ER Has Been Moved to Monday Night

Did you miss me? Not that I've been gone that long, but I envision my few faithful bloggy fans haunting my site several times per hour just wishing a new post to magically appear. I know, I'm delusional. But you can humor me, at least, and pretend along with me that it's you that I'm talking about.

So anywhoo... I really thought we were on the tail end of The Great Month of Sickness here at the Land of Never Ending Drama. Becky so kindly passed her wickedly sore throat along to her brothers because apparently the kids do listen when I tell them to share. Luke was home one day with it and had a miraculous recovery, which made me realize that he really didn't get it at all. I'm ever so grateful. Josh had it bad, poor kid. He's the one that's been most sick. He missed a day of school on Monday. Wait, that was yesterday. Yep, he missed school yesterday, but I didn't bother to take him to the DR because I knew what it was, or wasn't, and knew they'd tell me the same thing they told me when I had Becky in twice. So I said "I'm sorry" and drowned him in cold meds while shoving cough drops down his throat. He went back to school today so I'm grateful that he got over it quicker than Becky did, even though he isn't as fast a healer as Luke. He needs to work on that.

But Micah came down with it just before bed on Sunday evening. We medicated him as best we could, but he's a tough nut to crack. He's our 4th, remember, so we've had experience in medicating unwilling children. And we have more dogs than any sane person should, so that's even more experience in forcing unwilling parties to partake of much needed medication. But between the combined efforts of Sam and I, we usually manage to wear more sticky liquid than Micah actually swallows. It's difficult to re-dose since you never know exactly how much he ingested, so we usually say "oh, well, we tried," and call it a dose.

A dog was up barking for 2 hours Sunday night, which had me up. (Dumb, dumb dogs. But we'll talk about them another day.) While I was up, I heard breathing louder than my own angered laboring breaths. And it was 2 doors down. Not good, but he was sleeping and I strongly follow the advice of letting sleeping dogs lie. No matter how many legs the dog has. Micah woke yesterday morning gasping for air, but since he immediately popped in a movie and requested breakfast I figured it couldn't have been as bad as it sounded. Plus I had someone coming to pick up a puppy late in the morning and couldn't leave. (Don't worry, I've already blown Mom of the Year, so you can just keep chalking these up for me. It isn't even fazing me anymore. I've embraced the fact that I'm a bad mom, and obviously you should, too.)

After the puppy left I realized that he should probably have a breathing treatment but I didn't have medication for the nebulizer. And I knew better than to ask for some over the phone without being seen. I made an appointment for the afternoon. And as things always go, he couldn't have sounded better when he was in there. Not only was he not gasping, wheezing, hoarse and croupy, but he had the infinite nerve to sound perfectly fine and run around like a loon. I am eternally grateful to my pediatrician's office for believing me (and thinking that I'm a nurse despite telling them otherwise several times) and just giving me what I request, no matter what. So I came home and attempted to medicate him. Between me holding him down and me trying to administer a form of medication, he freaked out. This did not do good things for his already swollen and congested airways. I'm telling you here and now the kid was turning blue. I stopped treatment and tried calming him as best as I could, but his chest was heaving in and out desperately trying to get enough air through to fill his lungs. Scary was an understatement for both him and I.

After Sam came home, as I was making supper, he had another attack of sorts. He'd fallen asleep, but woke up choking on stuff that he couldn't cough up and couldn't swallow down. The wild arm flailing and terrified look in his eye was enough for us to drop everything and rush him to the ER. Sam called ahead to see what doctors were working, and was disappointed to find that the slowest ones were there. He said we'd wait forever to be seen. I was mentally deciding if calling 911 from the emergency room would be worse than physically standing in my chair and screaming that I'd call the hospital administrator if my son didn't get treatment immediately. And I so would have done these, too. Remember, I'm an advocate for this small son of mine. Nobody pushes me with him.

It turns out that I had to do neither of these things, and I know my husband is eternally grateful. Our hospital now triages before check-in and in the triage room the nurse said "he's having difficulty breathing. He needs seen immediately." So I didn't even check in but was rushed to a room and treatment was commenced. It's good to know that hospitals recognize need over wait time. But we'd already crossed the line and there was no turning back. One treatment leads to another, then blood tests, and chest x-rays, and more blood tests, and an IV. And five and a half hours later we were shown to our own private suite for the night. I seriously thought of fighting this, but realized it was better than going home and having another attack. What would I have done with him in the middle of the night if he couldn't breathe? I gratefully accepted their offer of a room, and slept in a too-narrow twin size bed with my little boy right beside me, with tubes and wires entwining us together. Well, I didn't sleep. I napped for a few minutes each hour. And I'm at the non-functioning end of the spectrum today.

It turns out that not only does he have the wicked sore throat thing the others do, but is incubating pneumonia as well. It's the very earliest stages but we caught it and he's on medication for that as well. Steriods were prescribed for the throat since his airways are so small and get blocked so quickly. And the doctor (who thinks I'm a nurse) gave me twice the dose needed upon my request because that way we'll have extra to give him when he spits it out all over us.

The doctor once told me that they love large families like ours. We're their bread and butter since we pass things on to each other. I loved hearing that I was essentially making her Lexus payment, when we can't afford to replace our 16 year old Cavalier. Here's hoping that this is the last of the nasty stuff for several months and the doctor has her Lexus repossessed.

21 comments:

Debbie @ Three Weddings said...

