The past two weeks have been quite busy and tiring for us, mostly because of Jack's medical issues.
Last Monday Jack had his adenoids out in order to alleviate snoring that interrupted his sleep, help him breathe through his nose, and improve his speech. This was our family's first surgery.
Jack was not thrilled to be at the medical center, but fortunately his chosen method of defiance is to go limp, so it was actually sort of helpful. Justin had the unenviable job of holding and comforting Jack while they put him under anesthesia. Once under, they put in an IV, removed his adenoids completely, and cauterized the area. It took about 45 minutes. After a little over an hour, he woke up from his anesthesia and they called us back.
I will never forget seeing the nurse holding my little Jack in his hospital gown, looking forlorn wrapped in a blanket. "Jack is very quiet," she said. I can't explain the relief I felt to see him. They put him in my lap. He was pretty groggy still, and at first refused to drink, which meant that they could not remove the IV. But after a little while he agreed to drink some gatorade and we were allowed to go home.
He was sleepy for most of the day and mostly rested on the couch watching movies. But he was also ravenous after not eating anything all morning. The doctor said not to give him anything crunchy or scratchy, but that if he wanted food, he could have pretty much anything else! So, to my surprise, he ended up eating a cheese stick, a hot dog, a couple of Italian Ices, some oatmeal, and a couple of other things, too! He only needed two doses of regular Tylenol; we didn't even have to give him the Tylenol with Codeine that the doctor had prescribed. He took his antibiotics like a champ. By the next morning he was
completely back to normal, eating goldfish and pretzels and running around like a maniac. Kids are truly amazing with how quickly they can recover!
The following Thursday, we got our flu shots. Jack was really beginning to feel wary about doctors!
On Friday, he came down with a minor cold. Sunday night I noticed that he was wheezing a bit, but it didn't seem too bad and he went to sleep. We had a very rough night, though, with him waking frequently and spending the entire night in my bed. I'd say I got about 4 hours of sleep that night. In the morning he was wheezing much worse. He was sucking in at the ribs and collarbone. I took him into the bathroom and steamed it up, but that wasn't helping at all. After confirming with the nurse advice line, I took him to the Emergency Room, bringing Kai along for the ride. This was our first ER visit for one of our kids. Justin took Alexander to school.
We got there at 7:15AM. We didn't see the doctor until about 9:30AM. She prescribed a liquid steroid and a nebulizer breathing treatment along with a chest x-ray. So we hung out in our little room watching cartoons and eating graham crackers and he
finally got his first breathing treatment at about 10:30.
Two hours later he was wheezing again, so he had another breathing treatment. He was starting to get pretty restless in his little hospital room! Our only saving grace was that TV. We were brought some lunch, randomly saw an old friend, and waited some more.
The x-ray showed that Jack's lungs were enlarged. The ER doctor explained that this meant he had been wheezing (on and off) for months. I felt a huge amount of Mommy guilt that I hadn't noticed. The doctor explained that he probably has asthma.
Finally, two hours after the second breathing treatment, around 3PM, we were allowed to leave. Jack fell asleep in the car and took a two and a half hour nap. I had called Justin to pick Alexander up from school, so when they got home, I took a two hour nap as well! We were all exhausted.
The following day, I took Jack to his regular pediatrician for a follow-up. He had started wheezing again that morning even though he had his breathing medicine only an hour before. They gave him another nebulizer treatment in the office. His doctor tweaked his medicine. She also told me that she disagreed with the ER doctor. She wanted to look at the x-ray, but she said that his lungs were probably enlarged because they were hyper-inflated due to the fact that he was having a pretty severe episode. She said she is definitely not assuming that he has asthma at this point.
Something similar, though not as severe, happened to Alexander when he was two. He was put on nebulizer breathing treatments for about a week. It was a one-time thing. So we're hoping that it will be the same with Jack, not to be repeated.
He is doing very well now. He finished the round of steroids and his albuterol (inhaler medicine).
I think we've all (especially Jack) had enough of doctors and medicine and these kinds of firsts. I am hoping for a very healthy rest of the fall and winter for all of us!
