The Saga Continues

Last night was very hard. Griffin had a coughing fit from 5:00 pm until about 6:00 pm. He was frantic and so was I. Unfortunately, he was gagging and throwing up with all the coughing and he decided it would be better if he just sat in the bathroom. I gave him a breathing treatment of Xopenex at 5:15. Meanwhile, I’m on the phone with my mom and we’re trying to decide if I should take him to the hospital. Right about the point I’m thinking, “Oh yeah, we’re outta here” the coughing would stop for a second.

I decided to call the doctor’s office to have someone paged, because of course this couldn’t happen during regular business hours. My hope was I could give him another breathing treatment, but I wanted an o.k. and which medicine to go with. Our doctor is on maternity leave, so the answering service said they were going to transfer me to the doctor on-call, Dr. Sineed, or something like that. The phone beeped a couple times, and then a woman answered, “Lapeer Regional Hospital.” This was so not what I expected to hear, especially since my doctor is out of Beaumont. I asked for Dr. Sineed and I was forwarded. This guy gets on the phone who could not understand I was in an urgent situation. I’m explaining that for the last 45 minutes my five year old asthmatic son has been coughing non-stop . . . well, non-stop except to gag and puke. I explain what’s been going on with the strep infection and the fever and he asks me if Griffin is on Pulmicort. Pulmicort is a maintenance steroid to prevent Asthma attacks, but will not work as rescue medicine, if an attack has started. I know this; why doesn’t he?

O.k. Joe and I suck because we ran out of Pulmicort around Wednesday of last week and kept not getting it filled so, “No. Griffin is not on Pulmicort.”

“Well, he really should be on Pulmicort. This would have stopped the asthma attack in the first place,” says the all knowing doctor.

“Yes, I know that. Unfortunately, it’s too late now. Can I give him more Xopenex?”

“Well, he really should be on Pulmicort. Can you get him back on the Pulmicort today or tomorrow?” We volley back and forth about the Pulmicort a couple times and then I start thinking, “This whole situation will be moot, if the kid dies because you’re so hooked up on the Pulmicort situation that you can’t tell me what to do next.” So, I hung up. That’s right I just hung up.

While all of this is happening Griffin’s coughing has calmed down. By 6:10 pm he’s manageable. By 7pm he had a 103.9 fever. By 7:30 he was extremely exhausted and falls asleep almost instantaneously. Joe and I poke around the house a bit. Everyone was asleep, things may actually be o.k. Then at 9 pm a seal started barking in Griffin’s room. He was wheezing like crazy and coughing and there we are again. Luckily, this time the medicine acted much quicker. I sat with him for awhile then snuggle in bed with him until he’s asleep again. He slept with me last night and we woke every three hours and he had a breathing treatments. At 4 am his fever was raging again, even with Motrin. He slept until 10am and is still sick as a dog, coughing like crazy and in a general feeling of malaise.

The kid, who never sits for long, watched three feature length films today. Luckily, Grandma Golm came by and sat with him and I got a ton of stuff done. I cleaned the rat cage, mopped the floor, emptied the dishwasher, cleaned the whole kitchen, actually got my bed made before 3pm, laundry, laundry, laundry and even got in a nap. I’m feeling more in control of my little world and I’m a little ecstatic.

Here’s the thing. . . I hate this. I hate having to be this responsible. It’s it enough to have the kids that could die at any minute because of a peanut. I find myself at my weakest when I need to be at my strongest. I fear over-reacting and spending thousands of dollars on an un-needed trip to the hospital or worst under-reacting. He didn’t go to the hospital yesterday and I guess with the result, a live child, he didn’t need to go. However, I know asthmatics can turn really fast and go in a downward spiral. My dad’s best friend died 11 years ago from an asthma attack. I know it is reality; it does happen to people just like us. It completely sucks and I wanted someone to know that’s how I feel about it.