Hospitalized

~ancient post, cleaning out drafts~

Friday 4-11-07 10:53pm
What a day!   Last night out of nowhere Trevor’s nose started running and he was coughing like crazy.  He coughed so hard he made himself sick.  He coughed through the night and in the morning he seemed better.   No temp just a little coughing and acting fairly normal though he seemed tired.  So off to daycare we went.   Travis had 2 job interviews today and it would have been a really bad day for me to miss work.  Not that any day is good for me to miss… but today was especially so.

Not even 45 minutes into my work day my cell rings and it’s daycare asking me to pick up Trevor.  His temp was up to 102 (?)  and that he was having major coughing fits.  So when I picked him up his breathing seemed a little labored so I took him into the doctor’s office.  I figured they’d tell me it was one of those viral bugs going around, give us some cough syrup or something to give him some relief.  I was in no way prepared for all that came next!

After a basic exam and listening to his breathing they hooked him up (rather tried to hook him up) to a nifty little machine that measures the oxygen in the blood stream.  He wanted nothing to do with it.  The easy way it just clamps onto a finger for a little bit and that tells them what they need to know.  But Trevor didn’t want to do it the easy way, we had to do it the hard way.  It involved me restraining him so they could tape something similar to his toe.  He thrashed and screamed like a wild animal.  The nurse recommended leaving it on so that when they tested again it would be “easier” and covered it with his sock.   After the test was over he continued to scream and kick and tugging at his sock to try and get it off.  So I took it off and he settled down pretty quickly.

The results of that test were not what they wanted to see.  His oxygen levels were too low.  So the doctor said they were going to try a neubulizer to see if they could get it where it needed to be.  Ohhh my was that all kinds of fun.  There was even louder screaming and thrashing.  It took me and the nurse to hold him down so that he could get the treatment.   And the two of us could barely hold him.  He’s a tough little guy.  I’m going to have all kinds of bruises on my shin from where he kicked me.  It was what seemed like the longest 10 minutes of my life!  I cried right along with him.  He screamed “mommy” over and over then started screaming for daddy.

So after that torture was over they had to test his oxygen levels again, oh Joy!  When the nurse came in she seemed visibly annoyed that we had taken the toe thing off and made a comment that now we’ll have to go through that all over again.  I said, “well 5 minutes of fighting with him to get it back on is better than 30 minutes of him screaming and fighting trying to rip it off.  Because he wasn’t going to leave it alone”  So another nurse came in to try to get the test going and lucky for us Trevor cooperated with the easier finger test.  Though he still got all worked up and screamed about it he at least left the thing on his finger.  We got daddy on the phone so that he would settle down a little and talk to daddy so they could see what the levels were while he was at “rest”
Levels were still not good.   The doctor said based on those test results and that his chest is constricting instead of expanding when he breathes that they wanted to admit him for at least overnight for observation.   She said that it’s likely a bronchial infection but that they will probably do further tests to make sure he doesn’t have pneumonia or any other kind of nasty infection.    I was REALLY not prepared to hear that, after all I thought it was ~just~ a cold and that we’d be on our way.

So here I sit on my laptop in his hospital room while he sleeps.  Not that I can blog real time because this thing is a piece-o-junk and I can’t get on the hospitals wireless with it.  And even if I could it would be really slow.   Anyhow, I’m at least thankful that I can use it to write something to cut and paste later.  

So it’s been a really long day.  Since we were admitted at around 1:00pm he’s had 3 more nebulizer treatments and all involving restraint.  He’s been hooked up to a machine that constantly monitors his oxygen levels.  He’s doing really well with that and not trying to fight to take it off anymore.  Sometimes he picks at it but that’s really it.  I think he might even think it’s kind of cool.  When Travis came to the hospital after his interview I asked Trevor to show daddy his finger and he grinned and held up his thumb.  It glows red and looks like an ET finger!   I took some pictures tonight in the dark because I thought it looked kind of funny.

He’s had his finger poked and X-rays were done.   Again all with much drama.  I’m surprised how he handled the finger poke after the initial poke,  he just watched her in amazement as she collected the blood.   Me personally, I was about to pass out!   So results of the tests were good so he’s been cleared of having Pneumonia or RSV.    The neubulizer treatments seem to be helping and he isn’t coughing so much.  At the moment he is sleeping peacefully and hasn’t coughed since right after the last treatment and right before he fell asleep about an hour ago. 
With any luck in the AM when the Doctor makes her rounds we’ll be discharged.  I really hope so!   Trying to keep a 2 ½ year old in the bed is really difficult, especially when there’s all kinds of new things to get into.   I’d say to keep your fingers crossed for us, but if you’re reading this then we’re home safe and sound anyway!
Sorry to ramble on and on.  I’m bored and don’t have anything better to do at the moment.  Not like I’m actually going to be able to sleep tonight anyway, worrying about Trevor + all kind of strange noises in the halls + crappy pillows and blankets + an annoying clock that tic tocs – the soft hum of my fan for white noise = one sleepless night  for mamma!