Bubba scared us pretty badly on Saturday. He woke up around 2am on Saturday morning and said "I don't feel good". I checked his temperature, took him potty, cuddled with him, and sent him back to bed, 'cause there was nothing obviously wrong with him.
Well, he woke up around 8:30am on Saturday morning crying and saying "I need you, mommy" so I cuddled with him in my bed and held him until he fell asleep again. At which point I was watching him breathe and it was very hard and faster than normal, so we put in a call to the nurse around 9:30a.
At 10:30a nurse Marsha called me back and I let her know what I had observed while he was sleeping, and her exact words were, "wrap him up and get him down here", they wanted to see how hard he was working to breathe and look at his lungs.
So, by 11a we were both in the car(in our pajamas, Bubba holding onto a little mater toy and his blankie) and going ... TO CHURCH. Yup, the nurse had scared me so bad, and my sleepy-heavy-breathing kid did too, that I had taken the Steck/Anderson exit on Mopac instead of going to our doc's office! =P
We finally got to the doctor around 11:30a, after I had gotten just about to the church parking lot and turned back to the freeway.
They put us in a room and Dr. B looked at him and got out a little tool called an 02Sat sensor, that's oxygen saturation in the blood. On a side note, I was talking to the same nurse M while we were waiting for transport and she said that a normal person should be walking around with 99 or 100, 95 was not good, 90 was bad, 85 was scary and then it got close from there, with life and death being between 80-82) Bubba was sitting at 89-90, so they immediately gave him a nebulizer treatment with albuterol in it. The first one brought him up just a bit to 91-92, so they waited about 30 minutes and since it still hadn't come up, they gave him another treatment. It came up to 94 and that made them happier.
Next we went to the lab to x-ray his lungs and find out what had caused the "asthmatic episode". The x-rays showed a small area on his lung that was milky white, indicating moisture buildup, which blocked their proper functioning of moving the air around correctly. Then they took his blood and we waited about 30 minutes for the results and the nurse came right in with a double dose of roseferin(?). The blood tests showed a "way too high"(Dr. Bs words) level of white blood cells, so they initially diagnosed him with Bacterial Pnuemonia, as she said there was no way his WBC count could be that high without a bacterial infection. Apparently BP is really bad and highly contagious, so I said okay to the shots.
Bubba did not like that. The nurse told me to hold him 'cause this stuff stung really bad, but that it was a very powerful antibiotic and should fully clear any bacteria out of his little body. Usually Bubba has no problem with shots. While Bella hollered and carried on for most of the rest of the day when she got her flu shot, Bubba just said "ow" really loudly and shed maybe one tear. So, it must have really stung, 'cause he gave Bella a run for her money this time. I was just about crying too.
Along with the shots, they gave him a dose of oral steroids, which I think made up for it, at least in his mind. He said "yum" and "thank you" to nurse M, and was happy after that. Bubba makes for a very heartwarming/breaking patient, as he is very good at using his manners and kept thanking the nurses when they brought him meds, and saying "please" when asking for a drink of water or to go home. *sniff*
So they asked us to wait for twenty minutes to make sure he didn't have a bad reaction to the antibiotic injection and proceeded to give us instructions on what to do when we got home. We were to give him breathing treatments, and continue the oral steroid for five days, and the injection would clear any infection, and he should start feeling better within 24 hours. :) Yay! Bubba was even acting pretty normal for a few minutes, as the previous breathing treatments had eased his breathing for awhile.
Unfortunately, it didn't last. We were waiting for the girl to finish checking us out in the room(the BP being contagious and all, they didn't want us being around anyone else), then Bubba was sitting in my lap and starting to wilt. I asked her to call the nurse in, and they put the O2 sat sensor back on his finger and it was at 91, then 90, then 89 ... they immediately grabbed our little friend the oxygen tank. There aren't words for how much I love this thing. I was ready to panic 'cause the nurse was looking just a bit panicky, but with the O2 mask on, his levels went up again. 90 ... 91 ... 93 ... 94
They wouldn't go above 94 though, even with pure oxygen being breathed in, so the Dr. said she would like Bubba to visit the respiratory unit at Dell Children's for further treatment and observation.
So, we sat, and waited for 30 minutes or so for the transport to the hospital. We couldn't drive over, because each time they took the O2 mask off, his O2 sat dropped back down, like immediately. It was scary. Mask on, easier breathing, better numbers ... mask comes off, immediately he is laboring and the numbers are dropping.
The emts were really nice, Leon and Lisa. I thought that was cute that their names matched. Bubba was really small on that big bed with the wheels and all the equipment attached to it. I honestly credit my calm throughout this situation to God speaking directly to me the whole time ... "He's going to be fine. It's not his time." Over and over, I kept hearing that phrase and the tears stayed within, and the heartbeat slowed to a non-panicky rate.
