Asthma All-Nighter

Last night was my first all nighter since last February when Tanner got tubes put in his ears. He started with a cold on Thursday...runny nose, a dry cough. By Friday evening, he had a fever and a really yucky sounding cough. By yesterday afternoon, he had a high fever and a very nasty cough. We had already upped the asthma treatments as much as we could and have pushed fluids for the past couple of days. Last night, we put him to bed and expected to hear him cough for a little while until the cough medicine kicked in. Yeah, I know, I am not supposed to use cough medicine for children under 12 with the new FDA guidelines but 1...I am not really good at following guidelines and 2....obviously no one who has ever held a wheezing, hacking child ALL night made those guidelines.

Anyways, we laid him down with his crib practically propped to standing and thought all was well until he started coughing, and coughing, and did I mention coughing? So much so that he threw up (and was terribly proud to share this news with the kids at breakfast). We got him changed, cleaned everything up and Daddy took him down to walk the floors and hold him and keep him propped up to go to sleep. This is no small task any longer, either. It was fine when he was 6 months and we paced the hospital floor...it was even OK last year when he was 1 1/2, he was big but still manageable. This year, at almost 2 1/2, I can't do it, he is 36 pounds and so tall so Bryce took over until Tanner fell asleep. We headed to bed around 11pm. At 11:30pm, Tanner was back to coughing again.

I can't believe how much the memory fades from just 9 months ago. The worry, the counting the hours, or sometimes minutes until he can have another treatment or another dose of medicine. The worrying so much that I then had an upset stomach and was anxiety ridden. The propping him up in bed with me so he can breathe a little easier...the wondering, is this serious enough to take him in yet? Add to that, this time, taking him in is just about un-do-able without a translator. Do I take him to a pediatrician, to an ENT or to an asthma doctor? Nothing is open on Sunday, can he make it to Monday? A fleeting thought, Jacqueline's Dad that is a Doctor from Australia is here visiting, how early will they be awake and would he be willing to come check out Tanner? Are Tanner's tubes even still in his ears? If they are, we would know that he has an ear infection...if they have already fallen out (which is entirely possible) that could be the culprit but only an examination would tell us that.

He is acting fine, eating enough to sustain himself, and drinking lots. I know we will pull through this but today I am grateful to know that next door is a respiratory therapist and I may just give Jacqueline a call and see if her Dad is willing to come over and take a peek.

Brynn woke up coughing this morning.....I see it coming...asthma all-nighter round 2 to happen later this week! How much sleep over a period of a week does a person require to function, again?