We had fun night last night! The recreation center had “mass registration” for their summer activities last night so I showed up 15 minutes before registration began since the daycare Alex will be attending this summer wanted all the kids to be in the same session for swimming lessons and I thought 15 minutes would be PLENTY early to assure enough spots for the group. Well, it was but when I pulled up to the rec. center, it looked like an opening for a really hot night club. Seriously – parents were lined up outside the door! Anyway, it took about forty minutes to get him signed up for summer activities and well, I really didn’t feel like cooking – so we were off to McDonalds! Alex ate fine, but was complaining of a headache.
We arrived home and I gave him a bath hoping it would relive his headache. The house is a complete disaster right now because I’m ripping wallpaper from the walls in the dinning room. Alex hasn’t seemed bothered by the dust and the mess, but he kept coughing excessively last night. I told him to lie down and I would scratch his back (the usually “cure-all” remedy for Alex) but I noticed that his breathing was becoming more and more labored. After a few minutes he looked at me and was gasping for air. This was probably the most terrifying thing I’ve ever been through with Alex. He has had past problems with allergies, but he has never had the inability to breath. There was nothing I could do – it wasn’t as though he was choking or gagging - he couldn’t breath! I grabbed him and we were off to the emergency room. After a long night in the ER, the diagnosis was that he basically had an asthma attack that could have potentially been brought on by the dust and chemicals in the house from my wallpaper project. Nothing like adding some guilt to night!
To make the situation even more challenging, I called into work this morning to notify my employer that I was going to let Alex sleep for a few hours this morning since he didn’t get to bed until 2:30 this morning. Man – you would have thought that the place was going to collapse if someone had to cover for me. I’m fortunate to have a GREAT boss, but some other people have nothing better to do with their time but act as the anal police. I would LOVE nothing more than to rely on my family or a spouse to help with my sick child, but I can’t. I’ve been thinking more and more about moving back to the cities to be near my family, but right now I’m so close to being done with school and if I did move, I would end up repeating a lot of my classes. Oh well, I guess I’ll just continue to pray about it and hopefully make the right decision.
We arrived home and I gave him a bath hoping it would relive his headache. The house is a complete disaster right now because I’m ripping wallpaper from the walls in the dinning room. Alex hasn’t seemed bothered by the dust and the mess, but he kept coughing excessively last night. I told him to lie down and I would scratch his back (the usually “cure-all” remedy for Alex) but I noticed that his breathing was becoming more and more labored. After a few minutes he looked at me and was gasping for air. This was probably the most terrifying thing I’ve ever been through with Alex. He has had past problems with allergies, but he has never had the inability to breath. There was nothing I could do – it wasn’t as though he was choking or gagging - he couldn’t breath! I grabbed him and we were off to the emergency room. After a long night in the ER, the diagnosis was that he basically had an asthma attack that could have potentially been brought on by the dust and chemicals in the house from my wallpaper project. Nothing like adding some guilt to night!
To make the situation even more challenging, I called into work this morning to notify my employer that I was going to let Alex sleep for a few hours this morning since he didn’t get to bed until 2:30 this morning. Man – you would have thought that the place was going to collapse if someone had to cover for me. I’m fortunate to have a GREAT boss, but some other people have nothing better to do with their time but act as the anal police. I would LOVE nothing more than to rely on my family or a spouse to help with my sick child, but I can’t. I’ve been thinking more and more about moving back to the cities to be near my family, but right now I’m so close to being done with school and if I did move, I would end up repeating a lot of my classes. Oh well, I guess I’ll just continue to pray about it and hopefully make the right decision.
9 comments:
oh my goodness amanda. what a horrifying experience! i can relate to that feeling, as i've had an asthma attack that literally makes it impossible to breath!
how difficult it must be to wear the hat of single mom, but how much harder it is when you don't have a support system in place CLOSE...
i'll pray for you both today!
I'm sorry to hear about Alex's asthma attack. How scary and stressful. I'm glad everything turned out ok. I hope you all got rested up.
I'm sorry they weren't so nice to you at work for coming in a little late.
I agree with Heidi it must be difficult to be a single mom.
I will say a prayer for both of you. Let me know if you ever need anything. Seriously. Any help of any kind.
My brother Mark used to get those. He has terrible allergies and asthma. That is why he can't live on the farm.
Thank you both for your support. I probably sound pathetic since I've created my lifestyle by the choices I've made. I'm just tired and crabby today. Even after we arrived home late last night, I couldn't sleep. Alex slept in my bed with me and I just laid awake watching his little chest rise and fall. I've never just sat and thought about how precious each breath literally is.
Wow, what a night you guys had. So glad Alex is doing better. So now what...can you finish your project or will it trigger his asthma again? By the way - I think you sound like an amazing, hard working, over achieving, single mom.
Thanks Amy - I'm going to read your comment to Alex the next time he pouts that I won't build Lego’s with him or feed him ice cream for super ;)
For now, I just cleaned the mess up. I shampooed the carpet and dusted everything off last night. He didn't seem to cough until this morning so hopefully it helps. I called Alex’s dad last night and he is going to pick him up this weekend so for 48 hours I will be a wallpaper removing machine!
My Alex used to have breathing problems when he was younger. When he caught a cold, it was always followed by a croupy cough, which meant the ER if his nebulizer treatment didn't work.
Both you and your Alex are tough cookies. Reading your posts, I sense a lot of love between the two of you. You are definitely Super Mom.
I am so sorry you had to go through that with poor Alex. I hope you both are feeling better today and well rested. Good luck with the wallpaper project. Sorry your job sucked this morning.
Eeekk! I'm glad you were able to get him to the ER quickly. That's very scary.
I be that was so scary! Poor guy and mom!! I hope that he is feeling better now! That had to be an awful feeling for you and him. :(
I feel for you with the work thing. My old job (at a bank) was like that!
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