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Monday, October 17, 2011

Just Breathe

Croup is a horrible, scary childhood illness that I knew nothing about until this morning at about 4.  It is my new least favorite nasty little virus.


I've heard the phrase "croupy cough" my whole life but that in no way prepared me for the overwhelming terror I felt at 2:30 this morning as I sat on the bathroom floor with Kai in my lap coughing, wheezing and gasping for air.  This was far beyond my meager 12 years of parenting experience.  He's had a fever for a couple of days but no other symptoms, not even congestion.

We tried giving him some albuterol and it did nothing.  FYI, croup is a viral infection of the throat and albuterol is designed to open restricted bronchial airways.  Who knew?  Anyway, Brian rushed him to the ER where they diagnosed it as croup and gave him a steroid which almost immediately returned his breathing to almost normal.

I can't begin to tell you how grateful I am for modern medicine and for doctors and nurses willing to work all night.  And Brian's going to give Kai a blessing tonight.  Good thing, too, otherwise I'm not sure I'll be able to put him to bed.

1 comment:

Pat said...

Oh I am so sorry to hear about Kai. Is he still feeling better? I sure hope so. I know that terror as you girls had croup and back then I would just put on the vicks, steam (which now we know the cold is better but then we didn't have that) and pray a lot. It is one of the most frightening illness children have because we can relate so well to it, I guess. Please give him a hug for me.

Love you all