Last night I picked Kaiden up from daycare with a runny nose and his nanny said she had to admisinster two treatments of his albuterol inhaler. If you remember, awhile back he was diagnosed with infintile cough and congestion. A term they use for asthmatic children under 6 when they can't do the pulminary something-or other test. So I bring him home and as I'm talking to my friend later that night she interrupts and says "Is that Kaiden in the background? Does he have croup?" I knew Kaiden's cough sounded wicked, but I didn't know what to expect with croup, and therefor assumed it was just a bad cough. I googled it and after reading and having my friend contact a nurse for me, dedicated myself to staying up to monitor him.
We were up all night! We even spent over an hour in the bathroom while hot water ran for a home-made steam room. In the morning at 6:30 after dozing off for a few minutes was abruptly awakened by Kaiden's breathing. He barely was. I could feel the crackling lungs and his stomach pumping ridiculously hard against my chest. I called an on call nurse and asked if it would be wise fo rme to bring him in to urgent care, or wait for a doc appointment for the morning during business hours. After telling her how many breaths per minute he had and her hearing the way he was grunting for each breath she said "Natalie, you need to call 911 IMMEDIATELY!" After momentarily going hysterical I kicked into 'mom mode' and had the ambulance there in less than 5 minutes.
He's been on numerous breathing treatments to help open his airways, was administered a liquid steriod, and oxygen but after ten hours is still not responding as well as he should .He's working SO hard at breathing that his heart is pumping so hard causing the muscles surrounding his airways to swell. He's still grunting for breaths and is 100% out of energy- using all he has to breath.
Kaiden will be prescribed a medication that has to be taken daily for the next umpteen months to help fight off bacteria and viral infections. Because he's an asthmatic the moment he gets a cold or cough his body has to work in over time to not only defend itself but deliver oxygen. He doesn't have the strength to do both. So right now what we are experiencing is his body working SO hard (using every bit of energy he has) to breath making his heart work extra hard. This of course increases his blood pressure increase as well has his heart rate. The muscles that contract and retract to allow that airflow become swollen requiring an oustide resource to help settle those. ie: Steriod or albuterol etc.. Hopefully this is something he grows out of, but this is deja vu for my mom as she spent numerous episodes in the hospital with my brother for his asthma- that he had for his entire life. I have exercise induced asthma now- but prior to my 20's had it pretty bad as well.
PLEASE- friends, blog readers, strangers, or passer-bys I need your prayers. My little man is my whole world! I hate when he sneezes let alone having to deal with something so difficult. We're leaving this up to God- please give us your prayers.
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Oh man Nat! As I was first reading I was thinking- We've been there- Miley had pneumonia and Croup back to back and it was horrible! But she responded well to the liquid steriod and oxygen and we were sent home with a nebulizer. But- as I was reading further and hearing that you had to call 911- I couldn't imagine! My prayers are with you both! Way to be a good Mom! Stay Strong, your little man needs your strength!
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