I mentioned that Grace came down with a 101.3 temp within an hour after her first day of preschool (that has to be a record!). Well Ethan joined her in the Sickie Club this weekend. I noticed they were both coughing a bit Friday late afternoon/evening and I heard Ethan's barking cough Friday night. Saturday morning Grace had a pretty running nose and Ethan had stridor breathing. If you're not familiar with stridor breathing you're lucky. Stridor breathing sounds like a terrible wheezing sound when inhaling. It really sounds terrible.
I got up with the kids Saturday morning while David slept in, and I did some google research on coughs and croup because I was pretty sure that's what Ethan had. The barking cough kind of gave it away. I did check his temp and it was normal, 98.6 on the nose. Later in the morning I took Grace out to buy a birthday present for her friend's birthday party that afternoon and stopped by Safeway (for free canned soup. go to Campbells.com for a $1/2 coupon!). When we got home a little before noon Ethan was asleep. David said he fell asleep on the couch so he moved him onto our bed where he slept for another hour. When he woke up he still had the stridor breathing and I was concerned so I gave our pediatrician a call to talk to a nurse. I described his cold and symptoms to the nurse and she asked to listen to his breathing so I held the phone up to Ethan so she could hear him. She advised me to take him to the Emergency Room as quickly as possible and to bring a cell phone with me in case I needed to call 911. What a way to freak a Mom out! I told David what the nurse said and he was immediately skeptical. Ethan had been acting fine this morning playing and just seemed extra tired due to his cold. So I called back and got a different nurse. I described his symptoms again and made sure to emphasize that he was acting normally. Again I was told to take him to the Emergency Room because he could act fine and worsen quickly. She told me that the stridor breathing was a sign that his airway was closing and kind of had the tone of "this is serious you moron". So David moved Grace's car seat out of the van into his car so they could go to the birthday party while I got Ethan ready to go to the Dallas Hospital.
We got there around noon and I had no idea what to expect. Thankfully there was only one other person in the waiting room and we were seen way faster then I thought we would. The first nurse we saw checked his temp (low fever), weighed him (25ish pounds) and measured him (32-33" is the best guess since he was not interested in standing up). His oxygen level was 99% and that was the main thing I needed to know. Next we moved to the room to see the doctor who was totally not concerned about the stridor breathing. He told me that pediatricians overreact about it but it's not a big deal unless it's really bad (what on earth is really bad is what I want to know) or is accompanied by dehydration. He looked in Ethan's throat and said it was definitely swollen and he had spots on his throat so he would treat it with antibiotics in case it was strep throat. He also said that the way his throat is shaped causes the stridor breathing. Ethan just has a more narrow airway so when he gets an infection in his throat along with a cold it can cause his throat to swell and the stridor breathing to occur.
The final diagnosis was tonsillitis (swelling of his throat and tonsils) and croup. We were given a prescription for steroids to help reduce the swelling in his throat and a round of antibiotics to clear up the throat infection. So far I'd say it's working because the stridor breathing is gone today, though he's still coughing. I don't think there's anything we can do about the croup except wait it out because it's a viral infection.
So the whole Emergency Room and buying prescriptions (I hate 20 minute waits...roaming the grocery store aisles with no agenda is really not fun) took two and half hours. The steroid medicine is supposed to make him hyper (lovely) and is given once a day and he hates it. The antibiotic (amoxicillin) is taken 3x a day and he tolerates it.
I really hope the croup never visits us again.
Sunday, September 20, 2009
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5 comments:
Been there, done that. Thankfully kids outgrow croup for the most part. We have also been visited by the sickness fairy. Two of my kids have already missed a day of school-and we have only had 9 days of school.
Oh, I'm so sorry! Both my boys had bad croup...Wyatt got really sick as a baby with pnemonia, croup, then RSV, and we had a Dallas ER visit in there too. Never fun. I hope he's on the mend soon!
Wade is just getting over something similar. Try a humidifier for him or putting him in the bathroom with lots of steam...then take him outside and shock him with cold air. It works for Wade. Also vicks on his feet with cotton socks!
Gabriella will finish her five day round of steroids tomorrow. She was fine Wednesday morning and by Wednesday night she was having such trouble breathing she couldn't get a complete word out (scary!) Steroids are no fun although this round hasn't been as bad as our last round was. Hopefully Ethan will avoid that fun "my-sweet-child-has-turned-into-a-monster" side effect.
It's always hard to know what to do as a mom, and then to get on the same page with your husband (mine would have been just like David). Glad it worked out, but there went your day. Just another day in paradise, right? Hope he is doing well soon.
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