About two weeks ago our Monkey got a cold. As the runny nose disappeared this cough showed up. We honestly thought nothing of it until two days ago when it started gradually getting worse. Now that its been over a week, we were thinking this would be the day to take him to the doctor. We would have to wait a day too long.
So we're up with Monkey, who coughs for probably a half hour STRAIGHT and once he can begin to slow them down (thanks to a lot of snuggles and lullabies and rocking and massaging) he is crying between coughts "help mama". =( Tears. We did everything in our power to make it stop and finally called the blessed 24/7 nurses' line that is provided by Monkey's pediatrician's office. Thank you JESUS for them! The sweet nurse who called us back helped us find a few tricks that worked for him (a heaping teaspoon of honey for one, and raising his humidifier closer to his bed and cranking it on high, and a dose of his zyrtec - normally for eczema) so that we could get him back to sleep, which was probably around 3am.
Not the best way to start the morning.
Fortunately, that humidifier worked wonders and allowed Lil Man to stay asleep until 9am. Not bad, not bad. But of course, we're tired.
We called the pediatrician's office right away in the morning and they fit us in before lunch. We didn't know, however, that it would turn into a three hour event! Although it wasn't his normal pediatrician, we were grateful to get in and thankful for the doctor's thoroughness. Although he didn't diagnose Monkey with asthma, he does want to start him on the nebulizer and really kick this cough in the butt before we try antibiotics (I really appreciate that approach). Both my husband and I had severe childhood asthma, so although we know the risk is high, we are just praying that Monkey won't have to go through what we went through. It breaks my heart to see him hurting.
So right after the doctor's office (which took a while, but not forever) we headed to the pharmacy by the hospital to get the nebulizer. That took a while because they had to call our insurance to find out how much of it they would cover. Fortunately we have great insurance and it only cost us $24. A small price to pay for our son's health. Then it was off to our regular pharmacy (good old Sav-on at Albertson's) for the albuterol and antibiotics (in case we need them later) and a few groceries.
We got home long past nap-time and still had to do lunch and attempt our first nebulizer treatment. It was NOT a success. The two of us couldn't hold this Monkey down long enough to keep the mask on. We decided he was probably over-tired and it really wasn't worth forcing it on him at this point.
He took a great nap and I wish I could say that the nebulizer treatments were a success later in the day...but that is just not the case. I tried after naptime and had the same freakout (despite mama showing Monkey how silly the fishy mask looked on me - it was only temporarily funny to Lil Man). My last attempt was before bedtime and I finally decided that if he could just sit in the general vicinity of the mask while the nebulizer was on maybe it would help....he fought me for a long time, but mostly cried and kicked and wailed his arms....but eventually he sat still (arms outright and very stiff and mad, but still) while I held the mask a good six inches in front of him. Hopefully something is better than nothing.
Ugh.... To say I am pooped would be an understatement. But here's why I'm sharing this with you:
I know I'm not the only mom who's toddler has needed these treatments (in fact, I started them at the age of three, I think). Have any of you had an experience similar to mine and have any tips or tricks to share? And let me just say....this is NOT life or death, and I refuse to pin down my screaming child to put this mask on. Not gonna happen. So you might as well just leave out that advice. But even some encouragement would be great! Thank you in advance! =) You experienced mama's have saved my butt more than once!
Well...a little photo editing and I'm off to bed I do believe.
4 comments:
oh, I am so sorry that you are all going through this! All three of my kids have been on nebs at one time or another, and I was a peds nurse in the burn center for 7 years, and we did a lot of nebs there:). What worked for mine kiddos - we could not use the mask - they all completely freaked out. We used the adult piece instead, and let them hold it themselves. After a few treatments like that they were calmer. I'll be praying for you guys today!
wow! what a DAY! i have no kiddos yet, so no advice, but i just want to say i hope something works for ya soon and that Lil Man isn't so freaked out by it :( that's gotta be hard on all of you!
Awww...so sorry. We have never had to do this treatments with our three. I cannot even imagine! Poor thing! I will be praying that he feels better soon!
you never called??? Why not? Since we have done this since about 3 months old for the kiddos...The best trick is to do it while they are engrossed in their favorite tv show. Withhold it until neb time and then they usually sit pretty still. We had the fishy mask that worked great. I've got other tips but you can call if you need more :)
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