Fumes
just running on fumes...
I wanted to update on the weekend, but really, outside of spending Saturday continuing renovations and putting up the tree, followed by a Sunday seeing Santa with Kyle and James (along with seeing a LOT of co-workers from DPM), what was there?
Oh yeah. The worst asthma attack Melyssa's suffered through in her 9 years of life.
She's been having a bit of a tough time the last couple of weeks, but then on Sunday she woke up with a cold and needed her pump regularly. She was not well enough to go see Santa so she stayed home to sleep while Chantale helped her dad with the wiring in the new room in the basement. When we got home from the party, she wasn't doing too well and as we started getting ready to leave, she got worse. Pretty soon, she was crying and screaming for help as she couldn't breathe. Chantale immediately took control, working to get her to focus and try some breathing exercises along with taking her pumps. After several minutes, she was better, and so we again attempted to get dressed. Considering how bad the attack was, we weren't headed back to her mother's, we were heading to the hospital.
We never got a chance to get dressed as she fell into another attack and nothing was working this time. No choice but to call 9-1-1 and try to keep her conscious while the EMTs got there and immediately hooked her up to an oxygen mask. They were really great and the lead, Nancy, helped calm Melyssa down. After the medication, we continually monitored her as her blood/oxygen level was finally good. But, we still needed to go to the hospital. Chantale went into the ambulance with Melyssa and they started up another dosage.
I called Melyssa's mother and she left to meet them at the hospital. Chantale called her parents who would come to watch Kyle. They all left and I got Kyle ready for bed. He drank his milk but this time did not want to be put in his crib. He would start crying and kicking immediately. I knew what this meant: he needed to be held and comforted so that's what I did. 5 minutes later, he was finally slumbering and I put him down. It was just at that time that Chantale's parents showed up so James and I got in the car and headed over to St. Justine's.
We found where Melyssa was being kept for observation and as James and I walked over there, a thought kept going through my head. Melyssa would be there... with my Wife and my ex-wife in the same room. Hooo boy. Happily, it turned out to be a calm scene and we chatted briefly. Melyssa was high as a kite on oxygen and just cracked me up :) Being that they were going to be there for a while, Chantale and I left, expecting them to release Melyssa after the next hour's rounds (usual verification of blood/oxygen).
We got home and pretty much collapsed. It was the worst attack we've ever experienced and, really, if the ambulance hadn't gotten there, it could have been disasterous...
This morning, we tried to get an update. Couldn't find her. Chantale finally tracked them down in the hospital. Although her blood/oxygen level was good, her lung capacity/strength wasn't. Thus, she was admitted and stayed there overnight. She's also staying there tonight.
And now, I'm heading off. I borrowed a bus pass from a co-worker and am going for a quick visit. I'll update later if I can.
I wanted to update on the weekend, but really, outside of spending Saturday continuing renovations and putting up the tree, followed by a Sunday seeing Santa with Kyle and James (along with seeing a LOT of co-workers from DPM), what was there?
Oh yeah. The worst asthma attack Melyssa's suffered through in her 9 years of life.
She's been having a bit of a tough time the last couple of weeks, but then on Sunday she woke up with a cold and needed her pump regularly. She was not well enough to go see Santa so she stayed home to sleep while Chantale helped her dad with the wiring in the new room in the basement. When we got home from the party, she wasn't doing too well and as we started getting ready to leave, she got worse. Pretty soon, she was crying and screaming for help as she couldn't breathe. Chantale immediately took control, working to get her to focus and try some breathing exercises along with taking her pumps. After several minutes, she was better, and so we again attempted to get dressed. Considering how bad the attack was, we weren't headed back to her mother's, we were heading to the hospital.
We never got a chance to get dressed as she fell into another attack and nothing was working this time. No choice but to call 9-1-1 and try to keep her conscious while the EMTs got there and immediately hooked her up to an oxygen mask. They were really great and the lead, Nancy, helped calm Melyssa down. After the medication, we continually monitored her as her blood/oxygen level was finally good. But, we still needed to go to the hospital. Chantale went into the ambulance with Melyssa and they started up another dosage.
I called Melyssa's mother and she left to meet them at the hospital. Chantale called her parents who would come to watch Kyle. They all left and I got Kyle ready for bed. He drank his milk but this time did not want to be put in his crib. He would start crying and kicking immediately. I knew what this meant: he needed to be held and comforted so that's what I did. 5 minutes later, he was finally slumbering and I put him down. It was just at that time that Chantale's parents showed up so James and I got in the car and headed over to St. Justine's.
We found where Melyssa was being kept for observation and as James and I walked over there, a thought kept going through my head. Melyssa would be there... with my Wife and my ex-wife in the same room. Hooo boy. Happily, it turned out to be a calm scene and we chatted briefly. Melyssa was high as a kite on oxygen and just cracked me up :) Being that they were going to be there for a while, Chantale and I left, expecting them to release Melyssa after the next hour's rounds (usual verification of blood/oxygen).
We got home and pretty much collapsed. It was the worst attack we've ever experienced and, really, if the ambulance hadn't gotten there, it could have been disasterous...
This morning, we tried to get an update. Couldn't find her. Chantale finally tracked them down in the hospital. Although her blood/oxygen level was good, her lung capacity/strength wasn't. Thus, she was admitted and stayed there overnight. She's also staying there tonight.
And now, I'm heading off. I borrowed a bus pass from a co-worker and am going for a quick visit. I'll update later if I can.