Things that begin with the letter "A"

Ambulance, Asthma, Acute "fill in the medical term", Airways....

Ed is fine. Here's the summary: Ed had sudden onset of croup on Sunday night. Bad night of sleep for everyone. Monday afternoon we went to the doctor, where we stayed for 2.5 hours before being sent to the ER (where we met Den), and where we stayed for 6 hours. Back to the doctor today (Tues) where Ed got diagnosed with asthma and put on more drugs. One more follow up appointment on Friday.

The details are still fresh in my mind--and beware, there are a lot of them:

Sat. Ed seemed slightly out of sorts, so it was no surprise when he woke Sunday morning with a cough and runny nose. We put him to bed early that night, with a breathing treatment [he'd had pretty severe breathing problems with his previous 3 colds and we got a nebulizer machine from the doctor which basically vaporizes a substance called albuterol, which is what asthmatics take when they are having an asthma attack. It is supposed to open up the airways and function on a short-term basis to help breathing]. What did surprise us was the most bizarre sounding cough that started shortly before 10pm.

It sounded like what I imagined croup sounded like--barky seal-like cough. We stood outside his door, not sure if we should go in, or wait until he woke himself up. Before long Den wound up with Ed in the rocking chair while I called the Ped's after hours. We were told that everything we were doing was exactly what we should do and to see the Doctor in the morning. We slept on edge Sunday night, with Den going up about every 1.5 hours (when the coughing got bad) so Eddie could sleep sitting up on his chest for a period of time.

Fast forward to Monday at 1:30. Our appointment with the Doctor. Ellen the nanny was working and thank goodness Den suggested I bring her. We had given Ed a 3am breathing treatment and the Doctor wanted to try again. He seemed quite serious and concerned, eventually telling us that if after the fourth dosage, his breathing didn't improve, that we'd be going to the ER. Ed did not want to sit still for these--it's like getting a cloud of damp air blown in your face. We had to chase him around the room until the doctor made one of us hold him--arms, legs, everything while the other held the tube in his face. NOT fun. Additionally, I'd not brought any toys, so we sang every song we could think of, making up words to half of them.

Ellen had to leave, which left me with the doctor at 3. Ed was still breathing as badly as ever and the doctor seemed almost angry with me--completely different than any time before. Ed was also more out of sorts and fussy than I'd ever seen him before. The doctor started to give me the option of trying more treatments and waiting at the office for observation before he overruled himself and said we'd go to the ER. Said they'd call an ambulance for us.

We started another treatment (so it would look like we were doing something, the doc had said) and soon there was a fireman standing in the doorway of the exam room and then the parmedics, complete with the guerney. Turns out the office had called 911 at the direction of the doc and said Ed was breathing badly. Of course by the time they arrived, he was MUCH better, but still bad off.

In hindsight, I think the doctor realized he was having an asthma attack that was going to take a while to get under control, that the doctor's office would close before Ed would be okay and that it was just best to go to the ER. By ambulance ensured we'd get immediate attention.

We had our own personal elevator and they gave him oxygen with the breathing treatment, put a monitor on him and allowed me to carry him to the ambulance. They had us ride on the guerney for the 2 minute ride to the hospital and then I had to stay on the guerney as they wheeled us through the ER, all the while hearing people comment, oooh and ah over what a cute baby, and poor thing to be having a problem. I just looked at Ed.

Den met us at the hospital after getting my car from the doctor's office. They ran a whole range of tests from the usual diagnostics of tempature -- a little more invasively than Ed was accustomed to getting his temperature taken (he had a fever) all the way to x-rays. everything came back fine. They gave Ed another 3 doses of albuterol and 1 of ventolin (I can't remember what that one is for)-- all at once. The doctor wanted him to wear a mask so as to get more of the meds. He screamed and cried and flailed, and when the nurse tried to put the elastic behind Ed's head, he pulled it right off. Thankfully Den is better at clamping Ed down.

In 5 hours time, Ed had 8+ doses of albuterol--a lot. They also gave him a dose of a nasty, yet effective drug called prednizone (had just finished a round 3 weeks ago). They also continued to monitor his heartbeat and I think it's called blood/oxygen level--the amount of air you are able to get in. I tried not to watch the numbers flucuate, but when the alarm was going off, it kind of drew your attention.

Finally by nearly 9pm the wheezing had stopped and the breathing had better stablized. Den was able to get Ed to fall asleep in the ER. Upshot was that we had to give him breathing treatments throughout the night, every 4 hours. By the time we got home and settled it was time for the first one.

We went to the doctor this morning as directed for followup. Doc tried to paint a picture of how bad he was. That he was basically breathing at 60% capacity--when acceptable is closer to 95% and above. He threw out some other stuff that I have to ask about when we have the third visit of the week on Friday. Today doc said an ER visit combined with the past history earns him the label of asthmatic (even though previously we'd been told it's not typically diagnosed till age 2).

Ed has to continue the prednizone through the end of the week and we have to check on his breathing round the clock every 4-6 hours--meaning waking up in the middle of the night. Then begin what is called a maintenance drug--he'll take it every night via the nebulizer through the cold weather months--pulmicort. Doc said kids basically have every summer to outgrow asthma, but hopefully this regimen will keep Ed stable and breathing well until that happens.