Health & Happiness

Dear Colton,

Waiting to see the doctor at UMMC
Pediatric ER w/ Daddy

It's times like this past week that make me realize how much we truly take our health (your health) for granted. You gave us quite a scare this week with two trips to the Emergency Department after taking a tumble in the playroom followed by a fever and shortness of breath.

Monday Evening
On Monday evening after school, Mommy was cooking dinner and you were playing in the playroom, when suddenly you came walking over to me in the kitchen hunched over, crying, and complaining that your back hurt. You fell, and I didn't hear or see anything. I asked you what happened but you were so upset that you weren't able to tell me. All I knew is that your back hurt badly. After a few minutes, you then started to become short of breath. I tried to calm you down, give you something to drink and take you to another room, but nothing was getting your breathing back to normal.

I waited about 20 minutes or so for your breathing to 'fix' itself, but it did not, so I called Daddy and told him I was taking you to the Emergency Department. Jibby was on her way over to take care of Hayden Rae, so I put you in your car seat, where you then started to pass out, nodding off and closing your eyes. It wasn't safe to drive you in your condition, so I immediately called 911 so an ambulance could transport you safely to the hospital.

The ambulance arrived just a few minutes later (thank goodness we live a mile from the firehouse) and off we went to the hospital to get you checked out. Your breathing slowly came back to normal and Daddy was there at the ER when we arrived. We waited for three hours to be seen by a doctor, and in that night you had another 'shortness of breath' episode. Once the doctor did come in and check you out, she could not exactly determine if there was anything wrong with your lungs, etc. We had X-rays done to eliminate any broken bones, lung challenges, etc. A few hours later we were discharged a little after midnight. When we got home, Mommy slept beside you on the floor all night.

Tuesday Morning

The next morning we sat down for breakfast and I fixed you oatmeal. Well you got upset about the oatmeal and began to cry, and then Mommy heard the shortness of breath again when you were crying, and in addition you were grabbing at your tummy area saying that it hurt when you were breathing (see above video). Off to the pediatrician we went to get you checked out, but again nothing was determined to be 'wrong.'

Wednesday Overnight/Thursday Early Morning

Around 4 a.m. Thursday morning you cried out in your sleep. I heard you on the monitor and ran in to see what was wrong. I found you curled up on your bed on your tummy, crying and short of breath. Mommy stayed with you for the rest of the early morning in your room. You went back to sleep but I still could hear a shortness in your breathing. Over the next several hours, you had a few more 'breathing episodes', so Mommy took you to the pediatrician again. This time, you had a fever of 102 degrees with the shortness of breath. The pediatrician decided that it was time for us to go back to the ER. 

Sleeping soundly on Mommy in the ER

We drove down to the University of Maryland Medical Center Pediatric Emergency Department and Daddy was there waiting for us. We were immediately seen and you were taken VERY good care of while we were there. Doctors were very thorough and performed multiple tests and X-rays on you to try to figure out what was causing the fever, shortness of breath and tummy/chest pain. You had several X-rays, an EKG, blood work, and a heart ultrasound done to make sure we were able to rule out some rather 'major' illnesses. You also were seen by a cardiologist and ENT specialists.

After an overnight stay and almost 24 hours of observation and no further breathing episodes or fever, it was determined that you had a coincidental combo of a viral infection which caused the fever, partnered with bruised muscles around your lungs that were causing you a bit of pain when taking full breaths from your fall earlier in the week.

Things to Remember

When you were in the hospital, one of the only things you wanted to do was
play with your ABCs all by yourself in the bathtub. And so you did...for an hour!

I have been meaning for so long to continue to update this blog, but have yet to sit down and do it. Today, I'm making a promise to myself to keep this blog up-to-date not only for all the memories that you and Hayden will hopefully one day appreciate and cherish forever, but also for a small selfish reason to help remind me of how much your Daddy and I are truly grateful and blessed with each and every day.

Health scares such as the one you had this past week are eye opening experiences and really help us to appreciate all that we have to be thankful for. Mommy was on her knees praying hard this past week... and God answered those prayers.

Colt, we are so glad you are feeling better and please always remember to take care of yourself. Staying on top of your health and taking steps to stay well are truly very important parts of living a full life.

We love you buddy!