the many adventures of benjamin: children’s hospital edition

on sunday nite benjamin decided
that his life was not exciting enough
so he thought some respiratory distress
a visit to the local emergency room
an ambulance ride to the er at children’s hospital
and admission to the picu
were the way to go

the battery on my camera was low
so i didn’t grab it on the way out the door

seriously as i was leaving
it was one of the things i thought about
not clothes for my diaper only wearing babe
but my camera
what does that say?

so anyway – don’t have any pics until the next day
when we were in the picu and daddy came to visit

history:

benjamin had a runny nose over the weekend
sunday he was a bit more cranky than normal
but was not acting sick at all

over the course of sunday he developed a cough
that i attributed to drainage from his nose
(which i attributed to allergies)

sunday night he was having trouble sleeping
coughing himself awake every 1/2 hour or so
and by midnight i noticed that he was breathing rapidly
and his little chest was working really hard
(come to find out later that he also had
nasal flaring
but didn’t know to look for that – now i do)

so i decided to take him to the er

editorial note: not sure what made me decide to take him
i am one to be reluctant to seek treatment

of the school – let’s wait and see
i’ll call the doctor in the morning
etc.

for some reason i decided to go
and i guess it’s good that i did
i told my mom that in hindsight
the people in the er at the hospital
were in a panic
you’d never know
’cause i suppose they train them not to show panic
not a good way to instill confidence
but they were definitely
deliberate and hurried
in their responses

and once benjamin made it to the regular floor
the doctor said it was good that i hadn’t waited
i think his words were
“these kids can go blue in an instant. and you don’t want that.”

it’s comforting to know that there is someone out there
bigger and more omnipotent than i
helping me with my parental decision making

in the er they quickly took us back
and gave him a treatment of albuterol
(think asthmatic inhaler)
it helped a bit but not enough

so they called the ambulance
started an iv
took blood for labs
and sent us on our way

when the ambulance was leaving the hospital
the guy that stayed in back with us told his partner
that we needed an efficient ride
i decoded that to mean
no sirens or taking corners on 2 wheels
but don’t stop for coffee on the way

he had 2 more treatments with albuterol
in the ambulance on the way to children’s
and another once we got to the er there

there was not sufficient reduction
in his breathing rate
so they put him on continuous albuterol and 70% oxygen
and admitted him to the picu
where he would get closer observation
i believe it was about 4:45 a.m. at this time

he was on the continuous albuterol for a couple of hours
after the morning doc did his observation
he was reduced to treatments every 2 hours
and took him off the oxygen
by evening it was down to every 4 hours
he didn’t need any more oxygen at all

he did really well with all the procedures
from the er at the hospital
all the way to the picu

everyone kept commenting
on what a wonderful patient he was

for the most part he did well on the picu as well
but after awhile he was tired of being stuck in his bed

he was ready to go up to the regular floor
long before he made it up there

the picu is just not stocked for kids who are mobile and active

we finally got a couple of toys to help pass the time
we had to wait for someone to leave to free up a room

at 6pm we finally were freed from the confines of the picu
and got to move to a private room upstairs

can you tell we’re excited??

by the next morning we were up with the sun
which is like 5am and ready to go
there was a nice big window in the room right next to the bed
and we wanted to get outside like nobody’s business

once out of the bed he went straight for the door

he started running across the room
and just peeking out
then he got brave and stepped over the threshhold
it wasn’t long before he was running
to the other side of the hallway
before returning to the room

then he got really brave and started turning the corner

then momma put him back in bed

after rounds we were slated for discharge

the diagnosis was bronchiolitis
an infection of the lower lung airways
caused by a virus
usually rsv tho’ i don’t think it was in his case
with a reactive airway exacerbation
essentially an asthmatic attack
but he can’t have that diagnosis
unless it happens again
and is not related to a respiratory illness

so we just had to wait for our nebulizer
and for someone to show us how to use it

so once that was done we were set free!!

we stopped at the pharmacy
and then went outside

notice the loaner clothes
remember momma didn’t think to bring any from home
all the more attention from random strangers
due to overwhelming cuteness

to wait for daddy and brothers

to pick us up

thoroughly enjoying ourselves the whole time
relishing the freedom and fresh air!!

now we are back home
none the worse for the wear
notice the dirty shirt and knees
from helping momma plant bushes

things are somewhat back to normal

he gets breathing treatments 4 times a day with albuterol
and 2 of those he also gets pulmicort

we have an appointment with our doctor today
her last day is tomorrow before she goes on maternity leave
how’s that for getting in under the gun!!

hopefully we will get the stop the albuterol treatments
and then just do the pulmicort (a maintenance med)
for however long he needs it
while he kicks the virus and his lungs heal

Advertisement