Nebulizers and Otter Pops

This little guy is not feeling well . . . at all. It is the sickest I've ever seen him. What started out as a runny nose a couple days ago has now escalated to nebulizers and steriods.

Yesterday, Logan's cold got more severe. He was coughing all the time, he had a fever, runny nose, chills, and he wasn't drinking or eating anything. The scariest symptom for me was listening to him breathe. Short, shallow breaths and wheezing. It got progressively worse as the day went on. By the time Benj got home I really wanted to take him to the doctor. Since our office was closed, we went to an InstaCare. I'm so glad we did!

The doctor immediately started asking questions about respiratory problems, asthma, etc. There is no family history of it. She watched with a concerned look as Logan breathed. Its like he couldn't catch his breath, and his heart rate escalated because of it. They used a nebulizer (mask pictured below) with medication to open up his lungs. He did not like it AT ALL. It took me, Benj, and the nurse to hold him still for 15 minutes. Longest 15 minutes ever. However, it did help him to breath better, and he calmed down a little.

After that treatment they wanted to do a chest x-ray to check for infection, asthma symptoms, etc). Below is an example of an infant about Logan's age doing a chest xray. Only imagine a very sad, crying kid in there. This is where I pretty much lost it. It was SO SAD to watch. The xray showed there was no infection (which was good) but also part of the lungs were deflated (asthmatic indication). Logan was treated for viral-induced asthma.

The nurse had an otter pop waiting for Logan when we came back to the room. He loved it, and ended up eating 3 of them. He deserved a whole freezer full for what he'd been through. We stayed there for 2 1/2 hours. He did another round of the nebulizer (went a little better) and got a dose of steriods and tylenol. We got a nebulizer machine of our very own and were instructed to use it every 4 hours, including at night. Logan was so exhausted that he mostly slept through the treatments. Poor guy.

We went to our pediatrician this morning. She also believes the asthma is being triggered by a virus. Hopefully meaning that it'll go away once his cold is better. The bad news is that any cold may trigger another episode. She said they usually don't diagnose childhood asthma unless there has been 3 or more episodes by age 5. We'll keep our fingers crossed.



We'll be taking it easy the next few days. There will be a lot of Baby Einstein, sleep, Pedialyte, nebulizers, and of course Otter Pops.