Gavin and Logan: Sickness

What a terrible week it's been. Last Tuesday night we noticed that Rylynn's cough was sounding pretty bad. Wednesday morning I brought her to the doctor and found out she had croup. Unfortunately, croup is viral so there isn't much to be done about it. We were told to call or go to Urgent Care if her symptoms worsened. Thursday morning, I got to bring all three kids to the Ear, Nose and Throat doctor for Logan's appointment. All three of them were so good! Logan will be getting another set of tubes put in on February 19th. His original tubes are no longer in place, he has a lot of fluid behind his ear drum and he isn't hearing as well as he should be. I'm not worried about the surgery, it will go well, he has a great doctor. I'm more worried about him being scared and nervous when he is in the operating room before the put him under. I know that he will be fine and I'll be more scare and nervous than he is. :)

Thursday night, Sami and Charlie came to stay and help out with kids. Little did we know, they had picked the perfect weekend to come visit. That night, Gavin and Logan's coughs got a lot worse and they were both up multiple times during the night. It's so hard when they have colds because they can't have any cough medicine. Friday, I went to work, Galen went to class and Sami and Charlie were in charge. The coughs weren't getting any better, and Logan wasn't wanting to eat. I ran home for an hour to check on everyone, Gavin, Logan and Sami were all asleep in their room. Charlie and Rylynn were having a great time. While I was home, I noticed that Rylynn's chest was rattling more and she sounded like she was purring. I called her doctor on my way back to work to see if this was any cause for concern, I also mentioned Logan, his cough and his unwillingness to eat. Their doctor said he wanted Rylynn seen right away to rule out pneumonia and that we could always bring Logan in if we felt it was necessary. At the time, I didn't feel like Logan needed to be seen, he had a good nap and was acting happy when I went to pick up Rylynn.

After a two hour urgent care visit and a chest X-ray, we ruled out pneumonia and were sent home. Once I arrived home I regretted not bringing Logan with. He was looking pretty rough when I got home, coughing more, running a fever, lacking energy and not really wanting to do anything. Gavin was still full of energy and running around. Sami and Charlie also mentioned that Logan didn't even want to eat pizza. Galen and I decided that I should bring Logan to the ER, even though I had just been there with Rylynn and the nurses and doctors would probably look at me like I was crazy for being there again.

We spent almost two and a half hours waiting to be seen. In that time, I managed to get Logan to finally eat some fruit snacks. But the rest of the time, he just snuggled up to me, not wanting to move. Right after we got back in the ER, he fell asleep which was for the best, the doctor was able to go his exam without Logan trying to fight him. Logan had to do a nasal swab to rule out RSV and influenza, he woke up when they did this and he was so mad. But as soon as it was over, he fell back asleep. He also had a chest X-ray that he sat very still for, he even got to have his puppy wear an X-ray blanket. Luckily, his test results came back pretty quickly, he tested positive for RSV. He had to get one nebulizer treatment before leaving the hospital and handled it very well. The respiratory therapist could hear improvement in his breathing immediately after finishing the treatment.

We left around midnight with a prescription, extra nebulizer tubing for Gavin (just incase) and Logan's bucket full if goodies. The triage nurse had given him a bucket incase he threw up from coughing and he held onto that thing so tightly. He also put his hospital arm band around his puppy, and put his puppy to bed in the bucket. Once we got home, he proudly showed off his treasures to Sami and Charlie, ate a Popsicle and watched a Mickey. He slept with us that night because I wanted to keep an eye on his breathing, none of us got any sleep but he was very excited to have Bowser cuddle with him.

Saturday morning came quicker than any of us would have liked. Logan was excited to do his neb treatment and even held the mask himself. Occasionally, he would try to share his medicine with his stuffed animals and Bowser. We had a pretty low key Saturday, we ordered Chinese food before Sami and Charlie left, we were hoping Logan would eat and he did! I'm so glad that Sami and Charlie were around for a few days, I don't know what we would have done without them!!! We spent the rest of the day watching movies and napping. We were hoping for an uneventful
Sunday too, and it was until Rylynn started wheezing. Back to urgent care we went, she was prescribed steroids and neb treatments to hopefully kick this stupid cold.

Gavin and Logan took a long nap while Rylynn and I were gone and at bedtime we quickly realized they were feeling better. They ended up staying up until 1am, talking and playing in their room. Galen and I went in their room multiple times to tell them to go to bed, but they just weren't interested. And then this morning they were up at 8am. Even though we are still severely lacking in the sleeping department, it is nice that they are feeling better. Logan is doing his best to milk this being sick thing. Today, I went into their room after quiet time and asked them to start cleaning up. After a discussion about how I shouldn't have to clean up because I didn't make the mess, Logan looked at me with puppy dog eyes and said "I sick mom, I need mine medicine now."

Tonight, they were in bed by 7:45 and asleep within a half hour. Rylynn just went to bed and we are crossing our fingers for at least six hours of uninterrupted sleep. We are also crossing our fingers that all of this sickness is behind us and we are done with urgent care visits!!