very sick little boy

Wednesday, December 29th I took Brock to see our pediatrician. He had been coughing quite a bit for a few days and sounded so pitiful. The doctor listened to him and looked him over and told me she was almost positive that he had RSV. She swabbed him and as I waited for the results I tried my best to stay calm and not freak out! The test came back negative, and she diagnosed Brock with bronchiolitis, although she still strongly suspected that he did in fact have RSV. I love our pediatrician because she is a straight talker and she gave me all the facts. She told me what to do if he started struggling to breathe, when to call the doctor, and when to go to the ER. There's not much we could do to help Brock except suctioning, using a humidifier, and trying to keep him comfortable. She told us to come back Thursday to make sure he was improving. Thursday she said he sounded about the same. He was also retracting, which means he was using more muscles to breathe than he normally does. It was really hard to see him struggling.

By Thursday night his breathing became even more labored and Keri and I just didn't feel comfortable keeping him at home any longer. We called the nurse's line and she told us to head to Children's Hospital. The triage nurse there again thought it was RSV. We were quickly taken to a room in the ER. A respiratory therapist came to do deep suctioning on Brock in an attempt to ease his breathing. It was NOT a pleasant experience, but it did help a little. Brock was hooked up to a few different monitors and after an hour or so of waiting and observation his oxygen saturation level began to drop. He was put on oxygen we were told that he would have to be admitted.



This hospital is relatively new and so nice and big. But apparently they only have staff for one floor and two floors of rooms sit empty. Lots of little ones must have been sick that night as every room was occupied. We were given the choice to wait for a room and spend the night in the ER or take an ambulance to the downtown Children's hospital to be admitted. We opted to wait so we spent a VERY long night in a tiny room with no window, one recliner, and two regular chairs. Keri and I took turns trying to sleep in the recliner and both of us got about 2 hours of sleep. The respiratory therapist came in every few hours for the deep suctioning.



By 9am we were told a room had become available and we took our sweet boy and headed upstairs. Friday brought more of the same-suctioning, monitoring, watching Brock struggle to breathe. Brock's oxygen levels went back up and he was taken off the oxygen. He seemed to improve a little bit and by afternoon the doctor told us we could go home.

We spent the next few days holed up at home while Keri's parents kept the big kids. After 2 more follow up appointments our pediatrician finally felt he had turned the corner and was on the road to recovery.



Two weeks later, now all signs of his breathing trouble and cough are gone and we're so thankful for our healthy little boy!