There is nothing scarier than a sick child...nothing. Ethan developed RSV-most likely from his preschool. The poor boy had fevers, ear infections that wouldn't respond to treatment, and then of course there was the wheezing. Over the course of the week, I took Ethan back to see Dr. Miller nearly every day. Unfortunately for Ethan, there is not really much treatment that you can give for RSV, but Dr. Miller had us try breathing treatments to try to help with the wheezing. We tried to keep him out of the hospital and do our best to care for him at home, but after days of doctor visits I watched Ethan napping on the couch. His entire body was lifting and falling trying to pull in air that just wasn't making it's way to where it needed to go. When he woke up he was lethargic and still exhausted from not getting enough air. I called Rich home from work and we decided it was time to go to the emergency room. When we arrived, Brandy met us there to take Matthew. Rich walked in with Ethan and the ER nurses called us up to the front counter shortly after to check Ethan out. The nurse checked his oxygen level and it was a low 92, she then asked us to lift Ethan's shirt. After watching him tugging for air under his lungs, she immediately called for pediatric respiratory. My eyes welled up with tears, and I just started sobbing. I knew how sick he was, but when I heard that nurse call for the respiratory team I was terrified.
The took us into a room and gave Ethan breathing treatments to try to raise his oxygen level. It was not enough of an increase, and his lungs sounded crackly because of the wheezing. They made the decision that he needed to be admitted.
When we got up to the room I could tell Ethan was so scared. We put a movie on for him to distract him. He would barely speak, and when he did- all he would do was respond in a little tiny whisper.
We stayed one night, and the doctor agreed the next day that while he was not any worse, he just didn't appear to be better either. The second night in the hospital, I had to stay home because Matthew developed a fever and was feeling awful-at a mere 4 months old.
By the next day Ethan was looking much better. He was up and moving around, playing with all of the toys that had been brought in. We had to wait until late afternoon to get cleared to go home. We were so relieved that we made the decision to take him to the ER and not try to continue to watch him struggle at home. This whole experience makes me realize that there is nothing more important than the health of our children (and our own for that matter).
