Alright then. Sorry for keeping you all hanging (both of you).

So, the ER on the 21st. After that, we had a few days of masks and antibiotics. His fever went away eventually, and he started sounding better.

Gwen and I continued to be miserable.

By Saturday (his birthday), he was doing pretty well, except … when we changed his diaper Saturday morning, he had a rash. On his trunk, in front and in back. And quite a bit in back. Enough that we were concerned that they might be an allergic reaction to the antibiotics (which *did* have an awful effect on his … output …). So, we hoofed it down to the walk-in clinic, and saw a kindly doctor there. He took a look at the rash and told us that it was probably the tail-end of the virus and not to worry too much, unless his fever came back up, and/or the rash got puffier and itchy. Back home to prepare for the “birthday party”, which had been scaled back considerably due to the illnesses.

We had a number of “virtual” visits with the grandparents, and some cake later in the day. We took quite a bit of video on Saturday, mostly with the video camera, and some with the web cam. In juggling the video camera, the web camera and trying to be involved in everything, I … uh … didn’t get many actual photographs. We might resort to pulling some captures from the DV. Anyway, here’s one I did get:

He sort-of liked the cake. He was pretty tired by cake time, so his appreciation was somewhat muted. :>)

Thank you all for the presents! He’s enjoying playing with all the toys (quiet and not so quiet) and we’ve worn some of the clothes that fit him now and put the others away until he grows a bit more.

On the seventh day we rested.

In the intervening week, we’ve all been recouperating. By now, we’re all feeling much better. Aidan had another doctor’s visit on Wednesday, a check-up with our family doctor, who was brought up to speed with the ER visit and drop-in clinic visit. Dr. Izen told us to continue with the antibiotics (which ended Friday night) and that we could taper off the ventolin on the weekend, but to keep up with the pulmacort. Still keeping score? He has *another* doctor’s appointment in the week to come, this one his scheduled Year One visit where he’ll get his shots, etc. Hopefully he’ll get a clean bill of health too.

So, I’ve missed the cherry blossoms blooming and some other good photo ops in the past few weeks. I toyed with the idea of taking pictures of The Boy while he was sick, but that seemed a little cruel, and frankly, required more energy than I had.

But, the weather’s turning, Grandma Kathy and Grampa John are coming out to visit in two weeks, and we’re all healthy again, so the cute quota will be met (hopefully) in the weeks to come.

I might a few more short video clips posted in the next few days. Any feedback on the video? It’s pretty boring I realize (no music, shaky camera, etc) but at the moment we really don’t have a lot of time to make things pretty. I can throw it quite easily to DVD if anyone wants a higher-quality version.

Cheers,
A>

Sorry for the spacing between updates. I promise that tomorrow there’ll be photos and a “news” update (not that there’s any news). But for tonight, here’s a link to a rather dry video shot on Aidan’s birthday. Warning: For family only … it’s pretty dry!

The file’s DIVX encoded, and large (~100 MB). Be patient. If you don’t know how to play the file, try to use the VLC media player, it’ll play almost anything. If you don’t have this program, get it free here: http://www.videolan.org

Here’s the link to the video: http://www.anthonyfloyd.homedns.org:9100/Aidan_birthday_march_2006.avi. Enjoy!

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!