Emergency in July

We started our week off with a crazy event. Sunday night Ben was ramping up on yet another allergy attack, along with pretty much everyone else in Boise. It has been a bad year for allergies. We put him to bed and hoped he would feel better with the claritin and some sleep. The night progressed and I was getting up with him about every hour when he'd cry out or start to cough. By Monday morning, it wasn't a pretty sight. Jared encouraged me to call the pediatrician as soon as their office opened. At 8:01 I called and talked to their triage nurse. I told her what was going on: Ben was coughing pretty seriously, wheezing a lot, and it seemed as if he was panting to get air. He had eaten breakfast, but had complained that his legs were hurting and his stomach was hurting too. The nurse said, "You should either call 911 or take him to the ER right now."
"Oh" was all I could muster. Then after taking a breath, I said, "Right now?"
"YES." came the firm reply.
So, I quickly got dressed, grabbed Ben's blanket, grabbed the diaper bag for Cade, got the kids in the car and called Jared all in a matter of minutes. We met Jared at St. Luke's where he had gotten the paperwork rolling for our arrival. They took Ben right back to a room and started hooking him up to things. Right away we realized that he needed serious help. The nurse hooked up a pulse oxygen thing to his finger, took his vitals, put a cannula with oxygen on Ben, and told us the dr would be right there. In came a dr who told us some serious news. Ben's vital signs were very poor. He was barely getting enough oxygen to be coherent, much like someone with very advanced pneumonia. He told us that Ben would be admitted to the hospital were he'd begin respiratory treatments to open up his lungs.The nurse put an IV in Ben's arm (after poking around on his hand and not finding any vein to tap) and started fluids right away. I tried to hold Ben still while he cried and pleaded with me to have them stop. I felt like an awful mom for not stopping the pain, but knew it was necessary for the bigger picture. Sheesh. Afton quietly watched, Cade slept, Jared bit his tongue feeling exactly what I was feeling. Poor Ben. He had blood drawn to check his white blood cell count and a chest x-ray to check for pneumonia. Both came back ok.Next came a respiratory therapist who started Ben on a mask with epinephrine. Ben was so weak at this point that he didn't give much of a fight. We turned on the TV to distract him and watched as his little body struggled to suck in a breath.
Another round of respiratory therapy came with Albuterol to open his lungs. Then we moved upstairs to the Children's Hospital. This environment was much more friendly to kids, and we felt very confident in the care of the personnel there. They made Ben feel more comfortable as they explained to us that he was very seriously ill. His lungs were in a very fragile state and they were going to take every measure to try to get them better. We were warned that unless he started responding to the treatments he was being given, he was close to heading to the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit. Soon he started in small stages to get better. He was still working very hard to breath, but at least he wasn't getting worse. They had to turn the oxygen on to 3 1/2 (which is like sticking a wind tunnel up your nose, by the way) in order for him to have ok levels of oxygen in his body. That was making everyone pretty nervous.
The diagnosis was unofficial asthma. The doctor wouldn't commit to fully diagnosing Ben with asthma because this was his first hospitalized attack. But he fits the profile: peanut allergy + eczema + allergies = asthma. Time will tell for sure, but for now we are treating it like asthma.

Jared's mom flew up to help us juggle our back and forth routine from the hospital. I wanted to try to keep our newborn as far from the petri dish of the hospital as I could. She is amazing and cleaned our whole house, kept Afton entertained, Cade well cared for, and gave us the extra boost of help that we needed. Thanks again Jan!
As I looked at my little boy lying on that big hospital bed with a cannula of oxygen in his nose, cords on his fingers, an IV in his arm, and sensors taped to his chest, I was shocked where we had found ourselves in such a small amount of time. Just the day before he'd been running around like a crazy three year old and singing songs and telling stories non-stop. Now we were in the hospital for an undetermined amount of time with a very seriously ill boy. Wow.Ben was very brave! He generally allowed all the poking and prodding, respiratory treatments, and being hooked up to tons of cords and tubes. Tuesday they tried lowering the oxygen and successfully got it down to 2 and then 1 and then 1/2. Hooray!After two days of being pumped full of corticosteroids he was very jittery though. At one point he was trying to climb up the bed while thinking of all the crazy sounds that rhymed with jumbo. It was kind of funny and sad to watch him try and spit out all the words that were tumbling through his crazy head and try and get some wiggles out too. There was a play room just for sick kids and that was a great way to get out some extra energy. I call it energy, but it was all fake energy. The poor kid hadn't slept for more than 2 hours at a time for going on three days. Ben played with every car and truck in the place.I tried to bring him special treats that he'd want to eat and our great friends the Taylors sent him get well cards and some toys to play with. So very thoughtful! They were well played with for as far as all the cords would reach.On Wednesday Ben was finally starting to show big signs of improvement. He was able to go off the oxygen all together and was only hooked up to one cord. We were told he'd be able to go home! We were then fully educated on asthma. It was a lot to take in. Ben will be on a twice daily dose of an inhaler, plus an as-needed extra inhaler as a quick recovery solution. Plus he's finishing off a steroid liquid that will help open up all the sad little corners of his traumatized lungs. And we were told to keep him on an allergy pill (Claritin) every day. Whew! This changes things for Ben, and all of us actually, and will take some adjusting. He has been so good at using the inhaler with the breathing mask. We call it his spaceship mask.
Since we've been home I try not to hover over him, but I'm watching him like a hawk. I don't want a repeat. And I'm trying not to kick myself for not seeing how serious it was becoming. How does a mom who claims to be a good observer overlook her three year old slowly suffocating? It has stopped me in my tracks. I have been so wrapped up with taking care of Cade that I just kept thinking, Ben will get better soon, it's not a big deal. I'll chalk that up to some serious naivete and get myself educated so I can recognize the warning signs and ACT from now on. And it is apparent to me that I need to realign my spirituality as well so I can actually HEAR spiritual promptings when they come.
Ben is going to be ok. That's what is important. As we move forward and learn what we need to learn to keep him healthy, I'm grateful for the experience we went through. It has awakened me to be more aware of the little in-between moments of my kids lives, not the blur of each day. I need to slow down and appreciate it!
Jared has been a super dad during every moment of this. He spent the two long, sleepless nights by Ben's bedside and most of the hours during the days too. He was able to give Ben a blessing and be his advocate in the hospital. What an amazing man.
Ben is back to running around and playing pretend just like he should be. We love him so much!