On the way, the EMTs gave Bubba a double dose of albuterol in a breathing treatment. The trip to the hospital was really bumpy, as we headed over to Dell Children's Medical Center. Now that is a pretty hospital. Being a nurse's kid my entire life, I have been through many of them. This one is the nicest I have ever seen, and the most confusing to get around.
We got to DCMC and they wanted to scare me again, because due to the initial diagnosis of BP, everyone had to wear masks and gowns before coming into the room. Later I asked hubby, how come no one asked if I needed one? I guess mamas are automatically immune or already exposed to whatever their kid's got. :)
Since DCMC is a teaching hospital(as they explained to me later) we were first visited by a medical student. He looked him over, looked at the xrays from the doctor's office, and listened to him breathe. His initial diagnosis was that he had an "asthmatic incident" caused by a viral infection. Bubba "looked great, sounded good" and would probably go home in a few hours. It was then 4pm. He had just had a double dose of what I will no forever refer to as "baby crack" in the ambulance, and was running around the room like a healthy, active, toddler. It got worse. By the time the second doctor, a respiratory specialist intern came in, Bubba was bouncing off the walls! She laughed with him, listened to his lungs, played a bit and pronounced him as doing great, and also said we would be going home that night.
Thankfully the respiratory specialist on staff(the doctor that the student and the intern report to) was really busy that evening. She took a couple of hours before she could come and listen to the student and the intern present their patient and diagnosis. I am so thankful that she was tied up by another patient, because they were all ready to send us home, and then Bubba crashed. When the Chief RS doc came to see him, he was tired, pale, and his O2 sat was back down to 90. Thankfully she got to see him while he was actually symptomatic and could diagnose him correctly. She "didn't think it was really BP, but if so, the injection would wipe it out anyways", and wanted to keep him overnight for constant O2 and a few more treatments. That second part made me cringe, but I was happy they didn't send me home with my sweet baby laboring so much to breathe.
They gave him another treatment and just about thirty minutes later, he was bouncing off the walls again. I HATE BABY CRACK(albuterol)!!!!! I don't care how costly the alternative, there is one, and no kid of mine will ever take baby crack unless it is a life or death situation!!!!! Frankly, Bubba's behavior scared me to death. He was wild, running around, laughing and smiling like a loon at all the doctors and nurses. He would throw back his head and scream, only to stare blankly at the wall for a few seconds and then break out laughing again. *cringe* I really hope that we never have that situation again.
My darling and wonderfully thoughtful hubby came in with Poppy and Gam and they visited with us, and saw how crazy he was acting. Hubby says "that was not our Bubba". While P&G were visiting, the Dodds came in to visit with us. They are so sweet. Brad gave Bubba a bunch of valentines he had picked up from the lobby on the way in and Bubba was thrilled. He kept asking for his "balentines" later on, and made me prop them on the shelves in his room for him to see.
After visitors had left, they set him up in the bed with an O2 monitor on his finger which he kept trying to take off. It was pitiful, 'cause he was crashing from his treatment again and kept saying things like "I feel better", "I okay", "You take me home, mamma?", "You make me feel better, mamma?". I just kept telling him, that we had to stay in the bed, and let the doctors and nurses keep an eye on him tonight. They put him on oxygen to keep his levels up, 'cause he couldn't do it by himself on room air. Hubby had come back from eating with P&G, so thankfully he was there to help me hold him while the nurse set it up. Bubba has an issue with things in his nose. He hates it when I aspirate him, or put saline in their, and even soemtimes whien all we are doing is wiping his nose with a tissue. Thank you Hubby! It took a little bit, but he got used to it, and finally started to settle down. It took about 40 verses of "hush little Bubba" and lots of hand holding and hair rubbing, but he was falling asleep. :)
Around 11p, he finally got to a rested state, not quite asleep, but sleepy, when a nurse came in to give him another treatment. That's when I went into mamma bear mode. My baby boy had not slept since earlier that morning and they were about to give him baby crack? again? I don't think so. He has an oxygen tube in his nose, and that was keeping his level around 93-94, and he was falling asleep. I did NOT want him running around like crazy again!
I very politely asked if there was any alternative, as our pediatrician was going to send me home with a nebulizer and something called Xopenex. The nurse went and put in the question for the doctor and held off on the treatment for then. The intern came in awhile later and said that Xopenex was really reserved for babies and they use albuterol once they hit a certain weight level. I calmly(ha! I wanted to scream, but Bubba was by now sleeping) explained my reservations about giving him the albuterol when he was doing a bit better on the oxygen and was sleeping peacefully for the first time all day. She said they would keep him monitored and as long as he did not get to 90, they would hold back on the treatments until morning.
