Croup...Seriously?

No pictures for this post.  I have been way behind on posting because we have been busy, plus James got croup last week.  Last Wednesday night, Landon had a meeting at church that lasted for a while.  I had a TERRIBLE time getting James to bed.  I got James home from church and tried to put him to bed. The past 3 nights before that had been pretty challenging with bed time. That Wed. night I let him scream for a while, but he’s started hitting himself in the head, hard, if he gets really mad and frustrated, and I could hear that’s what he was doing. Then, he starts screaming, “Oh, my head, my head, my head,” because his head is hurting. Anyway, finally I went in there (probably after 15 min or so). He was upset and wanted to shut his own gate. I told him fine, and I opened it for him, but when I opened it for him so he could shut it, he walked out into the hall and said, “I’ll be right back.” I told him no and pulled him back in his room and he just freaked out and said, no, he wanted to shut the gate. So, I tried again, and again he went out in the hall. Finally, after about an hour or more, I got him to sleep. When Landon got home, I was crying on the couch. It was so upsetting. We talked about how I think he’s just cranked it up a notch in smartness and challenging us, etc., and we just don’t know what to do – something new to figure out. I thought the hardest part was done. I did not know what would happen this morning.

So, I knew his throat would be sore that next morning from his coughing. He woke up Thursday morning at 6:15am and started coughing. Well, it was such a terrible cough – it sounded just like the croup cough (like a seal sort of), and he could not catch his breath. I ran in there and jerked him up out of the bed. You could hear him like wheezing and he was just shaking all over. I ran in our room with him, saying to Landon, “he can’t breathe! he can’t breathe!” We got him calmed down and some juice and water, and he was very upset, but he was okay. I don’t think his throat has ever hurt like that before, and he was like gasping for breath – I swear to you I thought we were about to call 911 and do cpr. seriously. it scared me so bad. bless his heart. but I don’t know what to do about the night before – should I not have let him scream? I have no idea. Landon had already said that he would take him to breakfast this morning. He did take him to breakfast once things got calmed down, but we didn’t send him to school. His voice is raspy and I was afraid to him to get out of breath on the playground. Landon agreed (and if Landon agrees it’s clear I’m not overreacting) that I should keep him home.  Finally, that afternoon, I could see that it truly was a croup cough and just happened to coincide with a bad getting in bed evening the night before.  We took him at 6pm to Kids Time Pediatrics where the dr. there immediately said he had croup.  They gave him the prednisone right there in the office and gave us a prescription for more.  This is the third time James has had croup, but the first time they have given us any kind of inhaler.  They gave us some kind of inhaler prescription.

 

I had told James that we would go ride the horsies at the mall.  We decided to take his prescription to a different Walgreens than we normally use - one that was in between the dr. office and the mall.  I had the craziest experience at that pharmacy - it was totally bizarre.  Here I am, waiting and waiting for them to fill the prescription - meanwhile my sick baby is out in the car, and I am FREAKING OUT inside wanting them to hurry - and this lady is at the counter, literally cussing out the pharmacist and the tech.  Saying she is getting them fired, and then yelling at me, "Don't ever get government assistance.  It doesn't do a blank blank blank thing."  And on and on and on.  Finally, I was so stressed and nearly in tears that I just asked them to give my prescription back and let me take it somewhere else.  I did not want to listen to that lady anymore, wait any longer for them to start getting our stuff filled, and I was worried that they would make a mistake on my stuff since they were completely stressed back there.  We took it to the Publix at Hamilton Mill.  Have I mentioned that I CRAZY LOVE PUBLIX???  The pharmacist there was FANTASTIC.  He explained how to use this spacer thing, etc., and was so calm and kind and compassionate. 

 

The next morning (Friday), we had no crazy incidents, but his temperature was 102 by the afternoon, and I could tell he was having some breathing problems during nap time.  I called the nurse line.  They said that it can take a while for the steroid to really make a huge difference, but that by Saturday morning, I should see a MARKED improvement or things still weren't right.  Meanwhile, do you think James wants to use that spacer/breather thing...NO.  He hates is.  Screams and screams, and when I talked to the nurse line, they didn't know why the Dr. gave us that  instead of just giving us a nebulizer. 

 

So, Friday night was a little rough, and Saturday morning, he had one of those crazy attacks again like he had on Thursday morning.  It was TERRIBLE.  I knew then that we had to go to back to the dr.  They couldn’t get him to take a deep breath (I wonder why... since he’s 2 years old...ha) so it was hard for them to tell if he was/wasn’t wheezing if he breathed deeply. They decided to go ahead and give him a breathing treatment in the office (hallelujah) so that they could see if they thought it helped him. He did freak out, and cried during a lot of it, but he was very still (takes 5-10 min) and didn’t try to move.  They did tell us to break up the steroid Sunday – like instead of doing 1/2 a tsp in the morning, do 1/4 in the morning and 1/4 at night. I remembered Dr. Evans having us do that before, but I had forgotten about it, and the dr. at Kids Time (even though I thought he was good) didn’t tell us to do that...nor did he give us the nebulizer – instead he gave us that spacer. They sent us home with a brand new nebulizer. They have them in the office and then just charge you for it through your insurance. I was thankful because then we have it if we want to use it.  They did talk to us about where to take him to in case we had to go – I was like, um, seriously?  Yeah, this is making me calmer. ha.  We did hook up the nebulizer (which took me and Landon a while to figure out – and then how to put that medicine in, etc.) and do a breathing treatment before he went to bed. He cried through most of it, but he sat really still – let me just say, if you ever need to choose between a spacer and a nebulizer for a two year old – GET THE NEBULIZER. ONLY USE THE NEBULIZER. IT WORKS WAY BETTER. It is pink and purple on the front – which Lan was like, “why did they give us a girl one???” ha. We said he looked like a dinosaur and James wanted to name him Rex. So, Rex is now part of the family – at least for the next few days. Landon and I both tried it. I don’t know what I thought – ha, if I thought I was going to be like a huge breath of fresh air when I did it or what. I guess it probably only helps you if you need help...right?

 

Fast forward Saturday through today (Thursday).  The croup cough is gone pretty much, although this morning I thought I heard it and it totally freaked me out.  I am so afraid it's going to come back.  Now, he just has a regular end of a cold cough - I think.  I am sure hoping that he is going to get back to normal soon.  Last night was the best night he's had - didn't wake up at all in the middle of the night, just early this morning. 

 

In conclusion, croup is a rough road.  Especially if you are a neurotic mom, like I am.  This bout with it was worse than the other two bouts with it, but we have learned some new tricks and now have a nebulizer on hand.  So thankful that he is improving and HOPEFULLY on the mend!!!  Yikes!