had to call so many people!
Jen, how in the world did you stay sane through that! If there is anything scarier than a 4 year old going through that, it's a 5 day old. I can't even imagine! At least Drew could tell us what was hurting him or if he wasn't feeling good. We also went through the same thing two years ago, they wouldn't give us an exact answer. Every person we talked to told us something different. It was so frustrating.
Dawn, thank you so much. I hope your niece stays healthy! It's so scary to watch kids, whether they are yours or not, go through that. :)
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