oops

Well, we goofed. On Tuesday, Ted was clearly coming down with either a cold or an asthma-like allergy. Mild cold symptoms, that was all. He ran around all morning with his friends, but did nap that afternoon. We nebbed him that night with his Albuteral/Pulmicort cocktail and put him to bed. All night long he coughed and wheezed, his breathing tight, shallow and fast. We nebbed him once and used his inhaler once. In hindsight, we should have nebbed him every hour or so. This morning I got him in to Dr. Mead, not our primary care doc, but in the same practice. She's seen everyone before, most recently Sam for his head. She was VERY concerned. His O2 levels were ok at 82 (below 80 and they will admit you...we've spent many visits re-nebbing him to get it above 80) but she pointed out that he was sitting completely still and had been for about 10 minutes. It should be higher, she said. After listening to his chest, she got even more concerned. She said we should have taken him in to the ER last night and we should tonight if he gets any worse than he was right then in her office, O2 levels not withstanding! She affirmed our doc's strict regime of Pulmicort one to two times a day as a preventative and Albuteral 4x a day when sick, although she said I should neb him as often as necessary right now. "He has to breathe," she said firmly. She also noticed an ear infection in one ear. So, we have 2 neb meds and 2 oral meds, prednisone (a pretty hefty steroid which also really weakens the immune system) and an antibiotic for the ear. She wants him to lie on the couch and not run around (hmmm). "No trips to the market," she even said. Geesh!! No library tomorrow? Hmm. We did stop at Blockbuster and got a few movies and that made for a quiet afternoon for him, but it's close to impossible to keep an Albuteral-dosed 4yo from running around. I just hope he is well enough for Sam's party on Sunday. How sad would it be if he isn't allowed to jump on the jumpy castle? I sure hope he outgrows this...it sure kicks him right in the keister, time and time again.