Other than waking a few times, and crying to take the oxygen tube out, he slept pretty well, but his levels dropped again around 5am, so they put in the order for another treatment. grrr!
You know how you sleep when you have a newborn? That half-awake-to-completely-alert-at-the-slightest-sound kind of sleep? That's how I had spent the night. Side note: Hubby had graciously offered to spell me so I could get some sleep and a better shower, but I told him no. I told him there was no way I could leave Bubba here, even in the more than capable hands of his daddy. So, he waited while I took a hospital shower(yes, it's different somehow) and put on fresh clothing for the night. Then he kissed me and brought me a coke zero and headed home to get some sleep.
Sunday: The nurse came in around 5am, did the breathing treatment while Bubba was fully asleep, and like a light switch, just thirty minutes later he popped right awake, ripped the oxygen tube off his face and was a happy boy again. It really made me want to cry when, while he was hyper and shoveling in banana and cereal the medical student walked in to evaluate him again. "Well, aren't you 100% better this morning?" God bless him, he keeps walking in while Bubba is high, and the Chief RS keeps coming in when he's needing breathing assistance. You know he didn't get any points for those patient evals.
Thankfully, though, even when the hyper period started to fade, Bubba was still a happy camper and was looking better. He was maintaining 93-95 on room air, and they started talking to us about an asthma action plan. To which I asked if he was being diagnosed as asthmatic. She said that Bubba has intermittent asthma caused by ? I forget the exact wording here, but it was caused by the viral infection in his lungs. I think it was something like Paradoxical Bronchial ... something about the infection swelling lung tissues and blocking other areas and the lungs were just not working well.
The nurse came in around 10am to give us our instructions for when we went home, and said that the Dr will be around 11am or so to give us our discharge orders, at which point I asked if we should go ahead and order Bubba some lunch. She agreed that would be a good idea, as we don't know what order she will see Bubba in.
I took this time to ask our sweet nurse J how come they wouldn't give Bubba the X drug instead of the albuterol. She said they reserve it for babies 'cause it has the less harsh side effects, but it's 100 times(!) more expensive. Apparently Alb is 10cents a dose, whereas the X drug is 10 DOLLARS a dose. Seriously, it's 100x more expensive. Okay, I could see now why they probably would set a cutoff age/weight for it. It does have really nasty side effects, but if you were taking it 6 times a day, which is what they prescribed, that's 60 cents vs. $60. As a mom, I say cost is not an issue, as a hospital, I am sure they don't agree.
After a nice lunch, with a happy and hungry Bubba, and a James that came to sit with us for awhile, we finally got to go home around 1p. I took the nebulizer machine, and the prescription for the oral steroids and albuterol and hope to never have to see that place again. We got our Bubba home and I used the X drug samples that the doc gave me Saturday, and we got through the day sleeping and taking our treatments.
Monday: I got a follow up appointment set with Dr. B for that afternoon. Bubba was doing well with his treatments, was back to his normal rosy color, and happy demeanor. I didn't see any of the labored breathing from Saturday, and he was having none of the baby crack highs. The x drug made him just the slightest bit different, but it was more of the up-past-bedtime high that little kids get. Dr. B and I discussed his treatment at the office. She said he looked so much better, and she loved his rosy cheeks, and was happy to see him more perky. I asked her about the X drug, and she said it was quite costly, but we wouldn't need to give him treatments indefinitely, just until his cough let up, showing that there was no more congestion needing to be eliminated from his lungs.
Also, she wants me to take him to an Ear, Nose, and Throat specialist. She said that the "perma-congestion" could be a sign of swollen adenoids, or at the very least, his tonsils may be getting in the way of the natural drainage of his nose, causing it to be congested all the time. Either way, a two year old shouldn't be constantly congested. She also suggested getting allergy tested when he's a bit older, and will give us referrals for that when that time comes.
I am happy now that Bubba is feeling better. That was scary. I feel so loved by all the friends and family that were here in person, by phone, and by e-mails too. Thank you all so much for your prayers and support. I appreciate it so much! I will call you later, but for now. I wanted to get it all down and go back to bed. It has all been so overwhelming, and I was on pins and needles until this afternoon when Dr.B said that he would be better within the week. Now I am relieved and crashing. :)
The oxygen tank ... Bubba called it "a rocket"
Me holding Bubba, who is pale and sleeping
Ambulance, also referred to as "scariest image of my life"
Bubba in a cage! We were told to keep the sides up at all times that we weren't standing next to it. I think he was watching cartoons ...
Happy Bubba, sitting for a minute before jumping up again. :)
Playing with the race car that the nurse gave him
Bubba's glowing toe. I kept telling him that he had to keep it on his toe 'cause it was going to help the doctors make him feel better, so he kept putting it on my arm or chest and saying "It make you feel better too?"
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