Last week

Thinking back, the last week of my life is one confused jumble in my brain. Let's see if I can straighten it out.

I first realized that Elvis was getting sick on Tuesday night at bedtime. He had just a little bit of a cough. For a normal kid, no problem. For Elvis, this means something is going wrong. Due to his cerebral palsy, he can't cough well - those muscles don't do anything well. When he's actually coughing, there is a problem.

By Wednesday morning, he was coughing more. He maybe felt a little warm but I couldn't find a thermometer. I knew he needed to see a doctor, though. I took him on to school (bad me, I know) and requested a half-day sub so we'd leave early and I'd take him to the doctor. He did fine at school. The mentioned he wasn't his usual perky self but he didn't seem to feel terrible. We got to the doctor's office and were waiting in the exam room. He was still coughing occasionally but not too often. I was actually worried he wouldn't cough while we were with the doctor. As luck would have it, he coughed while she was still in the hall outside our door. She walked in, commented on his wheezy cough, and said it sounded like RSV to her. She jammed a q-tip up his nose to get a snot sample to test and said we'd have to wait about 10 minutes for the result. Eleven minutes later she walked back in and said, "RSV. He's got it." We've seen this doctor since Elvis was less than a year old and just love her. This is the first time I've ever seen uncertainty in her face. She said we'd caught it early and she could guarantee me he would get worse before he got better. She let us go home, warning that we'd need to come in every day or two for them to listen to his lungs and for chest x-rays. I thanked her and we left.

He had one bad coughing spell Wednesday night but did fine other than that. Thursday was another story. Coughing spells all day long. He coughed until he gagged and threw up. He couldn't eat or drink. Through most of the day, the spells would come and go. By about 4:00 PM, the coughing just wouldn't stop. He was literally coughing every breath. At that time of the day, my only option was the ER. I gathered up what we'd need for a couple of days, fearing they'd admit him. It was 5:00 by the time we got on the road and...it was snowing....lots and lots of snow. We made it to the hospital and there were no parking spaces anywhere near the ER. I had to park in a low spot and haul myself and Elvis up the hill to the ER in the blinding snow. It was blowing my my eyes, my nose, and my mouth. I could barely breathe and see to get us to the entrance. By the time I got in, I was dripping wet from melted snow. It took hours for me to dry out.

Sadly, I had hours to dry. They took us right back as RSV is contagious. They stuck us in an isolation room and left us. They didn't do anything for 2.5 hours. By then his temp was 103.8 and they got a little panicky. In the end, we were in the ER for just over 5 hours. Guess what? Elvis has RSV. Thankyouverymuch. They admitted him a little after 11:00 PM. We were put in a tiny room. The cleaning lady later informed me it was the smallest room on the floor. At that point, I didn't care. As long as it was a private room, I was good.

Most of the hospital stay is a blur. NO sleep. Lots of coughing. I didn't eat anything except 8 crackers until the middle of Friday afternoon when my brother paid for them to start bringing me a guest tray at meals. (Thanks, Bro.) I had money with me. I just hadn't had the time to think clearly enough to request it. Time in the hospital is weird. Nothing makes sense. All I could think about was soothing Elvis. And he was almost inconsolable.

And, Friday was my birthday. I did have a few surprises. A friend from school had sent me a present by Alli. I was able to open it just past midnight on my birthday. Beth and her friend showed up mid-afternoon with a pan of cookies they'd made. (see picture below) My brother and sister-in-law stopped by in the early evening with a giant cookie/cake. By late Friday evening, the coughing had eased some. He could sleep for about 45 minutes at a stretch. By midnight, he seemed to be out for the night. I finally opened the chair that thinks it's a bed about 1:30 AM and got a little sleep myself. Nurses and respiratory therapists came and went regularly, rousing me as they cared for Elvis. I still got some much-needed sleep and felt soooo much better when Elvis demanded my attention in the pre-dawn hours.

The pediatrician on-call visited about 9:00 and cleared us for discharge, thus ending one of the longest 2-day periods of my life. It still took more than an hour to get out but it felt good to be headed for home. He's still sick. He's not eating much and not able to keep most of what he does eat. He's not got a stomach virus. He's just coughing so much and so hard that he gags. I've been sprayed with partially-digested chocolate milk more times than I care to count in the last few days.

I'm home today and tomorrow, at least. We go back to the doctor tomorrow, hoping for clearance to return to school. Elvis isn't 100% yet but he's definitely better. What a week!!