Taken hostage

It all started on Sunday. Nolan had a rough day - coughing a lot, running nose, digging in his ears, etc. He didn't nap, which is not good for him - he needs his sleep! He woke up at 4 a.m. Monday morning with a 100.2 fever, so I gave him some Tylenol. When he got up for daycare at 6 he was still crabby and digging in his ears, and his breathing seemed labored. Adam thought we should make an appointment for him, because if we don't catch the ear infection early enough Nolan really struggles. Instead of waiting to make an appointment we decided I would take Nolan to the clinic in hopes of getting a scheduled appointment, and if not I would take him to urgent care. The other twist in this story is that either myself or Adam needed to spend some time with Jane at daycare, teaching her how to use Kale's helmet. I got to the clinic with Nolan around 7:45, and there weren't any appointments so we waited for urgent care. Nolan was getting really tired at this point, which didn't alarm me because he hadn't been sleeping well. When the nurse came in to the room she took one look at Nolan and was a little alarmed by how fast he was breathing. He didn't have a temp right away, but his respirations were about 70 a minute and his oxygen level was between 90 and 92%. Nolan was getting listless while we were at the clinic, which again wasn't a huge concern for me because he hadn't slept - but he usually had a little more get up and go. They put him on oxygen, which helped his O2 levels level out around 95%. The dr. who came in to see us was really concerned with Nolan's breathing, so much so that he sent us to the Children's Hospital ER via ambulance. It was a pretty scary experience. Nolan did really well, given the circumstances. The hardest part was calling Adam to let him know we were on our way to the ER in an ambulance. He didn't take it real well, for obvious reasons. Nolan only got scared when we had to strap him in the the safety harness to the stretcher. Normally the medics don't have to do that, but the roads were terrible so they wanted to play it safe. Nolan was hooked up to oxygen on the way down, and ended up falling asleep, which was good. When we got to Children's the were able to wheel us directly in to the ER. Adam was already there in the waiting room, so one of the nurses went to get him. I knew Nolan would be excited to see his dad, but I wasn't quite prepared for the reaction. Nolan shouted out "Daddy" when Adam walked in, and both Adam and I shed a few tears. It had already been an emotional day.

While we were at Children's, Nolan had a few things done to him. He didn't love the chest xrays, but did okay. He really hated the test for influenza/RSV. They had to stick this long tube up his nose and down his throat and pull some gunk out of it. Adam held one of his arms, a PCA held the other one and I held his legs. It was so sad - he screamed and cried. I would too - they didn't give him anything for the pain. His temp stayed at 104 until about 12:30, when it started to come down. We could tell he perked up a little after that. The chest xrays came back with the good news of no pneumonia, but he had a little fluid in his lungs and his lungs and bronchial tubes were inflammed. He ended up testing positive for influenza, too. We left the hospital around 3:15 with prescriptions for a steroid for the inflammation in his lungs, augmentin for his double ear infection, Tamiflu for the influenza and albuerol and a nebulizer machine for his wheezing/fluid in his lungs. He really hates taking the medicine, so Adam and I need to work together to get it in him. Adam stayed home with him on Tuesday, while Kale continued to go to daycare.

Low and behold, Adam started to develop cough/cold symptoms Tuesday afternoon. I followed soon after that, and by Tuesday evening both of us were down and out. I knew it was going to be bad when Adam had to crawl to the bathroom early that morning. Wednesday Adam and I both had to stay home from work because we were sick, in addition to Nolan staying home with us. Kale came home from daycare Wednesday with rosy cheeks - and sure enough an hour later he had a fever of 101.6. Seriously, we didn't think the week could get much worse. Poor Kale was coughing up a storm, had a super runny nose and a fever. He had a tough time sleeping last night. I called the nurse line to ask about when we needed to be concerned about him, and she recommended we get him seen the next day. So here we are on Thursday, and I'm staying home with Kale because he can't go to daycare due to the fever. I took both kids to the clinic with me, because Nolan needed his follow-up visit, too. Nolan was a good little patient - sat all by himself for the exam from the nurse and our NP. He still has some crackling in his lungs, so now he's getting a neb treatment twice/day, too. He weighs almost 29 lbs now, and Kale is up to 16 lbs, 11 oz. Kale looked so terrible when we were there, for good reason. He had a fever of 104, and was still coughing and had a runny nose. His oxygen levels were really good, and his lungs sounded clear. Just to make sure the NP order a chest xray for him. Nolan couldn't go with me, so he stayed with our wonderful LPN Barb. He didn't even cry - just got to sit on her lap at her work station and color, read a book, eat his snack and look at her computer. Kale's chest xray ended up coming back negative, which was good, but his influenza test came back positive - shock of all shocks. So now Kale is on Tamiflu, and so are me and Adam. We are really hoping that we'll all start to turn a corner soon. It is really difficult being sick at the same time as the whole family. We're literally just trying to stay on top of washing bottles and eating, and that's about it. It could be worse - I'm gone most of next week in North Carolina, so Adam will be home alone with the kiddos all week. I'm going to try and make it to work tomorrow, if I'm feeling better. I was still running a temp this afternoon, and I'm still achy. Adam is staying home with Kale tomorrow, and Nolan is going back to daycare for the first time all week. Kale has his one week check-up for his helmet tomorrow morning, which isn't the best timing since he hasn't been able to wear it since he got his fever last night.

I'm trying to write as much as possible about this whole situation so we can one day look back at this and laugh. I'm not sure when we'll be able to to do that, but it will sure be fun when we can!