So we were heading up to bed around 10pm last night and Kate noticed some strange sounds coming from Xander’s room. He had a horrible cough and was having a lot of trouble breathing. First we rushed him to the bathroom, because he really sounded like he was on the edge of throwing up.
We spent a minute or two with him in there. He was having trouble even talking and was clearly working very hard to breathe. Kate and I quickly decided it was time to call 911. She did that while I sat with Xander and did my best to comfort him while we waited for the ambulance to show up. Kate and I don’t have the most accurate sense of time for these events, but we’d guess that it was less than 10 minutes before the ambulance arrived, and most likely more like 5 minutes.
The EMTs came in and evaluated him and asked us all the standard stuff they need to know to make a decision. They packed Xander and me into the ambulance and Kate followed us in my car. Lucky for us, Kate’s mom is in town this weekend, so she was able to stay here at home with Mira so we didn’t have to wake her up.
I sat on the stretcher in the ambulance holding Xander and continued to comfort him. He was a little scared. Partially because he was having trouble breathing and partially because of all the excitement of the ambulance. In the ambulance they started a nebulizer treatment on him. That freaked him out a little bit more, but the EMTs did a great job of keeping him and me calm during the ride.
Quick break. EMTs. What an amazing job they did. They came into the house, worked together well and, most importantly, quickly to decide what needed to be done. They took wonderful care of my son and they are amazing people to do that kind of work. On top of that, they are volunteers. Simply amazing. On another side note, just last week, the annual visit by the rescue squad people to our door selling their portrait package happened. We always give money to them, and we’ve never even done the pictures. I just found it amusing that this happened so soon after that.
Anyway, they delivered us safely to the emergency room here in Leesburg. We were quickly wheeled in and taken to the pediatric room. They have a separate room there in the emergency room for kids that come in. We were lucky and it wasn’t in use, so Xander was in a private room with a television for the rest of this, which made things easier on him, I’m sure.
I stayed with Xander (since I was on the stretcher with him and all) and Kate went to registration to get that paperwork done. I was impressed with how quickly that was done also, by the way. Kate was in the room with us within a few minutes. In the meantime, they had moved Xander’s nebulizer over to the equipment in the hospital and he continued on that while they examined him again. One of the nurses looked after us for a little while till the doctor could get to us. I don’t know how long that wait was really, but it wasn’t really very long, and they were doing active treatment of him the whole time we were waiting.
The doctor came in and did another quick check over. All this time, Kate and I had been afraid Xander was having an asthma attack. Kate has asthma and certainly wouldn’t have surprised us to find out Xander has it also. They had been treating it like asthma so far also. Turns out, he actually has croup. Reading about it this morning, I remember the the EMTs talking about hearing him stridor.
In any case, croup was diagnosed and treated. They changed the nebulizer to give him a vaporized steroid to help the swelling in his throat. They also gave him a shot of a longer acting steroid, since the Epinephrine is a very short term solution. By 11pm he was feeling much better. He was able to talk normally and his breathing sounded much better. We turned the television on at this point and found M*A*S*H on Hallmark channel, which Xander loves watching. They wanted to keep us there till midnight to make sure the shot was keeping Xander OK after the vaporized steroid wore off. He as still doing well at midnight. They’ve given us a prescription for a steroid for him to take for the next three nights and we’ll follow up with his regular doctor on Monday.
He’s doing great this morning though. He still has the croupy cough, but we’ve been through that before and it’s not that big a deal. He’s feeling and breathing fine.
Xander is at the high end of the age that you actually get croup. The doctor explained that it’s a bell curve though, some kids do get it later in life than others do, so it’s nothing to worry about. The reason for that is what croup really his. The major thing that happens with croup, according to the doctor last night, is that your throat swells. He said it is similar to laryngitis in adults. The difference is that in kids their throats are smaller, so the swelling can restrict the air passage and cause the drama we had. The medicine should keep that from happening again.
Oh, one more thing. The 911 operator last night was great also. He stayed on the line with Kate while we waited for the ambulance to show up and helped keep her calm, which helped keep me calm, which helped keep Xander calm. Everyone involved last night did a wonderful job, and I can’t thank them enough.
Xander was still a little freaked out when we got home, so we let him sleep in the bed with us last night. He appears to have had a good nights sleep. He’s used to sleeping alone though, so Kate and I had a little more trouble sleeping. We got 3 or 4 hours in though and we’ll be spending much of the day at home. Xander is doing fine now and he and Mira are both enjoying the three day weekend we are starting today.
