A Harrowing Week

Man. I think I'm ready for a mini Mommy vacation. Any takers? Here's what life has been like since my last post.

I have been working pretty hard with Triscuit, trying to get him situated on this medication. I'm still not super thrilled about the inability to sleep side effect from the Dexedrine, but at least he's able to sit still better and focus. He's actually beginning to notice that he's able to retain more. One example is, we started a lesson in magnets and magnetic fields in science. Over a weeks time, he was able to retain ALL of that information and breeze through his test on that chapter. He said, "MOMMY! I REMEMBER!" It was a moment I will not soon forget!!!

Now, here's where it gets harrowing. Toblerone came down with, what WE thought was a typical cold. He spent a whole day sneezing his poor little head off. The next day was OK, until he went to bed that night. Once he got into a deep sleep, he began coughing. It wasn't a cough that was irritating, but it was a barking, dry cough. When I went up to check on him, he was wheezing. Granted, Toblerone has had many colds in his 2 and 1/2 years of life, but NEVER wheezing. The next morning, it was more of the same...coughing and wheezing. Because I used to have severe asthma, I knew the signs of "struggling to breath", so I took him to the doctor around 10:00am that day. The doc took a quick look and said, "Well, he doesn't SOUND like he's wheezing, but I do suspect Croup". To be honest, I suspected it, too. He gave us the instructions to get a humidifier and keep him as calm as possible. Yeah...right. You try and keep a 2 and 1/2 year old calm!!! It's almost impossible! Around noon that same day, he was REALLY wheezing and only getting one word out at a time when he talked. I took him to the bathroom and put the shower on as hot as possible. We sat in the bathroom for a good 15-20 minutes reading books. That seemed to calm the coughing down a bit, but it didn't help the wheezing. Around 3:00pm, he threw up and the breathing was becoming increasingly worse. I called BACK to the doctors office where they instructed me to bring him in RIGHT away. Now, the situation takes a weird turn.

We arrive at the doctors office. They take us back to the room (all FOUR of us) where Dr. L comes in. We do the normal chit chat about what may be happening with Toblerone when he asks THIS question...

Dr. L: "Wasn't Triscuit sucking on something plastic earlier?"

Mum: "No. I am VERY aware of what my kids put in their mouths."

Dr. L: "I could have SWORN it was Triscuit that I saw sucking on a blue piece of plastic.". At this point, he turns to Triscuit and asks, "Triscuit? Do you remember sucking on that piece of plastic?"

Triscuit: "No. I don't."

Dr. L: *speaking in a rather frustrated tone..."It was just this morning. You SHOULD be able to remember."

Triscuit: "I don't remember."

Dr. L: "I suspect Toblerone may have sucked something down his windpipe and it's stuck. He still doesn't sound wheezy to me...but, we will go ahead and give him a breathing treatment to see if it works."

Now...have you EVER tried to give a breathing treatment to a toddler that has NO clue what is going on? Yeah...needless to say, Toblerone FREAKED out. He cried and screamed. It was a good thing Weenie was with me, because there was NO way I could have held his hands and arms away from his face AND keep him from running away! Because Toblerone was freaking out so bad, TRISCUIT was freaking out. I had to keep TRISCUIT away from the breathing machine. He made several attempts to turn it off. He kept saying, "Mommy!!! It's HURTING him! It's BURNING him! TURN IT OFF!!!!" Regardless of the countless explanations, Triscuit still had it in his head that Toblerone was being tortured. Because Toblerone threw SUCH a fit, the breathing treatment had NO effect on him whatsoever....and because of this, the doc now had it in his mind that Toblerone HAD sucked something down his throat. He sent us to Urgent Care for an X-Ray. We get to Urgent Care and the UC doc comes out, ALL apologetic, saying, "If it's not metal, it won't show up on an x-ray. Since Dr. L is SURE he sucked something down his throat, he needs to get a CT scan at the hospital."

I bet you're thinking, "What?" Yeah...that's what WE were thinking! Toblerone is old enough to tell me if he swallowed something he shouldn't have. He IS talking now and he's a VERY smart little boy. So, to be safe and not sorry, we head to the hospital.

We get to the hospital about 4:30pm. As with ANY hospital during cold and flu season, it was PACKED. Fortunately, we were set as priority 2 (not extremely urgent, but urgent enough). Regardless, we still sat there for 3 hours. All the while, Toblerone is coughing so much he's throwing up. They FINALLY have a room for us at quarter till 8:00pm. We get in the room and the doc comes in...

ER Doc: "So, can you tell me WHAT the heck is going on here?"

Mum: *looks at Weenie*..."Well, Toblerone was having problems breathing this morning. I took him to the doc where he tells us it's probably Croup. We head home, where Toblerone's breathing becomes increasingly worse. We head BACK to the docs office where he says that he suspects Toblerone had sucked a toy down his throat that said Doc THOUGHT he saw my oldest son with. We were told to get an x-ray. Then, we were told to come here for a CT scan, because plastic can't be seen on an x-ray. THAT'S why we are here."

ER Doc: "What?"

Mum: *rolls eyes*..."Yup. Can you PLEASE tell me what the heck is going on with my kid?"

ER Doc: *listens to Toblerone breathing*..."Ummm...yeah. He's wheezing! His pediatrician didn't HEAR this?"

Mum: "According to him, Toblerone wasn't wheezing...he was choking."

ER Doc: *A look of disgust comes over his face*..."We are going to give him 3 breathing treatments to polish him up. If THAT doesn't work, then we'll talk about the CT scan. I won't do a CT scan on him if YOU don't think he's sucked something down his throat. A CT scan is an equivalent of 200 x-rays....in other words, too much radiation...especially for child."

