Jackson in the Hospital

Yes everyone, you've read correctly...

I just got home a couple of hours ago from Stony Brook Hospital where Jackson was admitted Saturday night with lung issues. Can you believe it???? It's summertime for goodness sake! I would have never expected something like this to happen this time of year. I guess though with Asthma, stuff can happen anytime of year.

Quick disclaimer for everyone we have been around this week....Jackson is NOT contagious...No virus...he was diagnosed with Reactive Airway Disease Exaserbation/Asthma Issues.

So this is what happened...On Saturday morning, we went to a Children's Expo. Jackson started coughing in the car on the way there while eating his breakfast. I just assumed he swallowed wrong, or bit off a little too much. Throughout our time at the expo, he started coughing often...by the end of the expo it was getting kind of uncontrollable. He fell asleep in the car on the way home, and seemed comfortable.

So I made a quick stop, then went home, and I gave him a nebulizer treatment to open him up. It worked for a little while, but he needed one again just a couple of hours later. We went to a surprise graduation party Saturday night, and had to leave early because Jackson started coughing uncontrollably again...this time much worse, and was horribly miserable.

I called the Pediatrician from the restaurant parking lot, and he told me what kind of treatments to give him. So we went home, and I gave him all the treatments. At that point he was REALLY working hard to breathe, and his nostrils were flaring (NOT a good sign)... so the Ped told me to take him to the ER.

When we got there, they took one look at him, and rushed us RIGHT in. He was in an exam room for only like 5 minutes, when they decided he need to be moved immediately over to the Acute Care area...(the ER's version of an ICU). This way he could be hooked up to all the necessary monitors, plus be watched very closely.

They admitted him, and now, two days later...he finally sounds better. I will be doing round the clock treatments every 4 hours for him over the next couple of days till the Ped tells me otherwise. Thankfully though, we are home. All this in the midst of Stu dealing with the impending loss of his Dad who was moved to a Hospice facility on Friday.

Life really has a way of keeping us on our toes!