Our Thanksgiving Adventure - Super sick Carson

Well, our day started out just great.  Around 9 AM I realized that the turkey was accidentally put in the freezer on Saturday instead of the fridge.  Via facebook suggestions I decided to just cook it frozen.  I overcooked it a bit, somewhat intentionally because I was afraid of food poisoning from the frozen turkey, so it was a little dry.  Oh well.  The rest of the food turned out well.

Then, this morning Lainey was sitting on the couch with me and she told me, "Mom! Guess what I love Daddy.  Carson can love you."  I explained to her that you can love more than one person.  She fairly emphatically replied, " No Mommy.  I just love Daddy.  Carson can love you."

Ahh!  The joys of parenting!  She didn't mean a thing of course but it did make me a little sad.

Topping out the day was Mr. Carson.  He woke up with a 103.5 degree fever again and clearly was not feeling well.  His feet didn't hit the floor all day (he refused to be put down) and his demeanor get kept getting worse.  When I listened to his chest after we ate dinner (4 PM or so) it was obvious that he lungs sounded like crap.  He also had a respiratory rate of 45 and seemed to be mildly distressed.  So, off to the ER we went.

In triage I noticed that his pulse ox was 93.  I was shocked!  That meant he really was sick.  The ER doctor and nurse both agreed that his lungs sounded like crap (crackles and wheezing) so they quickly ordered a chest x-ray, an hour long albuterol double strength nebulizer, and oral steroids.

He was hooked up to continuous monitoring and his O2 sats ranged from 89-93 (depending on when he was sleeping or awake).  The huge dose of albuterol caused awful tachycardia (fast heart rate - up to 190!) and tremors.  It didn't seem to improve his O2 sats either.  He was given a dose of oral steroids (tastes awful).  The ER doctor wanted him admitted and placed those orders for him.

The pediatric hospitalist who we met 3-4 hours into our stay (after the admission process was already starts) was on the fence though.  She said if his O2 sats were at 88 while sleeping she'd keep him but his were ranging from 89-91.  So she suggested he just wait in the ER a while and monitor him before making a decision.

The chest x-ray was read as normal by the off-site radiologist but the pediatrician and ER doctor both felt that it looked like he had an early pneumonia.

After the albuterol took effect his wheezing improved but his O2 sats still sucked.  Suddenly about 2-3 hours after the dose of oral steroids Carson perked up.  It was amazing!  He was awake and smiling and playing peek-a-boo with the nurses and doctors.  And not suprisingly this burst of energy correlated with much better O2 sats (94-96%).  Yay!!

He was still really tachycardic (150-160's - felt to be secondary to the albuterol) but acting so much better that they all agreed to let him go home.  Thank the Lord!  I would not have fought his admission but I would been worried about all the secondary germs we might pick up while we were there (the pediatric hospitalist said she had multiple patients admitted for terrible nausea and vomiting!).  Hopefully, the 7 hours we spent in the ER won't introduce a new line of viruses into our house.

I'd have to say that I was very impressed with our care there tonight.  It's a small town hospital but they really took good care of him.

Side note:  Carson tested negative for both influenza and RSV.  I was actually quite disappointed by this as that means Victor and I are both still potential victims of this crappy virus!!  (Erik's had a very mild version of it the past 4-5 days, Lainey had it first.)

Prayer Requests:

- That Carson will continue to feel better and no more trips to the ER will be necessary!
-That neither Victor nor I will catch this crummy virus!

Overall, I am so thankful for good health! I am also thankful for my brother Colin and his quirky sense of humor (see video below)!!

Happy Thanksgiving!