Well … this morning I guess … we made our first trip to the ER at BC Children’s.

Aidan woke around 1:15 this morning, and Gwen went and got him. He was quite warm, and when we took his temperature, it was about 101.5. This was surprising since he’d been fever-free for the past four or five days. We dosed him with the infant Advil, but by 1:45, his temperature hadn’t budged, and his breathing seemed rapid and shallow. Since these were the symptoms we were told to watch out for, we packed up and headed to the emerg.

And arrived around 2am.

And, although we were shown into a room immediately, and the triage nurse bustled in and around, took his temperature and hooked him up to the monitor, it was quite a while before we saw a doctor. In fact, it was pretty close to 4:30 before the resident mosied in and took a look at him. She ordered a chest xray and a ventolin mask. We made it to radiology just as the xray tech was packing up, but she squeezed us in.

The sight of your infant son, literally strapped to a chair, with his arms strapped above his head, bawling his eyes out, and you forced to wait behind the radiation shield is not a pleasant one.

Back to the exam room, and wait for the paediatrician to visit. He took the mask reasonably well, but of course he was exhausted from the continuing ordeal.

We saw the paediatrician by about 5:45 where she told us that we were to increase his ventolin masks, she was adding pulmacort to the mix too. The pulmacort is supposed to continue for the next month, and the ventolin for the next two weeks. The chest xrays didn’t look too bad, but there were sufficient dark spots that he was also prescribed amoxil. After receiving the verdict, we had to wait for the scripts and for the new nurse to give him the first amoxil dose.

We were back home around 6:30.

Gwen and Aidan went to bed, and at 8, I headed to work.

Right now, his fever’s still up, and we’re all tired. The antibiotic is 3 times a day, the venolin 4 times a day, and the pulmacort, twice daily. Why can’t they change the size of the doses so that the drugging schedules mesh nicely?

And, oh, Gwen & I are still being knocked around by our own colds.

Pray for sleep.

So, the afternoon check-in with the doctor has meant that he’s still on the Ventolin mask for the next few days. Apparently Dr. Izen isn’t too concerned about his breathing, but given the little bit of wheezing still going on, it will help him out. Other than the wheezing, the rest seems to be just your typical spring cold.

Don’t I wish. This typical spring cold still has me pumping the cold meds and sucking back liquid vitamin C apple juice like it was going out of fashion.

Gwen got a quick check-up at the Dr’s office too, and came away with something to treat her sinus infection, which is compounding the allergies, which is compounding the cold. Oh, and the asthma. Sounds absolutely horrible, but I think she’s doing quite well. Her energy’s up, she hasn’t needed a mask herself, and her eye’s aren’t at all puffy. But, still.

Let’s hope we all clear up in time for the weekend!

OK, so Gwen’s back from the doctor’s office. She thinks it’s just viral, but in order to help Aidan breathe, we have a ventilator, and some Ventolin.

Fun, fun, fun trying to keep the mask on The Boy. The hands are working overtime, the head whips around, the whole body arches and strains to get away, and for the whole time, he’s bawling his eyes out. I’m sure he got at least 1/4 of the dose he was supposed to get.

2:45 appointment on Monday for follow-up with our family doctor, Dr. Izen.

So, Gwen was hoping that we weren’t going to get whatever Aidan has.

Ah, well, hope only gets you so far.

This is now day 2 of sick leave for me, and Gwen’s been pretty miserable too. Aidan’s cold has moved into his chest, but his fever has disappeared. He’s been pretty good, maybe a bit less energetic, and coughing of course, but doesn’t seem too bad. He slept well last night and had an over three hour nap this morning.

Gwen’s not doing too bad either. It’s in her chest too, and her sinuses are bothering her, but she’s been pushing through.

I’m doing better today. Yesterday was a different story. I don’t handle fevers well, and was pretty much useless yesterday. Between not sleeping the night before, the fever, and all the other symptoms (not the least of which was my voice passing through the deep, sexy stage straight to “gone”) I was pretty miserable. But today’s better, I’ve been able to read and work on the computer a little bit. Plus I actually had some solid food.

In the end, Gwen’s taken Aidan to the clinic now, just to get someone to listen to his lungs. They’re going to tell her that his lungs are congested, but I’m not sure how they (the Dr’s) make the decision on when it’s time to do something about it versus just letting it ride.

Oh look, another sunny weekend predicted. We spent last weekend inside tending to a sick boy. This weekend we’ll spend inside trying to tend to sick us.

Happy St. Paddy’s Day. Have a beer for me, ’cause I’m not having any today!