"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."
--Jeremiah 29:11

Friday, November 27, 2009

Thanksgiving ER Visit

After all the festivities were over yesterday, Greg took the kids back to the hotel for a proper bedtime as the multiple days of no napping were taking a toll. Things didn't quite go as planned, but they both did fall asleep just before 10pm. I got to the hotel shortly after and as soon as I settled into bed, Connie let out a huge barky cough and then began to wheeze. The wheezing kept up even after 15 minutes in a steamy bathroom so we called the pediatrician's exchange and they said to get him to the nearest ER. The nurse who took the call could hear him through the phone and said with his history it and the fact that we didn't have a nebulizer or any albuterol with us definitely called for a trip to the ER. Greg looked one up on the computer and found TX Presbyterian 3 miles away. We got great service and were seen right away. Dr. Grimm (a horrible name for a doctor) was very nice and diagnosed him immediately with croup when she heard the cough. The funny thing is, he isn't coughing much and has no fever, but since croup is a virus, other virus related symptoms were suddenly explained. Like the diarrhea and the tiny red spots all over his torso and neck. He got a steroid shot which lasts 72 hours, the same length of the virus, and then she debated on whether or not to give him any racimic epinepherine (sp?). She wasn't sure about giving him any epi with his heart and specifically with his history of flutter. I told her that he'd had it after both surgeries as every time he was extubated he would have stridor and required two treatments each time. When she heard that, she decided he was a candidate for it but wanted to watch him on the monitor for an hour afterward to make sure his heart rate stayed okay. The monitor was behind me but I did see it up near 170 once. It didn't last long though and quickly started dropping into a more normal range. After waiting it out an hour, he got a dose of benadryl and was discharged. He was such a good boy and fell asleep soon after we got back to the hotel around 2am. He was up at 8am demanding hashbrowns so I guess he's feeling better already!