Sunday, March 08, 2009

Croup Me Once You're Forgiven Croup Me Twice I'm the Fool

You have a plan for a nice weekend.
Plans to spend time with your family, outside of your home.
A three day weekend of laughter, birthdays and fun.

Then, the littlest falls suddenly ill and all of a sudden it's like November 23rd all over again. I raced him to the ER as his upper lip was turning an odd shade of blue and with each exhale and attempted sound from his voice box came a sound like a mad seal willing to stand his ground.
(PAUSE MUSIC BELOW TO LISTEN TO THIS YOUTUBE VIDEO OF A BOY WITH CROUP/STRIDER COUGH. THIS IS WHAT BEN SOUNDED LIKE ONLY BEN'S HAD A MUCH LOUDER BARK TO IT THEN THIS POOR LITTLE GUY. THE SAME CHANGE IN HIS RIBCAGE OCCURRED DUE TO THE INFLAMMATION OF HIS VOICE BOX. WARNING: IT IS A BIT SCARY IF YOU HAVEN'T EXPERIENCED IT BEFORE!)
AGAIN THIS IS NOT BEN!!!!! JUST A SCARY EXAMPLE OF WHAT BEN SOUNDED LIKE.


Ben has croup again.
Except this time since I got him to the ER fast and pronto, and thankfully because of that, we were able to go home that same evening. (After a happy dose of A-Rod juice crushed up in Ben's apple juice.) The same pediatrician that admitted him this past November was the one that treated him this time around, and remarkably remembered his precious smile. She said we did the right thing bringing him in, as last time he was so sick. Because we brought him at the first barking sound, they were able to catch it in time. Thus avoiding him having to spend a day or so there like last time.

The steroid dose should be able to hold him off, but just in case they sent us with a prescription to give him one in 48hours if needed. You can guess where this is going....

Within the time frame of less then 48hours the night before he could have his dose, was another long night. We almost ended up back in the ER because the barking started up again--even though it wasn't supposed to as the Roid was supposed to help the inflamed airway- 5 X's I took him outside into the cold night air, each time he would say, "whoa doed" (NO COLD!) so we'd return back into the house to my steamy hot bathroom where he'd sit on the counter and I'd draw him a story on my bathroom mirror.

Goodnight Moon works great on a mirror full of steam. Just saying in case you're ever at a loss for things to help preoccupy your sick little one that is not only strong but not willing to sit in and breathe the steam.

Thankfully by the 5Th time, things started to settle down. Thank goodness because Brian and I had agreed that if the 5Th try didn't help, off I'd go with Benny to the Er yet again.

Since going to the Er I've been afraid-yet again- to have him sleep in his room, alone. So he's back in our bedroom again with the cool mist humidifier working her calming magic in our room. How is he ever going to get used to sleeping alone if he's constantly in our room? I know, I know, I'm probably making things worse, but then again, my logic is this; it may take him longer to adjust to his room, but if something were to happen to him in the meantime and I didn't hear him,..well, obviously I'll take a longer adjustment time.

He's coughing pretty bad today, Sunday, and not sleeping very well, either. I'm just praying the viral croup doesn't turn into something like RSV. Can it? Anyone know that answer?


I'm not going to think too hard about it, as we're very tired and who wants to worry about something that isn't going to happen, right? Good thoughts. Good thoughts.

On a side note, I have realized when I've arrived at my stress threshold. After the drama of Ben's Viral Croup, the other night as he lay in between Brian and I as we were sleeping, I had a horrible nightmare. A crazy nightmare that doesn't logically make sense, and in part would seem like a nightmare a child would be having. I dreamt of ghosts and scary spirits coming out of the walls, I know, weird right? On the staircase in my home I lay at the top of the steps my feet and legs dangling off the top step and one brushed up against my feet (in my dreams) even though I said I didn't want it to..and then I SCREAMED. I screamed at the top of my lungs. Not just a dream scream. A real scream. So loud that Brian flew out of bed thinking I was being stabbed. Our windows were open and I'm guessing someone must have heard my scream because the next day, I saw on three different occasions our local PD cars driving down our street. Something they NEVER Do.
(poo-poo)
Thankfully Ben nor Marina didn't wake from my high pitched scream.

My girlfriend and I were talking about my fright fest scream yesterday and we both figured out that it must be a sign that I'm maxing out my stress levels. Apparently her husband always sits up in bed, flips the sheets over his back and sticks his hands out in front of him and pretends that he's flying across the room Superman style--usually he acts out like this when the big brother BOA Snake (HINT HINT) bank that he works for, is stressing him out. Or he'll sit up suddenly in bed and just turn and look at my friend, his eyes wide open, only he's asleep. It freaks the shit out of her each time, but after our phone conversation about my scream, she's happy to take his superman vision ways any day over my nightmarish screams.

Poor Brian. Besides Ben and his sickness, now he has to deal with a screaming demon sleeping across the bed from him.
Someone come get him and buy him a drink.

9 comments:

Kstro said...

Finally someone else posting something besides McMama :) I'm sorry that you're going thru this again...especially since you were hoping that his surgery would help calm this stuff down. It's hard being the youngest because they get exposed to all the stuff that the older kids bring home. As far as it turing into RSV, that doesn't happen. RSV is a virus so if its RSV, it's RSV right now. Did they test him for that? It's just probably how his airway reacts to any sort of viral irritant. I'm not sure, but Croup may be a form of Reactive Airway Disease which is what they think Jacob has because he always wheezes with upper respiratory infections.
That is so frustrating!! Hopefully spring and summer will help to calm this stuff down. It really can't come fast enough. You don't need anymore stress!!!
Let me know if you need anything!
:)
Will be at Muldoons this Friday night if you want to blow off some steam and he's doing better...
Love,
Katie

KathyA said...

You've been having a time of it, huh?
I asked about Ben today -- left a comment on your last post.
We've been have repeated problems with croup with our grand daughter. It's been REALLY bad. She's had an attack three nights in row. The steam helps as does the nebulizer. However, it is horribly frightening and our daughter won't let her sleep alone, either. I can understand why you're screaming into the night!

austere said...

Just dont know what to say.

You tc.

a hug.

Martha said...

Poor little guy. I had my daughter in the ER on Friday because of a 105 temp and not being able to wake her up from her nap. She's better now (sort of), but I can relate to the scary coughing stuff. I don't think that a virus can turn into RSV--I think RSV is its own thing, but I might be wrong. My daughter had RSV at a month old, and all of her current breathing problems are long term complications from that.

happyone said...

So sorry to hear about Ben again with the croup. It sounds so scary, I can surely understand why you are having nightmares.
Hope things are better by now.

Cheryl said...

As my mom would say, Enough!!! I feel so badly for all of you. You need fun and health and I'm sending wishes your way, always.

Anonymous said...

I can still hear the scream!!!!!

Susan's Snippets said...

Brian -

Had we known we could have invited you to the Moose with us. Nothing cures tiredness like a night at the Moose Lodge.

drunks to dodge

Brad said...

Poor Benny-boy - I'm sorry he had to go thru this AGAIN! -

B of A is a demon spawn - I grew up with that blasted bank (mommy worked there for years) but I've never known it to turn anyone into a superhero? Hmmm.