Caleb Goes to the Emergency Room
On Monday, Caleb and are were hanging out eating breakfast. He started showing symptoms of a cold on Sunday afternoon, but nothing past your runny nose and being tired. At night he started coughing. And, by our Monday morning breakfast time, he started showing signs of being worse. He started coughing a “barky” cough while clutching his neck and crying. Then, he started wheezing and I wondered if he had something lodged in his throat. I checked and he didn’t. He kept asking to nurse, but when I would try to nurse him he’d grab his throat and cry and say, “No, no.” So, I’d stop, and he’d ask to nurse again. The wheezing got worse, so I called the doctor.
There were no regular appointments left, so I took him to urgent care. The triage nurse checked his vitals and he had a slight temperature, but his oxygen levels were too low. He was still wheezing and coughing the “barky” cough. The nurse decided to send us to emergency, so we went there. His oxygen levels were checked again and they were still too low.
The doctor came in and ran some tests, then heard his cough and diagnosed Caleb with croup. The wheezing and low oxygen was due to narrowed airways. He was given a steroid, and within a couple of minutes was breathing normally and his oxygen levels returned to normal. They discharged us with some home care instructions.
Since then, he hasn’t shown a scare like that one, although he is still fighting this cold. He seems much better this evening. I think I caught his cold too, but it’s not effecting me as much as it has him. Also, I turn into obsessive hand-washing home-disinfecting lady when stuff like this goes down. So, hopefully Josh won’t get sick.
I also learned fascinating things about how Tylenol Cold is like cocaine for babies, and that I should never give it to my children unless directed by a doctor. The doctor gave me a nice lesson on it’s use (and seemed pretty bitter that it is still being sold over-the-counter). So, at least I had some mommy-building knowledge going on while in the ER. Pondering the profit-making of over-the-counter drugs helped me to stay strong so I could better support Caleb while there (instead of turning into a crazy, worried, emotional basketcase of a woman).
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