Here is where it gets FUNNY.

The respiratory therapist comes in and sets up his equipment. He walks over to Weenie (who is holding Toblerone) and hands him the apparatus for Toblerone to start "sucking on". As you can probably guess, Toblerone starts FREAKING out again. I mean, not just crying, but kicking and screaming to the point of turning red faced and sweating. The respiratory therapist just looked at Toblerone like he was crazy. He tries to get Toblerone to calm down, but the way he was talking to Toblerone was on a 5 year old level. I was thinking, "Surely, they look at the charts to see the patients ages before they talk to them". So, I say:

Mum: "Have you seen other kids his age act this way before?"

RT: "Not HIS size, no..."

At this point, I'm taking a wild guess and coming to the assumption that NO, HE DID NOT LOOK AT TOBLERONE'S AGE.

Mum: "What do you mean?"

RT: "Kids his age usually understand what's going on."

Mum: "He's only 2 and 1/2."

The look on this poor guys face was PRICELESS! It was a mix between shocked, sympathy and a bit of humiliation.

RT: "OH! Well, THAT explains A LOT! I was wondering why he was only giving me one word answers and throwing such a fit! For two and 1/2, yes...this behavior is completely normal!"

Mum: "I'm sorry. I guess I should have said something to you earlier. I figured you looked at his chart and saw his age."

RT: "No, I didn't. I can't BELIEVE he's only 2 and 1/2! He's HUGE!"

At that point, I believe we became the topic of the ER. We had nurses and assistants coming in looking at him saying, "So...he's only 2 and 1/2?" I'm thinking I need to get him a T-shirt with "I'm only 2 and 1/2...please TREAT me as such".

We finally get out of the Emergency Department around 11:00pm that evening (armed with an at home breathing machine and meds).

The next few days were good. Toblerone was requiring less and less of the breathing treatments and by Sunday, it looked like we were out of the woods....UNTIL that evening. He started getting pretty cranky and when I went to comfort him, he felt REALLY hot. I gave him some Tylenol and put him to bed. I had been sleeping with him since this all happened to make sure I stayed on top of the breathing issue. That evening he was SO restless, poor kid! Then, 5:00am rolls around. He sits straight up in bed, says something and starts PUKING. Good thing his tummy was empty, otherwise I would have been cleaning up puke for the next few hours. Because he was running a temp, my concern was maybe the bronchitis WASN'T viral....maybe it had turned bacterial. So, I call his pediatricians office to voice my concerns. Yup...they felt the same way. So, BACK to the pediatrician we go. Dr. L comes in and we do the usual chit chat of just WHAT may be ailing Toblerone THIS time.

Dr. L: "So, what did they diagnose him with at the hospital?"

Mum: "Croup and viral bronchitis."

Dr. L: "Oh. OK. And then this morning, Toblerone started throwing up, huh?"

Mum: "Yes. I thought since he was running a temp that maybe the bronchitis was bacterial."

Dr. L: "Well, let me listen to him."

He listens to Toblerone's chest (while Toblerone is yelling..."No...ALL DONE!") and says:

Dr. L: "He sounds pretty clear except for the gunk in his chest. If you were in the ER on Thursday and he came down with THIS today, my guess is he picked up the flu bug from the hospital. I'm going to give you a prescription for steroids that I want you to start administering as soon as Toblerone's tummy settles down. That should help with the remainder of the croup holding on and also help keep the breathing treatments away while he's coughing all that up."

So, we get the prescription filled and head back home. We TRY and get Toblerone to eat, but every time he smelled food, he would start gagging. This continues ALL day and into the night. The next day, he's eating a little, but his temperature was gradually rising. I tried to give him Tylenol, but he just gagged when he smelled it. Finally, the temp reached 103.4. I freaked! Again, I call the docs office. The nurse picks up...

NP: "What's happening with Toblerone?"

Mum: "We were just in there yesterday and Dr. L explained that he has now contracted the stomach flu. His temp is 103.4 and I can't get him to take any medication. At what point do I need to start freaking out and be REALLY worried?"

NP: *laughing*..."Toblerone will be just fine. Try your best to get that Tylenol down him. If all else fails, hold him down and squirt the med in his mouth with a medication syringe."

Mum: *laughing back*..."He's 52 pounds and 3'6 inches tall. That's going to be a LOAD of fun, let me tell you."

NP: "Really? Have you tried putting it in his juice or bribing him with a piece of candy?"

Mum: "Yup. I've tried all that. He tells me "Mommy...juice...yucky" and refuses to drink it. Then, he will throw a fit if I take the candy away. He just doesn't understand."

NP: "I guess you have no choice but to force it in his mouth. Plug his nose to make sure he swallows it. Good luck!!!"

The first time, he gagged, but didn't throw it up...so that was good. As his temp came down, he got more and more hungry.

Toblerone: "Mama...hungy. Burger."

Mum: "We don't have any burgers. Let me call Daddy to see if he will bring home burgers."

While I'm on the phone with Weenie, Toblerone lays down on the couch and falls asleep. Being the loving Daddy that Weenie is, he brought home burgers for the boys. Weenie goes over to Toblerone and says in a quiet tone:

Weenie: "Daddy brought you burger."

Toberlone didn't hear him at first, so Weenie repeats himself. Toblerone heard it the second time.

Toblerone: *sits straight up* "Dada...Burger?"

He's still not awake, but flies off the couch and stumbles over to the dining room table. I swear, I don't think Weenie and I have EVER seen him snarf down a burger so fast! Once he ate that and kept it down, we knew he was on the road to recovery.

So...that has been MY life these past few weeks!

Now...for that vacation. I want at least one day on the beach with a nice bottle of white wine....