Ambulance Timeshare Anyone? Update Part 2

Well, we didn't think that the regular update from last week was quite exciting enough, so Kaleb decided to throw some extra "gas" on the flames this week and come up with a REAL update! 

Kaleb woke up on Thursday with a very slight fever - but seemed to be acting just fine.  In the afternoon when laying down for his nap, he started coughing - or shall we say barking like a seal.  Karis called Jennifer to confirm his fears that this was croup, as Blake has had it twice, and sure enough over the phone Jennifer could confirm that it was croup.  Karis took Kaleb to the doctor while Jennifer came over and stayed with Zachary.  While at the doctor's, Kaleb had such a bad attack of coughing & stridor that the doctor did a blood oxygenation test and it was too low at 91.  So, off to FH South Karis and Kaleb went in an ambulance.  THREE ambulance rides in a year and a half - we've decided that we should buy stock in ambulance, or purchase a timeshare! The ER staff actually recognized us - that's when you realize how often you've been there!

While at the ER, Kaleb's fever shot up and he had a mild seizure.  So, apparently BOTH Z-boys get febrile seizures when their fever is too high!!!  They triaged him very quickly, confirming that it was moderate to severe case of croup and got him onto steroids and breathing treatments.  Because of the seizure and the respiratory distress, the doctor admitted him to the hospital to be watched overnight.  Karis took the night duty at the hospital with Kaleb while Amy went home to be with Zachary.  At midnight, Kaleb's breathing was labored enough that they moved him from his regular Peds bed onto the Pediatric PCU floor to have the higher level of care and monitoring.  The doctors didn't feel that he had improved enough by that next day, so we were in for a second night.

Mesmerized in the ER room by the moving pictures that are projected onto the wall

Amy took the second night shift, as Karis needed to have some much-needed rest.  She quickly discovered the same thing - there is no sleep to be had in the hospital when caretakers come in constantly during the night, and when your son insists that the only place that he'll sleep is laying on top of you.  Kaleb's breathing was labored enough that Amy just watched the monitor all night, wanting to make sure that his oxygen levels were staying high enough and that his heart rate and respiration cycles were staying on track.  So, not a wink of sleep to be had for Mommy either!

Kaleb was great during the day - it seems that nighttime is truly the worst time with croup - and would run around the unit with his wires stuck into the back of his shirt to keep them out of the way - flirting with all of the nurses!  He had an IV put in at the ER, so we were trapped with Kaleb being in the same onesie the entire hospital stay as it wouldn't fit over the IV board that was strapped to his arm. His day-time respiratory therapist quickly became his "girlfriend" and he'd run and hug her legs and sit on her lap as she worked on the computer. 

Hanging out in the playroom - wires and all

His "girlfriend" - she was so wonderful to us!  He loved her - even though he has a very grumpy face in this picture!

Hanging out with the ladies...

We finally were discharged Saturday night after two days, and thankfully he slept very well last night and didn't have any more attacks.  It is so wonderful to be at home where he can get a good night's rest!  At one point during the first night, Amy was completely flabbergasted when at 10:00PM the nurse asked if we wanted to put on a movie for Kaleb to watch!?  Does no-one put their child to bed early?  Another phrase that a parent never wants to hear came from the ER Pediatric Respiratory therapist - he happened to be on the Peds PCU as we were being discharged and said to Amy "Yeah, I was really glad when he started to respond to the treatment in the ER - then I knew I wasn't going to have to intubate him".  We're SO thankful that we didn't know he was thinking it was that bad at the time - that's information we're glad that he kept to himself!

Phrase of the week:  Zachary to Grandma:  "Can you do this, I'm 'over' dealing with it."  Ah, a 30 year old trapped in a 4 year old body!  Kaleb's word "ti-toe" - gotta love the "Goodnight Gorilla" book - Amy embellishes on one of the pages by saying "tip-toe, tip-toe" as the animals sneak into the zookeepers house and both boys picked up the tiptoe word from that story.