Discharge

(In this picture he looks like a prisoner with his legs sticking out of the bars...if you are wondering about the pictures, no I didn't bring my camera with me. These pictures were taken with my camera phone.)

We were finally discharged on Saturday at 11:10 am. We checked into the ER at 8pm on Thursday so this was our 1st 2night visit to the hospital and our first stay at Dell Children's Medical Center. All totaled about 39 hours in the hospital .

The final diagnosis was bronchiolitis.

What is bronchiolitis? Bronchiolitis is an infection of the bronchioles, the small air passages in the lungs. It is common in children and is the leading cause of serious lower respiratory illness in infants.

What causes bronchiolitis? Bronchiolitis is usually caused by a virus, especially respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), and frequently occurs in the late fall to early spring.

What are the symptoms? Symptoms of bronchiolitis include runny nose, cough, and fever. After a few days, your child may experience shortness of breath and/or breathing that is rapid and labored with wheezing. A severe infection in infants may cause a noticeably increased breathing rate. Seek immediate medical attention if your infant develops difficulty breathing.

Call a doctor if:
Your child is vomiting and can't keep liquids down.
Your child is breathing rapidly. (this was Christian)
You can see your child's skin pull in between the ribs (retractions) when breathing. This is a sign that your child is having difficulty breathing. (this was also Christian)
In severe cases, your doctor may suggest hospitalization and supplemental oxygen. (this was his treatment while in the hospital)

We are now home and all of us are resting up. After having some lunch at home we all took naps. Mine was for about 3 hours, Chris' was for about 2.5 hours and Christian's was for 4 hours. We were all so happy to be home in our own beds. As of right now (8pm on Saturday night) Christian is in his bed asleep...Thank God for being home and back on routine.

We have learned a few things about going to the ER.
# 1 - Always pack like you will be admitted. This came in handy for us this time. We had toys, our video player and movies (of course CARS, but we also watched Toy Story, Madagascar and Ice Age) a change of clothes, toothbrushes...etc. We didn't realize our stay would be 2 days, so we called Aunt Sassy to help us out by bring up another change of clothes and some essentials.
#2 - Always call someone and let them know what is going on. The last thing family wants to hear is that you have been in the hospital for several days and they didn't know about it.
#3 - ER's take breathing problems very seriously and you will general get moved back to a room very quickly.
#4 - Don't second guess yourself when your child is having problems breathing.

We have an appointment to discuss all of this in depth with our pediatrician next week. Hopefully we can be proactive about not getting to this point again, but when it comes to viruses there isn't much you can do.