We had prior plans to head to Covington to spend the afternoon with dear family friends. And between leaving our house and arriving at their house, Keith turned. You could see it in his eyes…watery, red, cough developed, and lethargic. Once we arrived, he perked up and wanted to play. But I think that exertion wore him down further to the point of SICK! By the time we got back home, he was out of breath, out of sorts and just an overall mess!
We set up the humidifier, put him in a steamy bath, gave him a hit of his Albuterol, some Tylenol, and crossed our fingers for a good night’s rest. NOT! Phil was gracious enough to take on the first leg of care, trying to sleep with him, putting him back in the shower and comforting him when he would cry. But really, I couldn’t sleep knowing all that was going on. We finally gave in around 3am and called the on-call nurse who told us to bring him in to the ER. I stayed home with Chloe while Phil graciously offered to take him into the hospital. They didn’t come home until 8:30am.
At the hospital, they gave him 2 rounds of the inhalant by mask, and a round of steroids. He seemed better (exhausted) when they came home, but by evening, he was a mess again. By about 3:45am, I was ready to put him in the car and drive him to the ER again, but decided to wait it out, keeping an eye for blue lips. I was able to keep him down until we could get in to see the doctor at 9am. There they gave him another round of steroids, and more for the next 2 days.
Quite honestly, he is still a mess this evening – 3rd night in a row. I am anticipating another rough night although I am praying for relief since I am just “done”, exhausted, grumpy and anxious about hearing his constant cough and struggle to breathe. I had asthma as a child (older than Keith) and remember that desire for a deep breath that never comes. It truly recreates a sense of panic and anxiety for me to hear him struggling. So while he is sick and miserable, I am working through my own misery that I can’t seem to control from memory. I think that has contributed to the exhaustion of it all.
Back down to earth, I am THANKFUL, truly, for a son who is healthy most of the time. I currently have friends who just found out their 16 month old boy “Cash” has an inoperable brain tumor on his brain stem. So, really, I need to keep things in perspective and be thankful for my family, our health, and our ability to cope with simple circumstances that could be much worse…
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