We went to the doctor yesterday with Haze. He started having a really weird/raspy/barky cough on Wednesday night, but didn't have a fever or runny nose or anything. Cough got worse on Thursday. Friday morning, he woke up a little bit short of breath. I took him to the doctor yesterday morning. His oxygen level was low (92-94), but not too low. The doc sent us home with a prescrption for an antiobiotic (his ears were a bit red/swollen), some steroids (to open his lungs), and orders to do breathing treatments. His diagnosis was asthmatic bronchiolitis.
His breathing got progressively worse through the day yesterday. By about 3:00 PM, I started to notice that his color was getting worse and his breathing was very rapid. I called the doctor and told him something that I (really Bryan) had remembered - he had choked on a fishie cracker on Tuesday (the day before the cough started). I had smacked his back and he started breathing just fine again, but I never saw the fishie come back out. Because of this, the doctor ordered a chest x-ray.
I panicked. I immediately felt guilty and helpless. I felt like the wind had been knocked out of me. I called Bryan crying & barely able to talk & told him we needed to go get a chest x-ray. He dropped everything and came home. We headed to the doctor to have him look at Haze again. His oxygen levels were still the same. We went and had the x-ray done. The doctor called & told us he couldn't see a fishie, but Haze definitely had severe bronchiolitis. We went and got his meds and headed home. (Andlie was an absolute perfect girl the entire time and just went where we told her & was so sweet.) We tried giving him his antiobiotic and steriod. He threw them up three minutes later. I was nervous. Bryan & our neighbor gave Haze a blessing. I continued to watch Haze like a hawk and feel helpless. We tried to get some rest.
The night was rough - Haze was up all night off and on. He would go from breathing okay to not really. He wouldn't keep anything down and threw up a few more times. We didn't try the meds any more. By morning, we were ready to call the doc again, which we did, and he told us to bring Haze in. We did. He checked his oxygen levels. They were down to 88. He came and told us that we would need to admit Haze to the hospital.
Thank goodness that Granny, Shennie, and Mindy were in town! They took Andlie for the rest of the day & stayed overnight with her. On the way to the hospital, Bryan and I both cried. We both felt helpless and thankful at the same time. We took Haze in and straight up to the Pediatric floor like we were told. They immediately hooked him up to oxygen - which he hated. He never really got used to it & kept making the "get this out of my nose" face through his entire stay. Then they sucked his nose/lungs. Then they put in an IV and drew some blood. His stats when we got there were: heart rate - 210 (normal is 110-150), oxygen level - 88 (Daddy says he thinks it got down to 82.) (normal is 94+), respiratory rate - 82+ (normal is 40-60).
He was breathing fast and hard. Everyone who listened to his lungs said that there was "diminished air sounds" which meant that he was hardly passing any air. He was very uncomfortable and crying. He had a fever at this point. We just held him and snuggled him and tried to keep him calm. I could see that the doctors and nurses were nervous about him - about his heart rate, about his respiratory rate, about how hard he was working to breathe, about everything. They got some steroid and antiobiotic in through his IV and did at least three breathing treatments. I don't think anyone will ever know how sick he really was except me & Bryan. I was heartbroken for my baby boy and I wanted to make everything better for him. I don't think me or Bryan will ever forget watching him struggle to breathe.
After a while, they moved us to the Pediatric Special Care Unit that was right by the nurses station and transferred our case to a hospitalist doctor - one who is at the hospital 24 hours a day in case something happens. They put Haze on high flow oxygen which is one step below a ventilator. It basically pops your lungs open for you. It's high pressure oxygen. He still hadn't eaten since this morning at 3:30 AM.
The hospitalist doctor came in to check on us and told us that it might get worse before it gets better. He told us he would be there all night and not to hesitate to come and get him. He told us to plan on at least 3 - 5 days in the hospital.
Bryan & I took turns holding Haze and trying to comfort him. He drifted back and forth between sleeping and not. Bryan's parents drove up that night and him and his Dad gave Haze a blessing. He was blessed that he would make a full recovery and be strong. The rest of the night was spent rocking our baby boy and praying and praying and praying.
Andlie told Granny, Shennie, Mindy, "Jesus will help Haze get better. Jesus will help Mommy & Daddy."
That is so sweet what Andlie said. While it isn't any fun to probably reflect on this horribly scary event, I am so glad you wrote it down. It shows the incredible faith your little family has and the power of our Savior in our lives. So glad everything is ok now.
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