Monday, September 10, 2012

A Tale of Two ER Visits

Part One: The Happy Wheezer

I can't remember if I blogged about our Sick Kids visit last July.  Probably not, as I try to minimize the mommy blogging and stick to my adventures in fibre. Short story: it was hot and smoggy; Levi had a cold; he was wheezing; daycare called; we took him to the doctor; the doctor sent us to the hospital; Ventolin; steroids, and home.

We were told that asthma isn't diagnosed in little guys like Levi until there are three wheezing episodes. Given that my husband has had asthma all his life, odds were good that Levi would too, so this seemed a bit stupid to me, but I'm not a doctor. They sent us home with a puffer, but no prescription and we've been keeping it at day care in case of emergency. We usually remember to bring it home on weekends (foreshadowing!).

Levi has had a bad cold for a few days. Being a daycare kid, he always has a runny nose, but this was a true cold. Last night he was crying for a bit, after which Kivi noticed he was wheezing. His little stomach was working overtime to breathe. Aaaaaand, the puffer was at daycare. Off to Sick Kids we go!

Last time we were lucky, in that it was a quiet night and we were in and out pretty quickly. Yesterday, it was packed. The good news is that little guys with breathing issues get seen pretty quickly. The less good news is that he needed multiple rounds of Ventolin which takes time. We ended up getting shuffled from room to room to room and they were out of cribs (seriously, it was crazy busy in there) so we could not get Levi to sleep. Poor little guy was was overtired and running in circles for hours (literally). The Ventolin and steroids did their job well, but we were still there for about five hours. We got home at 11 p.m.

Silver lining(ish): We got an Asthma diagnosis and prescriptions for puffers. No more trips to the ER to deal with asthma attacks!

Part Two: Thumb War

My left thumb has declared war. Against me. And it's totally winning.

I kept hoping that the throbbing and swelling that began sometime on Wednesday would go away on it's own but on Friday afternoon I relented and went to the doctor. I have some kind of random infection. No idea how I got it. The doctor gave me antibiotics and told me to come back in four days if it wasn't getting better, or to return if it got worse.


It totally got worse. This photo was taken on Friday. By this morning the thumb was much larger, an angry red, and hot to the touch.

Since Levi needed to be seen by our family doctor anyway, he and I went to the clinic this morning. Levi is a-okay. I, on the other hand, got told to head to the hospital because they would need to CUT OPEN my thumb to get the infected stuff out. EWWWW!

It sounds worse that the reality which was a little incision so that the infection has a way of getting out. But! It still doesn't feel better at all and I still need to take these antibiotics that make me nauseous. And! If it isn't on the mend by Wednesday evening I need to return to the hospital to be reassessed. Which is just awesome because I'm leaving town for the next three days for a work conference.

Part Three

Actually, there is no part three. Yet. Let's hope this saga ends here. Two ER visits in less than 24 hours is more than enough for me.

6 comments:

  1. oh no! Glad to hear that Levi is doing better.. I hope your thumb clears up asap!!

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  2. Oh no! Glad to hear Levi is doing better (isn't that wheezing scary?!) and hope your thumb feels better soon! :)

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  3. Oh no Lisa, poor Levi, poor you!! Get better soon.

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  4. Oh, dear. That thumb thing sounds totally bizarre and scary... and it also sounds like it would get in the way of sewing. Double bummer.

    I hope Levi is feeling better. Glad you have a diagnosis now.

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  5. I'm so behind. . do tell that this is way better. Going to the ER this many times is horrible!

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