Trying times...

So not only have I not blogged lately or taken pictures, but I've had a very stressful run for the last month or so. I've recently started a new journey at work. My boss got promoted to her bosses job, thus leaving us without a manager for a while. Some of her duties got passed down to me, which at the time I was excited about the new challenge. Let's just say that those new duties haven't been very kind to me.

After the first two weeks, I was so stressed out that my body started to strike. I ended up with a migraine (my first one in years!) and cluster headaches for the rest of the week, then ended up with a cold on top of that. I'm still fighting off the cough, only to have to bring Garrett to the hospital TWICE yesterday.

He woke up at 2am Monday morning crying and coughing. He said he was going to throw up, and after rushing him to the bathroom, he did... twice. I assumed this was due to the coughing since he has a pretty sensitive gag reflex and tends to throw up when he coughs too hard. Even after I got him back in bed he still complained that his tummy hurt. I asked if he needed to throw up, and he said no. I asked if it hurt to cough, and he said yes. I thought he was just sore from coughing. But two hours later, he was still crying and coughing and wheezing/whistling. He was so short of breath he couldn't muster up enough air to cough, so he just whimpered instead. Doug got out the stethoscope and listened to his lungs, but didn't hear anything you couldn't already hear with your ears. We decided since he was in so much pain and so short of breath we should bring him to the ER.

Doug left with him at 5 am, and came home around 7. They did a chest x-ray and found he has pneumonia. They did a breathing treatment on him and sent him home with a prescription for antibiotics. Doug left again to go get the antibiotic filled, and I sat with Garrett on the couch. He started crying again, and was wheezing pretty bad. I was really angry that the ER doc didn't send him home with anything for his wheezing/shortness of breath, especially since the antibiotic takes 24-48 hours to help with the symptoms! What were we to do in the mean time?! So I called the ER and his PCP, both refused to call in a prescription unless he was seen again. Doug got home with the antibiotic, and he gave him a dose, only to have him throw it back up within 30 seconds. We waited 5-10 minutes and tried another dose. That one came back up too. At this point, I was so angry because I felt like the ER doc didn't do his job. Garrett was now so short of breath that his belly is inflating and deflating like a balloon, and he couldn't keep down his medicine. I got dressed, packed up Garrett's bag with extra clothes, and off to the ER we went, again.

After explaining that he were JUST there, they decided that he would have to stay overnight. They checked his oxygen levels and found that they were too low, and we had to put an oxygen tube in his nose. Then they did another breathing treatment. Since he failed to keep the oral antibiotics down, they decided they had to do IV antibiotics and fluids to rehydrate. Once his breathing was better, they did another chest x-ray to make sure the pneumonia didn't spread. When that came back okay, they decided to watch the oxygen levels again. After slowly titrating the oxygen down to nothing, he was able to keep it up on his own, so they decided discharge us that night and send us home with the nebulizer and medication so he could rest at home.

Once the IV antibiotics were done and they took out the IV, the nurse went to get the discharge papers while I changed Garrett into his clothes. I took of the gown and saw red splotches all over his upper chest and back. I called the nurse back in to make sure it wasn't an allergic reaction. It was. Since he's allergic to Penicillin, they gave him another medicine that is in the Cephalosporin family (kind of a cousin to Penicillin). There's about a 1 in 10,000 chance that if you are allergic to Penicillin, you will also be allergic to Cephalosporins too. Garrett is 1 in 10,000. So now we had to medicate him for that too. They gave him an oral steroid and some Benadryl for the reaction, but after the Benadryl, he vomited again... losing all medication that they just gave him. The nurse said that if he doesn't get it orally, he'll have to get shots. Garrett screamed because he didn't want the shots, but he also didn't want more medication. I told the nurse to do the S-H-O-T-S's because that's the only way to ensure he gets the medication. After giving him Zofran ODT (for the nausea), they got 3 nurses in there to administer the shots: 1 holding the legs, mom holding his arms, and 2 nurses each giving a shot at the same time. Garrett screamed, and I felt bad, but in the long run it was the right choice. He needed the medication and this was the only way to ensure it didn't come back up again.

Finally we were able to go home. I dropped off the necessary prescriptions on our way, then got Garrett home around 2pm. We made a nest for him on the couch and he fell asleep fairly quickly watching Little Einsteins. Garrett slept for 3& 1/2 hours AND slept through the night with no night wakings. Ellison luckily did the same. Mommy and Daddy got a full nights sleep too!

Today, you would never know that Garrett was in the hospital twice yesterday with pneumonia. He's been running around, playing with toys, getting the bad guys with his sword, and talk about YELLING! This kids doesn't know what an "indoor voice" is today! He even did his breathing treatment with laughter and smiles (while wearing the mask!). I don't know if its the continued steroids making him so hyper, but I'm just glad he's feeling better. He's been begging me to go outside, but I don't feel he should just yet.

I just hope Ellison doesn't get this...