February 15, 2013

Oh, Tuesday

This week went a little crazy as some of you know via facebook. I guess technically it probably started Monday but I wasnt on top of my game so it wasnt truly discovered until Tuesday. Anyway, Tuesday morning I was a little concerned about Parker. his breathing seemed a little fast but he had struck a fever the night before. He was having coughing fits Monday night too but the fever is was got me worried. Wasnt even super high, 100.7. So I did some looking online and I was starting to think maybe he had pneumonia. I called the pediatrician to see if he could get in. sure enough, in like an hour. I cancelled my appointment with my VTs because I didnt think wed be back in time. So we head to the doctor. P is warm and breathing a little quick but mostly acting normal. So I wasnt too concerned. After they listened to his breathing, did a pulse oxygen thing and some blood work, the Doctor basically said I'm a bad mother. "This is an emergency! He's in respiratory distress! you should have taken him to the ER!" Well I didnt know. he was breathing harder yes, but this kid as allergies. he gets congested. its hard to breathe with lots of snot! so again, didnt think too much of it. After they gave him a breathing treatment, which he protested but later fell asleep during it, and listened to his breathing again, the Dr said she was worried his oxygen would drop again and wanted us to go straight to the Kosair childrens hospital ER. okay sure. no problem. To give you some stats, P's breaths per minute were at 70, they are supposed to be at 30. His blood oxygen levels were about 91. they are supposed to be like 99-100. His blood cell count was fine. Tested positive for RSV. Oh and he had a fever 100.7 and the Dr said he had an ear infection too. sweet. After the breathing treatment though it brought him down to 60 bpm and his blood ox to 93.

so off to the ER we went. P was acting even more like himself by this point. He ate some applesauce and was just jabbering away in the backseat. We got signed in and pretty much had enough time to run to the bathroom and then they were ready for us.
He looks so sad and pathetic here. you can definitely see hes a little rosy.

when we got back to the room there was like 3-4 different people doing different things to him. Had someone hooking of the blood oxygen monitor on his toe then taking a bum temp, 102.2. Someone getting his gown on. someone checking his ears and listening to his breathing. Someone prepping for a nasal cleaning (dont know the technical name) that was the worse for me though. oh, ER Dr veto'd the ear infection. but back to the nasal congesting. they had to stick a tiny suction tube down his nose. his arms had to be pinned above his head. they suctioned the back of his throat too. that was the worst! it made him gag and that previously spoken of applesauce resurfaced. not going to lie, I teared up doing this this. he just hated it so much. but it did help open him up and able to breath better. They gave him some meds for his fever and just kind of let him chill. They were so good to him though. The second he was on the bed they had cars playing on the tv for him. After they were done with the nasal thing they even brought him in some toys to entertain him.
They decided to go ahead and give him another breathing treatment to see how itd go. It did help. they just kind of let us chill some more to see if he calmed down and things started clearing up. Every time someone came in to listen to his breathing he would cry. he didnt want them touching him. obviously that makes it hard to accurately listen to his normal breathing.
listening to cars through the remote. he kind of enjoyed  that.

it was amazing how much he perked up even after the medicine kicked him. he was smiling at the RT and the nurse. he was totally back to normal, personality wise. after his breathing calmed the Dr ordered a chest xray for a little rumbling in his lungs. He did okay with that until they moved the pillow thing he was on, i think it just scared him plus those ladies' hands were freezing!! shortly after that we were told he did have pneumonia and would get a script for that. the RT came in and taught me how to use the breathing machine and signed some papers then we were good to go. not without playing on the truck agian though of course.

Poor P missed his nap time and just crashed when we started yo gabba.

So we had to do treatments every 4 hours all night! it was hard on me. P did okay even though it ended up waking him up every time. what a champ. This is the treatment, Bubbles the Fish. Hes not wearing it even though it looks like it, I'm just holding it.

The next day we had a follow up with the pediatrician. This is the main dr at the practice, the one previously in a new addition. This lady could tell just by looking at him that he was doing WAY better. stats were 28 bpm, 97 blood ox, and 98.6 temp. completely normal. its like nothing ever happened. she still has us doing breathing treatments a couple times a day and as needed. He has about a week left on his antibiotics for the pneumonia.
waiting to see the dr on follow up day. looks pretty normal huh.

but P knows how to use the machine for breathing treatments. wednesday after we finished up and figured out how to turn on the machine. once he did that he held it up to his mouth and sat there. haha no meds were in it though.

don't report me to cps, he climbed in himself, I wasnt even in the room. but proof this kid is feeling better.

just in case you didnt notice from before, you can tell a health difference just by looking at his belly. left: in the ER, right: dr follow up.

honestly I cant believe any of this happened. I still feel horrible that I probably could have prevented all of this. well, alot of it anyway had I gone with my gut on monday that something was off. but I didnt know what I was looking for. I was in contact with my brother (er resident) and he helped me feel a little better. he said 100% of kids will have RSV by the time  they are 3. no matter what. 100%. But P was a total BOSS through all of this. he bounced back like a champ too. Hes starting to fit the breathing treatments now, I think he finds them unnecessary because he feels so much better.

2 comments:

  1. You're a great momma! It's hard to know when they're sick enough to warrant a doctor visit - especially when the kid doesn't really act ill. (Ahem, my daughter.)

    100%, eh? We're 18 months down, 18 to go...maybe Keegan can beat the odds. RSV sounds lame.

    Hopefully you can get some rest soon!

    ReplyDelete
  2. So sad but still soooo dang cute! I cant get over his hair!

    ReplyDelete