ALMOST Admitted

ER was sleepless last night and kept crying. He started panting very badly, couldn't catch his breath properly, and threw up many times.

By morning, he looked horrible with puffy eyes and dark eye rings.

I was so thankful he had some pasta stars in lean meat soup base for breakfast. I didn't dare to give him milk because I was worried that would clog his airway up with thicker mucus.

Mr Liow wanted to be around to bring us to the doctor, so we waited for him to come home after a meeting.

And we saw Dr Lee.

She gently rebuked me for not returning with ER for the review 2 weeks back. I regretted too :( we were busy packing for Desaru and I thought since ER had recovered, I'd pass the review for another day, and then I forgot.

Apparently, the inflammation will return if not terminated. Dr Lee said she had to ER to decide what next to do.

This time, the inflammation came back and hit ER bad :(. Dr Lee said it was acute and that ER had to be nebulized at the clinic twice, half hour apart. And he had to take Prednisolone.

It appears that she seems to be treating Asthma in him as I read up a little on her prescriptions.

She wants to try terminating the inflammation.

ER did not usually bother about the nebulizer but at the clinic, he struggled. The whole night, he wanted to suckle to sleep but couldn't because of his blocked airway. At the clinic, he was so tired he latched, but couldn't suckle like last night.

Since he dozed off while he latched, it was easier to use the nebulizer. After a while, his airway cleared up a little and I could feel sucking and drinking as he latched, asleep.

Dr Lee checked him again after the first session and was pleased to hear his airway was less congested that 15mins before.

If it didn't sound clearer, she would arrange for him to stay for a night. She said in some cases, the congestion can get so bad the patient has to be nebulized half hourly.

Thank God ER wasnt one of such that she mentioned. She said to puff him again before we leave.

After the second session, ER woke. He appeared much better. Still panting, but less upset! He smiled and chatted with the usually hostile pharmacists at Kinderclinic as Mr Liow paid, and even got a sticker from one of them.

As instructed, we are to nebulise him every 4 hours, alternating between ventolin-saline and ventolin-pulmicort. Dr Lee said we can stretch the interval to 6 hours if he is not panting too badly.

And we are to feed him Prednisolone. That is the challenging one, because it's bitter :(

We're to bring him back for review this Saturday. She's going to teach me to use the exhaler before his condition worsens the next time I notice symptoms. That is provided ER is good enough to be taken off the nebuliser by then.

What a day! He's been sleeping relatively well since his eyes shut 3 hours ago, after throwing up. I pray he gets the rest he didn't get last night.

Rest well, baby.