Oh, that is way too reminiscent of our recent hospital stay before Christmas. I'm so sorry Micah is sick. I hope he gets better soon and glad you caught it early. I hope you get some much needed sleep so you can take care of that precious little boy (and your other kids.)

The Sports Mama said...

Ohh.. poor Micah! I, too, hope he gets better soon so that you BOTH can get some sleep!

Jennifer said...

Having BTDT when I was younger - always on the receiving end of strep throat, I feel your pain - well your kids pain.

Being a mother of 7 children, I feel your pain on them sharing all the sicknesses as well.

Having had to spend days in the hospital with 4 of my kids on seperate occasions, and having to sleep with the wires and everything else - and not really sleeping, and barely dozing, I feel your pain.

Although I am slightly jealous that you have twin beds in your rooms. in the ped section of the hospital we have cribs and small kid sized beds. So the parent is allowed to sleep on a thin little couch. And being someone who likes to sprawl out while sleeping, I have fallen off that couch many times.

I hope everyone gets better quickly, and there is no more sharing. Of sicknesses anyway. :)
~Jennifer

AutoSysGene said...

You just have to get that doctor to buy a dog from you...then you might make some money back.

Feel better soon, everyone!!

Suburban Correspondent said...

Always best to call an ambulance in cases like that. EMT's can act if the child is turning blue on the way to the hospital; also, ambulance arrivals get priority at the ER.

Learned that the hard way.

Sounds like Micah had the same sort of throat virus we did, with the swollen airways and the lower respiratory complications. Not fun at all.

Karen said...

Melissa - you are brilliant. Why didn't I think of that? Although I sold one to my dentist's wife and he hates the dog. I now fear every time I'm getting my teeth done.

Thanks for all your well wishes, everyone. Have I said lately that I've got great bloggy friends? I less than three every single one of you. :)

Aimee said...

Well, that night sounds like crap on a shingle! (as my Dad used to say:)
Sorry to hear that Micah is feeling so poorly - and by extension, his parents!

Get well vibes coming your way :)

Leanne said...

I missed you, and while I didn't check in hourly I did check. I have to figure out how to get one of those thingy's that tell me when my bloggy friends have a new post. Yep, I'll just put that on the things to do list. I should get to it in a year or so...

I'm so sorry about all the sickness but I'm VERY happy to hear that they got you in right away.

And yep, we're passing strep around our house too. I can WAIT for warmer weather so I can open all the windows and air us all out.

Hugs to Micah.

Unknown said...

Sounds like a memorable night that you would rather forget! I am so aorry that you had to go through that but I am glad you caught it early.

Christina

You are still up for Mom of the year award, you get double points for sleeping (or not really sleeping) at the hospital in a crappy little bed just so your son was not alone!! That is what great moms do!!

Kidzmama said...

Oh, how scary. Poor Micah. I sure hope everything has settled down by now and he's feeling a bit better. Unfortunately I know all too well about sleeping with my kid in the "bed" provided at the hospital. Each parent deserves a free massage for every night spent on one of those!

Tootsie Farklepants said...

OMG!! Poor baby. And why does it still take 5 1/2 hours in the ER even when you're seen immediately? It's like their minimum or something.

Get well soon Micah.

Kellan said...

Oh, Karen - I'm so sorry your poor babies are having so much sickness - passing it around to each other happens! I hope the medications work quickly and Micah recovers soon - poor baby and poor Mom. Take care - Kellan

Burgh Baby said...

First of all, I really was checking every hour. I have a philosophy that I shouldn't start work until I've read a couple of my favorite blogs, and you're on that list. Let's just say I didn't get much done today.

Secondly, ENOUGH! God, gods, Buddha, Allah, the Flying Spaghetti Monster, and whatever other powers-that be: LEAVE THIS FAMILY ALONE. Geesh, enough already!

I hope everybody is feeling better soon and that this is the last of the illnesses y'all have to deal with for a very long time. Oh! And how have you managed to avoid all of this? Or have you been sick and just not telling us?

Flea said...

I've missed you! Take good care of yourself while you care for your family. I just ditto what everyone else has said so well. :)

Susie said...

Oh, I'm new here and what a story to start with! Great job Mom handling the scariest of all scary! Not breathing? Hospitals? WOW! I would have melted down for sure. Maybe that's why I only have one kid;) Seriously though--you got some strong talent--God gave you the miracles 4 times!!!!!!
Sorry to hear that they are sick though. Hang in there!

Karen said...

Susie - I could never have handled all this so calmly had he been my first. I had to work my way there through years of much sleep deprivation.

Thank you, everyone, for your heartfelt good wishes. Micah is an entirely new kid today and it's truly miraculous.

Maria (also Bia) said...

karen, i know you keep saying you won't get any mom-of-the-year award but i beg to differ. you're a GREAT mom, and with all those illnesses lately you deserve all the best. God bless, and i hope Micah is getting better.

kimmy said...

I hope Micah is feeling better. And, you are definitely still in the running for the "Mom of the Year" award. Taking care of a sick family is a lot of work...I hope the rest of the week is quiet for you!

Kimmy

Wonderful World of Weiners said...

Calgon....take you away!!

Seriously, enough already!

I will immediately start the "dance of good health" for your family.

Hopefully it will work - plus it will keep my anxiety ridden body busy!!!

Hallie

Karen said...

Hallie - I need to see a video of the dance to make it's full powers effective.

Wineplz said...

Golly! Where have I been??

I'm so sorry that Micah's so sick!!

I really hope he gets better soon so you can be back home.