Brogan and Ainsley both came down with a terrible cough, congestion and runny nose about 3+ weeks ago. I took them both in to the dr. and we went home with antibiotics and nebulizer treatments for both along with a heavy dose of prednisone for Brogan.
Ainsley's treatment went as planned and she lost her cough and runny nose within a few days. Brogan, has been a whole different story. We've made weekly trips to Quinter to do chest x-rays, additional antibiotics, a shot and an increase in prednisone with no change in his condition. We even made a trip to the ER in Oakley last Sunday because he seemed to be having some asthma problems and I couldn't get him to pull out of it after his treatments. Chest x-rays keep indicating no signs of infection, but he does seem to have inflamation.
On Thursday, Mom thought that I should take him back to Quinter since our next appointment was a week away. Before I could get the clinic called, THEY called US asking how he was doing. I told them that he had not improved and was actually sounding a bit worse. I knew what our prescription would be for the night . . . .a hospital bed and Fred (that's what the kids call an IV in our family), so I packed our bags before leaving for Quinter.
I was right!! Dr. Nemecheck came into the room, heard Brogan coughing and just shook his head. He told Brogan that he was really sorry, but he was going to have to put him in the hospital. Of course Brogan started asking about "pokes" and Dr. Nemecheck said he would have a couple pokes, but it was what was going to make him feel better. The nurses were nice enough and let Brogan and I go grab a quick supper before returning for our slumber party.
I was happy to see our nurse from our February stay, Jamie, on duty for the night. She is very good with Brogan. As soon as we were settled into our room, Jamie, the lab tech, and a CNA all made their way to our room to help with THE POKE. It took 3 adults to hold my little guy down so that Jaime could get the IV in one try. Poor little Brogan was screaming and fighting with all he had. It just broke my heart as I was holding him down and singing You Are My Sunshine to help calm him . . . .or maybe it was to help calm me too. He kept hollering, "stop it, you're hurting me", "I said - STOP IT! Don't do that anymore" Once we got the blood drawn and the IV in, he looked at all of them in the room and said, "You hurt me. I told you to stop and you didn't." . . . . . .Ya, I think they all felt about THAT small.
We also decided to try the cough syrup with codeine since we were in the hospital. For those of you that don't know or can't remember, . . . . . . . . . . . .{in February 2006, our family had a VERY ROUGH week at the end of the month. On Wednesday, I began throwing up after supper. I thought I had a terrible flu bug, so Mom and Dad took Ainsley, who was about 2 1/2 home with them. Brian was working in Manhattan for the A-Team at the time, so I was SINGLE once again!! On Friday morning, Brian was home and decided to take me to the ER since I was in so much pain I could stand, walk, sit - nothing but scream. Well, I didn't have the flu, I had a ruptured appendix that had exploded and it took them all day to figure it out because they couldn't find any remnants of the appendix. So, I had surgery on Friday. On Saturday night, Mom and Dad took Ainsley to the ER because she had started having a horrible cough. She was admitted for pneuomonia. So, Mommy was in Hays in the hospital and Ainsley was in Quinter in the hospital. They let Ainsley out of the hospital on Tuesday morning and Nana took her home. I was scheduled to go back in for my second surgery on Wednesday, so Brian was still with me. Late in the afternoon on Tuesday, Nana gave Ainsley her prescription of codeine cough syrup that the dr. had prescriped. Within a few minutes, Ainsley fell into a seizure and went unresponsive on my Mom. Mom had to call an ambulance to the house. The police officer arrived first and told Mom that the ambulance was not unloading, he would just put Ainsley in the back end. As the ambulance arrived on the street, the back doors opened and he handed Ainsley over to the EMT, Leticia. . . . . .Mom later told us that she was pretty sure that Ainsley was gone. She just didn't know how she could be ok. . . . . Mom and Dad went to the hospital and Ainsley had come out of her seizure and starting to come around. They said that it was a reaction to the codeine in the cough medicine or a spike in her temperature that caused her to go into the seizure and become unresponsive. Now, imagine getting that phone call as you are 90 miles away, lying in a hospital waiting for surgery. Thank goodness, all went well, and Ainsley came home from the hospital on Thursday and Mommy came home on Friday.} . . . . . . . . .so, since February 2006, we have not allowed codeine with cough syrup be given to our children. And usually, when we tell the doctors why, they don't want to be the first one to give it to them. But, since we were in the hospital, Dr. Nemecheck and I decided that the hospital would be the best place to try the codeine. So, our nurse, Jaime, gave him 1/2 dose and sat in the room with us for about 30 minutes to make sure everything went ok, and it did!! He tolerated the codeine like a champ and slept even better!! I made the mistake of telling Nana what we were going to do before they gave him the dose and she said she worried all night. She couldn't get the vision of Ainsley out of her head that night.
Brogan was not happy to be stuck in the hospital all day Friday. He was determined to go home. He kept telling me to put his clothes and shoes on so that we could go home. When I told him that he couldn't go because he had Fred, he told me to put it in the van. He kept pulling at the IV off and on all day. Everytime I would take my eyes off of him, he was trying to get it out. So, it was no suprise when the darn thing started beeping over and over after he went to sleep. The nurse called the doctor and he wanted the IV inserted again. So, the anestesiologist was called up shortly before midnight to help put a new IV in. Poor Brogan awoke to 2 adults holding him down and 1 poking him. After we finally got it in, Brogan looked at me and told me he was mad at me because I let them hurt him. . . . . Can you hear my heart shatter?!?! That was so painful to hear. I felt horrible!!
Saturday morning brought little hope of us actually walking out of this place. We skyped Daddy in the morning and Dr. Machen even got to talk to Daddy a bit before he checked Brogan. Later in the day, Nana, Papa and Ainsley came to visit. We had a good time and got to eat some good food for supper. We are hoping to be able to go home in time for Easter dinner. Say a little prayer for us!!
