A Trip to Hospital

In A&E on Wednesday night before he was admitted

Wow! What a long couple of days! Just after I finished writing my blog on Tuesday night, Felix's coughing got worse, so we took him up to the hospital. We knew it was croup, and we didn't want it getting to the point where he could barely breathe (like last year). Unfortunately, even though we explained Felix's history of croup, the nurse wouldn't call the on-call Doctor up to the hospital to examine him. She seemed to have trouble with the monitor used to check his heart rate and oxygen levels, and only left it on him for a few seconds. She told us his oxygen was 100%, which I found very hard to believe. I really wanted him to be started on Prednisolone to nip it in the bud, but because there was no Doctor there, it couldn't be administered. Anyway, we were sent home with instructions to come back if he got worse. Thankfully, he didn't get any worse during the night and seemed OK during the day on Wednesday except for an even runnier nose.

All worn out

As the day grew later, on Wednesday, I just knew we would be up at the hospital again. By about 5pm, I had already heard Felix 'bark' a few times. His nose was pouring and he seemed very congested. We filled up the humidifier and put him to bed but, over the course of the next few hours, his cough got worse and worse. By about 11pm, his cough was more frequent and his breathing was noisy and more laboured.

Our daughter, Bekah (20), was visiting for a few days, so she and I headed up to the hospital with Felix and were so thankful to see the nurse who was on duty the last time Felix was really sick. She was awesome! She remembered how quickly he went downhill the last time (when he was admitted to HDU). She put him straight on a nebuliser and she called a Doctor straight away. He got to the hospital really quickly and was lovely with Felix. After checking him, the Doctor made the decision to admit him straight away. Much as the idea of staying the night in hospital didn't really appeal to me, I knew it was the best thing for Felix to be somewhere where he could be observed properly. He was started on Prednisolone straight away and antibiotics (his nose was green by this point). The Doctor wanted him tested for Whooping cough, just as a precaution, which meant we had our own room to keep him isolated from the other children. I certainly wasn't complaining. It was much easier to settle him in a quiet room than a crowded ward.

Feeling a bit better Thursday night in his sheet fort

He had quite an unsettled night on Wednesday night. He was 'high' on the Prednisolone for a while, so he was quite hyped up. Thank goodness for the ipad. He sat, in the dark, playing it until about 1.30am when he finally fell asleep. His oxygen levels were quite low through the night, so he tossed and turned a lot. Every so often, he would sit bolt upright and just stay there until he lay himself back down again. Poor little guy; it was hard to see him like that. Needless to say, little sleep was had by either of us.

The next morning, Felix's GP came in to examine him and decided it was best for him to stay in another night. I must admit, I wasn't expecting that, but when I realised how low his oxygen sats actually were (I'm not an expert on these things...still learning), it made sense. The Nurse told me she was a bit surprised that his oxygen sats were better when he was sleeping; once he started walking around, they went down. Felix was quite happy for most of the day, but was a bit flat again in the evening. Last night, he slept much better than the night before and, after seeing the Doctor, and having sats between 95-98%, we were able to take him home today.

Cuddles with Mummy

Felix was so happy to be home, but he's still not back to his usual self. He looks tired and his nose is still pouring. Earlier this evening, he started to have a bit of a wheezy sound again when he breathed in, and was a bit grizzly, but he settled well at bedtime and I haven't heard any scary sounds coming from his room. Hopefully he will continue to improve now and we'll have our energetic, happy little boy back soon.