Wednesday, April 22, 2009

Son, you have our attention

now would you please stop causing your father and I to age waaaay before our time? Please?
Monday night (the night I get home from Birmingham) about 11:30 James woke up crying so naturally I went to check on him. When I picked him up I felt him taking deep, fast breaths. So deep he was retracting. He wasn't wheezing or really "struggling" to breath but I knew he wasn't okay. So after a few minutes of debating I decided to call the after hours nurse and see what I should do. Thankfully she called me back very quickly and once I told her what was happening she immediately said to take him to the ER. "Oh great, here we go" I thought to myself as I was racing around getting dressed and trying to convince Jon it was best for him to stay here with Audrey(no need in dragging her out in the middle of the night) and to "try" and get some sleep. (It's CRCT week at school.) He stayed and off James and I went to Tallahassee. It wasn't a total emergency yet so I decided the best thing was to take him to TMH, they have a NNICU there and it's not a small town hospital, need I say more? Hey, I grew up in a small town, I can say that!!
Surprisingly I was pretty calm the whole way there. I kept ticking James off though because every 2-3 minutes I was turning the light on to see if he was okay and I knew it would keep him awake and I didn't want him to go back to sleep. By the time we got to the ER I had convinced myself that they were going to admit him for the night so I went in all prepared for the worst. But they didn't, thank goodness. They took us right back (a perk of being a small child!) to ask you all those questions that seem so silly at the time. I was thinking "can't you ask me these stupid things later and see about my son first?" Seriously. And when I saw the scale he had to be weighed on my heart skipped a couple beats. I hadn't seen one of those things since they left the NNICU, not exactly what I needed at that moment but whatever. James hated everyone that looked at him. Whether they were attaching something to him or just smiling at him he burst into tears. Can you blame the little dude? I mean it was almost 1:00 in the a.m. and he has had his fair share of needles and machines and wires in his short life time.
Once he finally accepted the pulse ox monitor was going to be staying on his toe, he calmed down. Around 1:30 he caught his second wind and started charming the pants off of every one that walked by. The respiratory therapist came and he gave him his first breathing treatment. Well, really I did because it was tricky to get him to let that "hose with the funny mist coming out of it" close enough to his face to do him any good. He warmed up to it about the time it was finished. And when I say warmed up, I mean he stuck his tounge down in it and wiggled it around! Then the doctor came around and listened to him and said he probably has reactive airway disease. Meaning he is too young to be diagnosed with asthma. Nice.He had to get a chest x-ray, NOT fun. For some reason little dude didn't like the heavy vest he had to wear in the dark, cold room. Go figure. It's about 2:30 by now. He gets another breathing treatment and by this time he really doesn't mind it , except when he turns his head and it gets in his eyes! He is breathing much better by now and the next hour we sat there and waited for the doctor to come back around seemed like an eternity. I was running out of things to keep him occupied with, I myself was about to keel over I was so stinkin tired. Then I remembered my ipod. Jack pot. I would have given a million bucks (okay maybe not a million) if I'd had my camera with me. He stuck those ear buds in his ear like he knew what he was doing and sat there swaying back and forth to Taylor Swift for the next little while. It was hilarious. The doctor finally came and said his chest x-ray looked great so he probably does have reactive airway disease and the little cold he has set it off. They don't diagnose it as asthma because of 2 reasons: 1. He's too young and a lot of kids out grow it by the time they are three and 2. He hasn't had enough episodes to be a real concern right now. They sent us home with an inhaler and a mask in case he starts wheezing and coughing real bad. And he'll take an oral steroid for the next 4 days. I had to give him the inhaler 4 times yesterday and boy does he despise that thing! I only had to give it to him twice today so he is definitely on the mend!
Other than his episode, getting home at 4:30 yesterday morning and being a total zombie all day yesterday, we've had a pretty good week so far. We had an absolute marvelous time at daddy's. I'll post on that next time. I do ask though that you remember him in your prayers please. He left Tuesday on another trip to Tanzania, Africa and it will be a hard trip for him this time. It was short notice and it will be very emotional for him with out Obey there. I'm thankful though that he's not alone, Bro. Paul Blair is with him and he was one of the men to go with him the first time.

10 comments:

Rhonda said...

I'll be praying for your dad, Amanda. I know that he will be welcomed with open arms in Tanzania.

I am so sorry that James has not felt well, and I hope that he improves very soon. It appears he and Audrey are going to be grown before I actually get to see them. Such precious babes! Hope you get good rest this evening...

su said...

So glad all of you are better, and the journal is thorough and informative. Almost just like being there (not really), but the details are good to know.

Amber said...

Poor little guy...but I had to laugh just a little because this is just one more reason why James and Nate are the same. ;-) Nathan has reactive airway disease as well...though the "asthma" word has been thrown around a few times lately, we know that he is too young for that diagnosis right now. He takes a neb treatment just about every day to keep from wheezing and retracting as much when he is playing. Though, we are about to switch over the the puff inhaler.

Glad that you all are back home. When does therapy start?

Praying for your daddy!

Dianne said...

'manda, your blogs, as I read, and begin to think of questions I'd like to ask, in a few more sentences, those questions are answered. We are sisters in Christ and mothers by trade. Our minds think alike. And, I can relate to nights spent in the ER with my four children. Everybody else in the world, it seems, sleeping.

Reactive airway is a new word. Better than asthma. Hopefully, it will dissipate before it becomes.

Hope you've had a chance to rest and recuperate. I pray for God to infuse you with doses of just what you need in caring for your family.

Amanda said...

Amber, you laugh, I laugh! I laugh because when I saw James breathing so weirdly I immediatly thought of Nathan and the picture you had posted one time of him when he was retracting so badly. Because of that I knew something was really wrong. Thank you! I know you post mainly for journals and "therapy" but you never know what good all that information may do for some one one day!

the ladner family said...

ummm why didnt i hear about this yesterday when i called?;) Sounds like an episode we had whith harrison also. I know how scary that is. We will be prayin for ur dad!

Amanda said...

Sorry em, I though we talked about it? Maybe I though you already knew and we had already talked about it? Who knows. Yeah, I told your mom it doesn't look to good for the guy 'cause he has asthma on both sides of the fam......

Becky said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Becky said...

Thanks for being such a wonderful mother to my great niece and nephew. They are so blessed.

Sydney Sanders said...

Aw, Jamesy! Let's hope he grows out of his "reactive airway disease"! SO many people in our fam have asthma, goodness gracious! We love and hope he starts feeling better (you, too mom!) hope to see you guys this weekend and I'll let ya get some sleep! ;) We'll be praying for your dad as well.