With the last 5 days being so busy I forgot to mention that we spent our last Monday afternoon in the ER.
This is what my life has turned into. A trip to the ER is no longer memorable.
Oldest had been "working hard" for a few days. Working hard is a term that we picked up in the NICU. It means breathing harder than normal, aka retracting. He does this from time to time and usually a good nebulizer treatment clears it up. However, we were on day 3 or something like that and it really wasn't subsiding. Brilliant mother that I am decides to bring him to the drs (after a full afternoon at school and notifying his school nurse to keep an eye on him)
I bring him to the covering pediatrician because mine isn't in that afternoon and he looks at his sats (oxygen saturation which I usually ask to check)
90
Not good.
Well I knew it wasn't good either hence the reason for my visit.
Okay, let's try a neb and see if we can get the numbers up.
He agrees with the school nurses assessment that his lungs are "clear as a bell" and hears no wheezing.
So we neb...
and we are still at 90.
Calmly Dr S tells me to go to the ER. He looks out the window because it's about 4PM and knows traffic is about to emerge.
"Yea, You need to go to the ER NOW. And expect that you will probably stay overnight"
Oh no, I say. I have Thanksgiving dinner to get ready for and a camp reunion meeting I'm supposed to attend in 2 hrs. That wont be happening.
So we put on our winter coats, two kids crying behind me, one which I bribe with a lollipop thanks to a secretary who had one stashed in her drawer and I call husband begging him to get on the train soon and meet me in the ER. I picture myself needing to stay the night even though I have my best speech reserved for the drs.
I'm, not a panic stricken mother. I've had my fair share of trips to the hospital with my boys (Oldest in particular) and I know how to give a neb. Often. I know what signs to look for when my child is in distress and even though I waited 3 days to bring him into the DR. I'm no idiot on when to go to a hospital.
We arrive and they take us fairly quickly thanks to a "call ahead" system and a six year old who obviously needs to be seen once you take a look at his chest sucking in and out. However his oxygen is now up to 94 and I breathe a sigh of relief knowing they wont keep us overnight at 94.
Triaged and seen and everyone agrees there is no pneumonia or asthma emergency going on. We really aren't sure why he is breathing hard but I do mention this happened last year. ER doc wants to know what happened then. I said steroids and we were all happy the next day.
Steroids it was. A couple nebs at the ER, husband made it in time to allow me to go off to my reunion and sons were none the worse.
Just another day in my life...
This is what my life has turned into. A trip to the ER is no longer memorable.
Oldest had been "working hard" for a few days. Working hard is a term that we picked up in the NICU. It means breathing harder than normal, aka retracting. He does this from time to time and usually a good nebulizer treatment clears it up. However, we were on day 3 or something like that and it really wasn't subsiding. Brilliant mother that I am decides to bring him to the drs (after a full afternoon at school and notifying his school nurse to keep an eye on him)
I bring him to the covering pediatrician because mine isn't in that afternoon and he looks at his sats (oxygen saturation which I usually ask to check)
90
Not good.
Well I knew it wasn't good either hence the reason for my visit.
Okay, let's try a neb and see if we can get the numbers up.
He agrees with the school nurses assessment that his lungs are "clear as a bell" and hears no wheezing.
So we neb...
and we are still at 90.
Calmly Dr S tells me to go to the ER. He looks out the window because it's about 4PM and knows traffic is about to emerge.
"Yea, You need to go to the ER NOW. And expect that you will probably stay overnight"
Oh no, I say. I have Thanksgiving dinner to get ready for and a camp reunion meeting I'm supposed to attend in 2 hrs. That wont be happening.
So we put on our winter coats, two kids crying behind me, one which I bribe with a lollipop thanks to a secretary who had one stashed in her drawer and I call husband begging him to get on the train soon and meet me in the ER. I picture myself needing to stay the night even though I have my best speech reserved for the drs.
I'm, not a panic stricken mother. I've had my fair share of trips to the hospital with my boys (Oldest in particular) and I know how to give a neb. Often. I know what signs to look for when my child is in distress and even though I waited 3 days to bring him into the DR. I'm no idiot on when to go to a hospital.
We arrive and they take us fairly quickly thanks to a "call ahead" system and a six year old who obviously needs to be seen once you take a look at his chest sucking in and out. However his oxygen is now up to 94 and I breathe a sigh of relief knowing they wont keep us overnight at 94.
Triaged and seen and everyone agrees there is no pneumonia or asthma emergency going on. We really aren't sure why he is breathing hard but I do mention this happened last year. ER doc wants to know what happened then. I said steroids and we were all happy the next day.
Steroids it was. A couple nebs at the ER, husband made it in time to allow me to go off to my reunion and sons were none the worse.
Just another day in my life...
Comments
Post a Comment