Tanek has now "officially" been diagnosed with asthma. And, I have to say, being up for 24 hours doesn't really work all that well for me! After getting up to go to work at 4:30 am, having a wonderful day at work (notice the sarcasm here) without having time to eat, we then had to take Tanek to the ER. He wasn't feeling good all day, was having trouble breathing, and complaining that his stomach hurt. Mom said he wasn't interested in doing anything and then he was falling asleep by 5:00 pm (which is not at all normal for him). When she called to tell me and I heard him absolutely screaming in the background, I asked her to call Peds After Hours and bring him over and I would meet them there. Peds After-hours couldn't see him, so we planned to just take him to Shands ER. By the time they got there, he was actually looking and feeling better (since he had just done an extra 5 puffs of albuterol and then threw up all over himself in the car), so we decided to get something to eat and see how he was after that. He finally decided he was hungry after not really eating or drinking all day. By the time we finished eating, he was already wheezing and struggling to breathe again, so we took him to the ER at about 10:30. He started screaming and crying again in the waiting room that his stomach hurt. All of the crying "Mommy, I'm still hurting. I want to feel better. Help me. Mommy" over and over had me in tears, too. But, we didn't have to wait very long before they took us back. They gave him three neb treatments, steroids, and did a chest xray. Then we had to wait a couple of hours for the steroids to start working and make sure he could maintain his oxygen level above 93% before we could take him home.
The doctors and nurses were very nice and made him feel special. I think they especially liked the way his tongue and teeth turned so blue from the gatorade! By the time we left, he had lots of stickers, a little stuffed dog, and some magnets to take home with him! We were finally able to leave a little after 3 am and got home around 4:oo. Tanek was alittle hyped up from the steroids and was not at all happy that he couldn't sleep with his blankies - those were a bit contaminated when he threw up all over them. He picked out some substitute blankets, and although it wasn't quite the same, he finally did go to sleep around 4:30 am (after having to use his inhaler again). The doctor told him his stomach hurt from having to use all of his accessory muscles to try to breathe - he did the equivalent of at least 1000 sit-ups yesterday! The ER doctor sent him home on 4 more days of steroids and more albuterol when he needs it. He's still huffing and puffing and wheezy today, but not nearly as bad as yesterday. Hopefully, the steroids will get everything under control and we won't have to do this again anytime soon!
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2 comments:
Oh my goodness - the poor little guy. We hope he is feeling much better soon!
Those Doctors might not think he is so sweet if they could have seen him tonight with his meds. He is special just the same, just a little determined not to take his yuky meds and I can't say that I blame him. It was an experience.
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