Patrick visits the E.R.

So, Patrick started wheezing on Thursday. We've noticed that it's the first sign of a cold or congestion. We watched it on Thursday and he woke up worse on Friday, so I took him to his doctor. The doctor was concerned by the wheezing and thinks that he may be developing asthma.

Asthma is a very common ailment here. The central valley has one of the highest rates of asthma. I'm not sure why. Maybe because of allergens from the produce grown? A doctor told me that 1 in 4 kids in the valley have asthma.

He's been on an inhaler on and off for a while, but he had to have a breathing treatment at the office that day. That was a blast holding a screaming 7 month old ( who is very strong) for about 15 minutes. He was mad/sad/hungry/tired and didn't want me to hold him and give him the treatment. So, I held him down and breathed in most of the treatment. Patrick is the most easy going, sweetest little guy, except when he doesn't feel good. He's been grunting and crying most of the weekend.

We went home with more inhaler medicine. I started feeling really weird and told Steven that I needed to lay down. Patrick laid down too. We both crashed from our breathing treatment that I inhaled and slept for about 2 hours that day. I woke up feeling so weird!

We got through the night. He was so uncomfortable and we debated the E.R. all weekend. Patrick is on medi-cal, so his options are limited for hospitals. The last E.R. visit took over 6 hours at the county hospital. But, his breathing was really labored and he didn't look any better.

My friend told me that all hospitals have to take medi-cal, so we went to Kaiser late on Saturday. We are Kaiser patients, but Patrick receives free medical treatment through the state. We got to the E.R. and we were just sat down and got called to the back. Maggie wasn't allowed to come with us so I called her BFF's mom and took her over there. Maggie was worried about Patrick, but "COULD NOT BELIEVE THAT SHE COULD GO SEE KATELYN!! AT. NIGHT!!!!"

When I got back, they were setting up xrays and taking pulse rates. He was a sick little guy. They were concerned about RSV, which is terrifying, but luckily, it came back negative. We were only there 2 hours, which is a miracle in E.R. time. He went home with more medicine and inhalers. They think he has a virus and a second doctor thinks that he has asthma.

While the nurse who was helping us all night was filling out the last papers, she was telling us this bizarre story about a 10 month old baby that she was helping one night. The 10 month old could read! Steven asked her where this was and she said "Birmingham, AL". We said that we were from LaGrange, GA. She was shocked. She's a traveling nurse and lives in Hogansville, Ga. That's like 10 minutes from LaGrange. How bizarre.