K's first ER visit...

Sorry we have once again been away from the blogging scene but that is because my little K was sick. She had RSV and bronchiolitus (spelled?). On Monday, we had a Dr appt scheduled for that afternoon but during the day she got progressively worse...She was coughing more, more lethargic, and not herself at all. At the appointment, her temp was running 101.9 and the doc said she had the start of an ear infection so he gave me an antibiotic to get rid of that. He also said to continue doing her neb treatments more frequently...As you can see from the pic that she really doesn't mind them. She usually falls asleep and will help me hold the mask.

Tuesday, I took the boys in because they both had coughs. Also, almost as soon as we left the Dr's office, C started to complain that his ear hurt. I had them both checked out and a strep test done. Both of them were clear...C's ears looked good - just a lot of wax. D's one ear looked a little red but could have just been from the cough - not enough to warrant antibiotics.

That night I went to bed, hoping for a good night sleep - NOT to be had! When K went down for the night I gave her ibuprofen because she had still been running a temp off and on all day. She woke up around 1:30 and was breathing really hard - I picked her up and she was boiling! I took her temp and it was 101.9 under the arm so almost 103!!! It was too soon to give her more ibuprofen so I searched for my infant Tylenol and gave her some of that. After a half hour I checked her temp again and it had come down but very little and her breathing was still very labored. I waited another half hour (so full hour) and it had still barely come down...so I was left with the dilemma - I knew she needed to go in and be seen but I was home alone with all three kiddos and so would have to wake up the boys to take her in.

At 3:00am we were at the ER, all four of us. The boys actually did great - I was surprised. Of course the didn't like being woke up (not to say I didn't blame them on that) but I had grabbed their Leapsters and so they sat and played with them and later watched Peter Pan. K was given more meds to bring her temp down, a neb treatment and an oral steroid to help her breathing. Then, of course, we had to get our all time favorite chest x-rays (Dan always seems to get out of going with the kiddos for these - one of these times hun - one of these times!). We went down to the room and I think she was just so exhausted from the fever and the breathing because she actually didn't scream TOO much. And of course the boys are trailing behind.

The x-rays came back showing that there was no pneumonia - Thank you God! but that her bronchial tubes were swollen (something like that - you expect me to remember everything when it was early morning and having minimal sleep?). The nurse did another neb treatment and then the Dr asked if I would be comfortable going home with her still breathing like that or if I wanted to admit her...NEITHER would be my choice but I decided to wait and see what happened once the meds kicked in. After about half an hour she woke up and ate good and seemed to be more relaxed breathing so we packed everyone up and headed for home... The only thing was we needed to pick up some meds and all of the pharmacies were closed and didn't open until 8am - this being about 6:15.

Great - we went home and laid back in bed - the boys in my bed with me... D fussed about having to go back to sleep but fell asleep almost right away. C on the other hand is a morning person like his Daddy and so was sitting in bed between D and I just chatting away. I dozed in and out until about 7:45 and then got up. I got the boys breakfast and then packed everyone up for another run into town to get the meds. Drive up to Coborn's drive-thru and they said it would be about 20 minutes...okay now what. Drove through McD's for my breakfast and a snack for the boys then drove around, went back and got the meds and headed for home again.

The boys took a 5 hour nap that afternoon because they were exhausted. Me on the other hand - I have gotten little to no sleep all week. K needed to be get her neb every four hours and of course she eats every three hours - plus she still had high temps and hard time breathing. The boys have slowly gotten better. D still has a cough....C says that D took his cough. ;) I had a head cold with sinus issues but I think that we are all better now.

K had her follow up Dr appointment today and the Doc said it would probably take another 2 weeks for her to fully recover. So in the meantime, we continue her nebs and keep an extra special eye on her. You can tell she is doing much better because she is smiling and singing once again. I just need to catch up on my sleep now.....................

Why am I still up??? I am waiting for a call from Dan to let me know his plane landed in CT and he got to the hotel okay. He is there for the day and then back to Miami - hopefully, training in Miami will go good enough for him to be home on Saturday around noon.