Day 34 (2/3/11) - Déjà vu

For the second time in 48 hours, we found ourselves rushing to the ER with Gavin.  He's been sick for about 5 days.  It started with 24 hours of vomiting, followed by a day of diarrhea, then came the runny nose, fever, and cough.  In the midst of all that, he practically lopped off his finger tip, which diverted our attention from his underlying sickness.  Yesterday, I noticed he was more sluggish and clingy than usual, but attributed it to the chaos of the previous day as well as some lingering cold symptoms.  But this morning, I knew something was wrong.  We gave him an albuterol treatment at 7 am and again at 9 am, but they did little to improve his labored breathing.  When he woke up from his morning nap and was still lethargic and difficult to rouse, I called the pediatrician for an emergency visit.  Since his symptoms were reminiscent of those he experienced last year when he had RSV, I suspected we would wind up in the ER again today.  So, while I got Gavin bundled up, I had Ryan pack a bag of toys and snacks to take along with us just in case. 

Here is a picture of Gavin soon after he woke up from his nap.  I knew it was time to seek medical attention when my usually rambunctious little boy was just lying in the middle of the floor.

Although the pediatrician's office was extremely busy, they took us back right away.  After listening to his breathing, the pediatrician ordered another nebulizer treatment.  When his breathing didn't improve afterward, and a pulse oximeter showed his oxygenation was lower than it should be, the pediatrician suspected Gavin had pneumonia and sent us directly to the ER.  During the visit, Gavin was completely lethargic, even drifting off to sleep in the middle of the examination and albuterol treatment.

We took him back to Sinai Hospital, where he was treated for RSV almost one year ago to the day (he was admitted on 1/30/10 and discharged on 2/1/10).  Soon after we arrived, they took a chest x-ray, extracted mucus nasally to test for RSV, gave him Motrin to lower his fever, and gave him another nebulizer treatment.  His x-ray came back showing pneumonia in his right lung.  When his RSV test came back positive, they determined the pneumonia was caused by the RSV.  They then gave him an IV, drew blood, and gave him a steroid intravenously to reduce inflammation and improve his breathing.  He was miserable for the first couple of hours in the ER.    

Ryan was absolutely wonderful, especially considering it was the second time this week he had to spend hours in the ER with Gavin.   I know Mike and I were scared, bored, and frustrated so I can't imagine how it felt for Ryan.  But, he was well mannered, patient, understanding, and kept himself entertained with coloring books, his Leapster, and games of "I Spy" (which tends to be difficult given that hospital rooms and doctors' offices aren't particularly colorful).

Then, without warning, Gavin suddenly became more alert and energetic.  He even growled and playfully attacked Daddy with the stuffed bear the nurses had given him!  He also insisted on giving us little love bites on our cheeks and began trying to gnaw the IV board off his hand.  The nurses were pleasantly surprised by his remarkably fast recovery and commented what a different boy he now was from the one who had arrived just a few hours prior.  We joked that it was "roid rage" since he was being so ornery.  Mommy was relieved that he was feeling so much better, which meant we wouldn't have to spend the night in the hospital!  We were released with prescriptions for steroid medication and albuterol to help with his breathing and antibiotics to clear up the pneumonia.  While he's still a very sick little boy, he's dramatically better than he was this morning.  I think I'll sleep a little easier tonight knowing he's on the road to recovery!

I'm also thinking about making a shadowbox to display all the hospital wristbands that he's collected.  He's only 20 months and he's already up to 5 (counting the wristband from his birth)!