Our Night at Dell

Last week Micah had an adventure...of sorts.  This is not really the kind of adventure we want to repeat, but it should be chronicled anyway. Micah has had colds or allergies pretty consistently for a while, and this spring several have turned into ear infections.  So, two weeks ago when he developed another cold, I was watching for the ear infection, and Mark took him to the pediatrician that Tuesday because I was worried he had another one.
 

It wasn't an ear infection, but I got a call at noon at work, 5 minutes before my last client of the day, to meet them at the children's hospital.  Micah actually turned out to be having an asthma reaction, and his blood-oxygen numbers were low and he wasn't responding to breathing treatments at the doctor's office.  One ambulence ride later (!) I met them at the ER.  After some time there, he still wasn't responding to breathing treatments and had to keep an oxygen mask on, they decided to admit him.

His room had an awesome view of a construction site outside.  Micah liked watching the crane and seeing the workmen the next day.  He and I spent a restless night of breathing treatments and trying to keep on the oxygen mask, which would come off, his oxygen numbers would drop, machines would start beeping, and then we were awake.  Thankfully, though we stayed the whole next day, they let us go home that evening.  His numbers were still bordeline, but he didn't have to keep the oxygen mask on to stay there, and we continued breathing treatments at home for the next few days.

We watched lots of shows, a friend showed us the playroom, and we talked with doctors.  Dell is a teaching hospital, so at one point Wednesday morning there were about 10-12 doctors in our room, some listening, a couple of interns doing the talking, and an attending watching.  Thankfully, he did return on his own a few times later to let us know what was going on.

It took a few days at home before his numbers went back up -- Friday morning he was still at the same level as when we left the hospital Wednesday evening.  By the following Wednesday his numbers were perfect, and we had a good chat with our pediatrician.

They don't diagnose asthma in kids under 5, but we have an inhaler and an asthma action plan, and orders to watch for and treat early symptoms.  The surprising thing for me is that many of those symptoms are more subtle than I knew (such as coughing at night). 

It is taking me some time to take this in stride - it wasn't until we knew he was better that I felt myself start to relax and let myself feel how scared I was.  And truth be told, when he was coughing this past Thursday night and started a runny nose, my anxiety kicked in again.  Because while Micah thought it was kind of cool to ride in the ambulance to the ER, I really don't want him to go through all that again.