Thursday morning I took Will up to AI DuPont Children's hospital for his appointment with the GI specialist. Everything went well; he is going on a new medication (prilosec) that will take another week or so to start working, so he is continuing to take the Zantac until then. We also had some blood work done and are going to have an upper GI scan done to determine if there is anything wrong with his plumbing (like a small stomach) that could be making things worse. And I am supposed to cut cow's milk protein out of my diet, which is probably going to be one of the hardest things because I love milk, cheese, etc so much! Hopefully when the new medication kicks in I will be able to go back to milk. The doctor also commented that he sounded a little wheezy and I should probably give our pediatrician a call.
I got an appointment to have Will seen around 3pm. Everything got a little crazy at that point. The nurse practitioner who saw Will left the room after just a quick look at him and brought a nurse and a heart rate/oxygen monitor. They hooked Will up and said that his breathing was accelerated and his wheezing concerning and that they wanted me to take him to the ER right after having a nebulizer treatment. Will responded to the treatment well, but was still having some labored breathing, and then they told me they wanted to transport him to the ER via ambulance. They told me not to worry, that he was responding well to everything, but because he is so young, they needed to address it quickly. The whole time at the doctor's office, Will smiled and cooed at everyone!
The paramedics arrived while I was getting Will dressed, so all I had to do was get him in the carseat and they took him out to the ambulance and strapped him to the stretcher. About this time Martin called me from work, and I tried to tell him everything that was going on, but it didn't come out completely clearly. I ended up calling him back while we drove north to give him all the details. My mom had come to watch Emma for Will's GI appointment, so she was able to stay and keep Emma, so we didn't have to worry about finding someone last minute, which was great.
Will slept the whole way up to the hospital, and his vitals remained good, though he was given oxygen just to be safe. The paramedics were great, and continued to reassure me that Will would be fine. Martin met us at the ER and we were able to walk in together. I am so glad we were able to take the ambulance up. Not only did I not have to drive, but we were taken right in since they already knew we were coming.
In the ER Will remained pretty much as pleasant as ever. He smiled at all the doctors and nurses. He was diagnosed with bronchiolitis caused by RSV. We were told that there is a 1 week version of the virus and a 3 week version of the virus, so we are hoping that this is the one week! They used a vacuum to suction the mucus out of his nose, which he hated. But while they were holding his arms down to get ready for the suction, he started giggling as a nurse tickled his armpits...what a sweatheart! Will had another nebulizer treatment in the ER and we were sent home with one also. We ended up being discharged around 7:30, so only about 3 hours in the ER!
Will did not sleep great that night, but he was doing better when we went back to the pediatrician in the morning for his follow-up appointment. He slept most of Friday afternoon, and seemed to be doing much better. Saturday was a little more rough. He did not seem to respond to the nebulizer treatments as well in the morning, but by the afternoon was doing better. He slept about 5 hours straight through last night, and today seems almost completely back to normal! The doctor in the ER said there would be good days and bad days, and we have seen both in the last two days.
We really appreciate the many prayers for Will and for us! Here are some specific things that you can pray for:
That Will continues to recover and respond well to the treatment
For Emma as she struggles at times with the extra attention that Will needs. She is doing much better with this and is very sweet. She says "poor Will" and "sick Will" and likes to watch the nebulizer.
That both Martin and I would stay healthy! We both feel a little under the weather and are hoping that is just from lack of sleep.
For Will's reflux medication to bring relief.
That we would continue to trust God through these trials, and then even more once things are back to normal!
That's Will in his little hospital gown. You can't even tell from this picture that we were in the ER!
