Our Weekend: The Bad

Yesterday (Mother's Day) was spent first at the med center and then at the hospital. Not my best Mothers Day, that's for sure.

Ethan has a bad case of croup (barking cough, wheezing), but he was having labored breathing so we wanted to make sure it hadn't developed into something more than croup. After being admitted to the med center, the SAME *incompetent* doctor who said my arm was just "badly sprained" gave us quite a scare with Ethan. After reviewing an x-ray of Ethan's throat, he jumped to the conclusion that Ethan was likely to have Epiglottitis (a swelling of the epiglotis [punching bag in your throat] caused by a bacterial infection). Epiglottitis can be fatal of not treated right away - the airway can close all the way and the child can suffocate. So he called an ambulance and basically scared the crap out of Mark and I.

Once we arrived at the hospital, I was immediately relieved to overhear Ethan's ER doctor saying, "oh... he sent another one down here with 'Epiglottitis,'" and then, "this is just a classic case of croup." The doctor also told us that the swelling of Ethan's airway was not nearly as severe as Epiglottitis would indicate, and Epiglottitis is most often caused by a bacteria that Ethan is immunized against anyway so it would be highly unlikely. We made a decision that very moment that we are not going back to this med center again! At the end of the day, Ethan received 2 breathing treatments plus oral steroids, and he was doing much better. We finally were sent back home at around 2:30 (after 5 hours). Then the kids took naps, we ate dinner, we played a little and the kids went to bed. It was a "family day," but not the way we had planned! We were very relieved that Ethan was OK.

Unfortunately, Mark is back at the hospital right now (see how we skipped the med center!), because Ethan was wheezing so badly this evening. Ethan's received another breathing treatment and is still coughing and wheezing. He will have to stay in the hospital overnight, so my mom is coming over to stay with Abby so Mark and I can switch out. I will let you know what happens!