Catch up

I haven't posted in awhile. We have had quite a bit going on but I just haven't had time to get to a new post. So here it goes...

I have made 3 trips to the emergency room this month. The first one was for Nathaniel, the 2nd for Tabor 2 days after we took Nathaniel and the 3rd was for Tabor on Wednesday(5/20). As you all know, Nathaniel's was for his allergic reaction.

Tabor's first trip for the month was for croup. He woke up making the Darth Vader, raspy, sounds like something is stuck in my throat sound. I did the at home treatment, I steamed him in the bathroom with the shower on for 15 minutes. That did absolutely nothing to help with it. I waited awhile to see if it improved after he calmed down but it didn't. I took him out on our deck in the cool air and that seemed to help. But the once I stepped inside he sounded bad again. I decided to call the on call doctor. The instructed me to take him to the ER since the at home treatments weren't working. We got there about 4 am they had him get a hospital gown on and gave him some cold steam. That helped with the breathing a lot. The doctor came in at about 4:45, talked with me and decided to give him a shot of steroids which helps with the croup. About 5:20 he got the shot and we were discharged at 5:40. We got home and 6 am, Tabor and I went back to bed. By the end of the day the steroid shot had kicked and you wouldn't have known he had croup at all.

Tabor's second trip was on Wednesday. Michelle(daycare lady)called me at 5:30 to let me know he woke up from his nap with the croupy breathing. She took him outside into the cool air and that seemed to help him. Mike had Harold listen to him. It was decided to try the at home treatment for croup. Once again the steam didn't work and Tabor's doctors office was closed. So I told Mike to take him to the ER and I will head there after I left work. I got to the ER at 6:15 pm and was escorted back to his room. Tabor was finishing a breathing treatment. A doctor came to talk to us and decided to give him an oral steroid to help with the breathing. They came back to check on him and it didn't improve enough because they did another breathing treatment. There was a doctor change at 7 pm. At 7:30 a new doctor came to see us, he was very nice and asked a lot of questions to get the best idea of how to treat Tabor. He decided since this was the third time he has had croup in 2 months that Tabor would be admitted overnight. He also decided to do xrays just in case something was lodged in his throat. The x-rays were horrible. Tabor was screaming and crying. Since he is so young and can't stay still on his own they lock the kids in a plastic device thing so they could get the pictures. After the xrays we went back to our room in ER and waited to be admitted. Mike and Nathaniel had left to go get me a change of clothes and bring me some dinner. Tabor was admitted about 9:30 to the pediatric ward. Mike and Nathaniel got back to the hospital right as were were getting settled in the room. The nurse and head nurse came in to get Tabor's vitals and all that stuff. They gave him a stuffed teddy bear. They did everything to the Teddy Bear the that were going to do to Tabor. Mike and Nathaniel left at 10:45. Tabor went to sleep about 11:30. I dozed off at midnight and he was awake 15 minutes later. I got him back to sleep. Then a nurse came in to check his vitals which woke him up sometime after 1 am. He woke up again sometime after 4 am because he coughed himself awake. The nurse came to check his vitals at 6 and which woke him up again. The nurse said the doctor would check him after 7. Tabor's pediatrician came to check on him. He said Tabor would be released Thursday(5/21). They ordered food for him and the doctor said he would come back to check on him. At noon, I was told we were going to be released and we left about 1:30 pm. Tabor has a follow up doctors appt on 5/27 to check on his breathing and to see if we need to have an ENT do some looking into his throat since we have gone from chronic ear infections to croup. I personally would rather have the ear infections.

Also, for those of you who don't know Harold is a volunteer EMS. I just don't randomly ask him for medical advice. He actually can answer my questions.