ASTHMA = AMBULANCE

Monday, June 20, 2011

Tonight around 11:00 pm, I noticed Oliver was having troubles breathing. He said that he wasn't feeling well so I gave him a breathing treatment. He quickly got up and rushed to the bathroom and had 'some nasty diarrhea' as he put it. I was sitting in the living room and he came around the corner with a panicked look on his face while clutching his chest. Evidently that first breathing treatment didn't do the trick, so I got another one going for him, watched his chest and called 911. I told the dispatcher that he was having an asthma attack and that he has a brain tumor so I wasn't sure if the asthma attack was due to his chronic symptoms or due to the tumor. You just never know...

A few minutes later, the fire truck and ambulance came and saw how he was breathing and checked his vitals. They swooped him up in their arms and carried him out to the ambulance. I told Ollie that daddy would meet him in the ER because I had to stay with the other kids that were all in bed. I called my mom and asked if her or my brothers could come and stay with the kids so that I could see Ollie at the hospital. I didn't want to get in the firemen's way so I walked out and told Ollie I loved him and that Ed would meet him at the hospital. I then walked onto the front porch. I thought they'd drive away immediately, but the door was shut so they must have been trying to get an IV in him. I stood there forever waiting... and wondering what was happening in there. Finally they left and my mom pulled in with her car still running so I could just jump out and follow the ambulance. Tears were streaming down my face at that point. I had to try and hold it together in front of Oliver the whole time, but when I was alone in the dark car, I just couldn't help but think about if that was the last time I saw him alive. Would he make it? What do I expect to see at the hospital? Asthma kills people. I managed to calm myself down before I saw Ollie again.

I parked the car and ran into the E.R. and thanked the guys that helped him. The guys that Oliver knows happened to be working that night so I'm sure that helped calm him in the ambulance... to see some familiar faces. I saw Ed and we talked with the doctor and nurse about Oliver's diagnosis. They put an IV in and gave Oliver a steroid shot and put him on some oxygen. He was still warm and red in the face. I hate seeing him like that. After a bit his breathing returned to normal, but they wanted to admit him to the hospital. He had a chest x-ray and we waited by his bedside. I rubbed his foot while Ed was up by the head of the bed. We were cracking jokes to make him smile and try to get his mind off of being in the hospital. After a few hours of being in the ER, he still didn't have a room yet, but I had to get back home and relieve my mom. I told Oliver I needed to get going and he broke into the saddest puppy dog-lip quiver - lip sticking out look that I've ever seen! It just broke my heart looking at him trying to keep back the tears. Ed told him he'd be there with him the whole night, that he'd never be alone.

He was only there overnight. He came home the next evening and had several medication changes. Hopefully this will help him have more time between attacks. I know that Jaren has been struggling with his allergies and asthma lately as well. It must be that time of year. It's good to have him back home again. He sure knows how to give his mother a scare!

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.