A couple weeks ago or so now, Henry ended up having to go to the hospital. Monday he seemed like he was getting a little cold. He started coughing in the evening, and during the night coughed a lot. We gave him his asthma inhaler periodically during the night, as often as was recommended, but even so he coughed just constantly. First thing in the morning I made an appointment to take him to the doctor, and by the time his appointment arrived, it seemed like he was really having a hard time breathing. The doctor gave him a nebulizer treatment with albuterol, a common asthma medication to open up the airways, and sent us home.
By the time I got him home, though, he seemed like he was having trouble breathing again. The doctor had prescribed an oral steroid, so I gave Henry that. It made him vomit (of course, it's Henry). This is what he looked like after I got his messy clothes off. I called the doctor, and they said to bring him in again when they got back from lunch. I decided we should not wait that long.
I took him to InstaCare, and they brought us back right away and gave him a steroid injection and another nebulizer treatment. And another. Each time, he did better for a while, but then got worse again. So by late afternoon, the doctor there decided she should admit him to the hospital so he could get oxygen.
It was scary that he had to go to the hospital, but by that point we were ready. He got oxygen constantly and nebulizer breathing treatments each hour until late that night. Here he is with Tim that evening. Whenever the oxygen would slip out of place (or be pulled out of place, which happened a lot), Henry's blood saturation levels would drop into the 80's. It should be in the 90's, and preferably high 90's.
Sarah was such a big help to us. She came right away when we went to the hospital and helped get us settled. She also ate dinner with Madi and Tim, then followed them to our house and helped get Madi down for the night while Tim packed a bag for Henry and me at the hospital, then brought it back to us in Logan. She was such a help. We were all so glad she was there.
During the night, Henry's oxygen saturation improved, and he was able to go longer between breathing treatments. Thankfully, Mike and Violet brought me some great breakfast and coffee the next morning, because I wasn't a patient and so wasn't being fed! By mid-morning, Henry was off oxygen and starting to get very active. Let me tell you, a healthy toddler in a hospital ward is not an easy thing to manage. They let us go around dinner time for fear he would tear the place up, I think.
We gave him breathing treatments with a home nebulizer every four hours for the first couple days, and then slowly decreased it from then. Today he didn't require any at all. He is taking an inhaled steroid to try to keep this all from happening again. We also have the nebulizer at home now so if he starts running into trouble hopefully we can nip it in the bud.
We're all happy things have settled down. It was not a nice introduction to Henry's asthma and how serious it can get! He had only ever shown any signs at all off and on for about a month before this happened, and then just mild wheezing and a bit of coughing. We have seen once again when things go south with Henry, they can go south fast. Hopefully we will be able to keep it all under control from here on out.
Here he is today, back to his old self, pestering his sister. He was intrigued by her pony tails.
