ER Visit

Tuesday, August 3, 2010

Tonight Ed and I were still up chatting at about 11:30 pm when Ollie came out of his room and said that his throat felt like it was closing in on him and was really scratchy. Ed gave him Benedryl and started him on his Albuterol breathing treatment.

**Oliver has had asthma since he was 2 years old and has many food and environmental allergies. He was allergic to wheat and eggs and is still allergic to milk, peanuts and tree nuts. He's also allergic to maple and oak trees, mold, dust mites, timothy grass, pigweed, ragweed and cockleburs. He's had to be taken by ambulance to the hospital several times the past 7 years so we know the signs of an attack, but this one was the worst by far.**

His breathing was extremely labored and beads of sweat were forming on his face. He was warm to the touch and I could tell he was very uncomfortable. The first treatment wasn't working and through labored breaths he asked us to call the ambulance. I have to admit that I was getting scared the more time that had passed without any sign of his breathing getting better. It was getting so bad that I thought he might lose consciousness. VERY SCARY. Ed called 911 and a fire engine came first and then the ambulance. There must have been around 5 or 6 men in our living room. Eden had gotten up and was really worried about Oliver. They had us give him a second treatment. His heart rate was at about 150 beats per minute. Ed's brother and his wife came over to stay with the rest of the kids so Ed and I could both go to the hospital with him. They got him on the stretcher and loaded him into the ambulance where they put in an IV and gave him a third breathing treatment.

So many thoughts were running through my mind. What if his lungs were filling with fluids?What if he stops breathing? I know the doctors say that the heart and lung function eventually shuts down and his lungs are already compromised and have been for years but is this when it is supposed to end? What if he dies tonight? No one would have been able to say goodbye. My brother is in another state for work and would be crushed if he were gone when he passed. It was a flurry of fears that took place in such a short amount of time.

In the ER, they gave him a fourth treatment and then oxygen. After a while he seemed to be breathing easier, but kept complaining that his nose was running. He was hooked up to several different things and after a while he felt better and said that he wanted to 'get all this junk off my body' and go home. They did some blood work and found that his potassium was a bit low. He also had some chest x-rays to rule out pneumonia. The doctor had said there was some 'fluff' in his x-ray but he didn't know what it was. He said that he was glad the treatments were helping, gave us some orapred, a steroid, and told us to call back if anything else happened. He also told us to follow up with our doctor in Iowa City as well as Ollie's pediatrician.