Wednesday, October 01, 2008

Will it ever end?

Evan came down with another cold this week. He's been getting regular breathing treatments since his last cold because his night cough hadn't gone away, but last night his symptoms got a lot worse. He was wheezing and his breath was rapid and shallow. We were giving him treatments every couple of hours and he wasn't getting any better, so at 4:30 our doctor sent us to the ER. We didn't get to come home until 11:00!

I made a big mommy mistake at the hospital. Jeff and I have very different philosophies when it comes to illness. Jeff is usually more eager to call the doctor, but I'm much more "wait-and-see." I had been holding out hope all night that the treatments would work and we could just see the doctor in the morning instead of going to the ER, but Jeff had said several times that we should go. When the doctor gave us the order, I felt awful, because it was my idea to wait so long. By the time we got to the ER, Evan was having such a hard time breathing, we'd gotten no sleep, and I was feeling really worried and guilty. Jeff dropped us off at the door and as soon as I walked in and saw the receptionist I broke down crying. Evan wasn't a bit scared until he saw me crying like a baby, but he took one look at me and started crying too. His empathy was sweet, but I felt really bad for imposing that on him. I'm usually really good at being positive and strong, but I just didn't have it in me today.

I think Jeff and I have gotten about two hours of sleep, and Evan didn't sleep much either. I stayed home today (obviously, like I could leave my son in this condition!) But, Jeff's at work completely exhausted. Meanwhile, I'm trying to do the impossible and keep my albuterol-crazed son calm and relaxed. He took two good naps today, but he's still really grouchy, which might be the steroids talking. He's improving, but we're back to the steroid/breathing treatment combo and it's not much fun.

It seems that Evan definitely has asthma and that it is triggered by colds. Which shouldn't be a problem right, cause kids never get colds. Oh wait, they get them ALL THE TIME, especially our sick magnet of a child. But I do feel a little better knowing that it's definitely asthma. Every time this has happened I've been afraid he had a life threatening case of pneumonia, see, I'm totally positive. Asthma is manageable and we're learning our way around it, so hopefully we'll be even more ready the next time this happens.

5 comments:

Lauren Stahl said...

Boy, sounds like you had a night. I am glad you are getting to the bottom of things, and I hope you are all feeling better soon.

Kelly said...

Poor boy! I'm so sorry you all have to go through this.

Holly said...

it's hard to remain strong 100% of the time... we all break!

Nate and Jan said...

oh guys, i'm so sorry! praying for a fast recovery for evan.

Christine said...

I get freaky when my son is sick. He just got over the stomach flu where he was throwing up so much, he was dry-heaving, and I was terrified. Hope your son (and you) feel better soon.