Tuesday, May 8, 2012

The genetic trifecta

The Trickster and I don't look anything alike. When my blonde haired, blue eyed boy was born it appeared he must have actually been a clone of Map Guy and received no genetic material from me at all... this past week we've discovered that he shares more in common with me than we thought. Which means it's been a pretty shit week. 

It started on Tuesday (well the week didn't start on Tuesday, the shit did) in the form of Tricky having an anaphylaxis reaction to cashew nuts and needing a trip to the emergency room for adrenaline and a night in the observation ward.

It finished with a trip back to that same emergency room and a weekend stay on the ward, when Tricky couldn't breathe on Friday night.
Breaking my heart

He was a little bit sniffley through the day but it wasn't until night time when he really started to become unwell - he was clingy, pale, couldn't sleep, threw up some rather toxic looking green bile and struggled with his breathing. He was working so hard to breathe, with his little tummy sucking right in, that he couldn't do anything else and sat motionless in my arms as we entered the emergency room.

On arrival we again went straight through although this time he was triaged as a level two (emergency - could become life threatening), not a level one (life threatening) like it was on Tuesday... and in my unparalleled ability to clutch at straws I'm chalking that up as a win. I took my child to hospital before he died, yay me!

He needed nebulizers every twenty minutes for the first two hours, and since it takes fifteen minutes to have it, it meant he was off the drugs for only five minutes before needing more, and in those five minutes he was on oxygen or his saturation would plummet to the mid 70s. Scary, scary stuff.

I'm not sure if it was because of the toxic green vomit, which could have been a sign of an infection, or just because there was space, but we got our own isolation room which meant a private bathroom, enough room for a fold-a-bed, and a door to close and block out the cries of the rest of the poor sick kids on our ward.

New jimjams are a perquisite for hospital stays
He was the perfect patient. He let them poke and prod, he left the mask on his face and the pulseoximeter on his toe. Well, he did... until it was almost 9pm when he'd finally gone to sleep and his oxygen levels kept crashing. Putting the mask on him woke not only him but the entire bloody ward.

The nurses resorted to nasal prongs and bandaging his hands to stop him pulling them off. Thanks to crappy medical dramas, I always associate nasal prongs with people who are dying, so it's safe to say I went pretty emo around then.

I was sure nothing could perk me up until an awesome friend organized a delivery of snacks for us. It's amazing just how much a kind gesture can buoy your spirits, especially when that gesture involves chips and Coke. But even full sugar soft drink can't keep you happy when your little boy is laying in hospital.

I settled in to my bed, which almost collapsed every time I breathed, and tried to get a little bit of sleep because I knew it was going to be a long night... and I wasn't wrong.

Overnight, he needed medication every two hours, and every two hours he would scream and violently thrash around... so every two hours I would hold him down as he protested and sing to him through my tears as my heart shattered in to a thousand pieces.

Then, like magic, as soon as the sun rose and he had a breastfeed he was back to being a model patient. I suppose I can't blame him - I don't like to be woken up either.
Feeling much happier

Normally the powers that be don't give a diagnosis of asthma for a first attack... because there is no way of knowing if it will happen again. When he was discharged on Sunday, the doctors took one look at his Tuesday admission, his eczema and the fact that I was hospitalized a dozen times or so with asthma as a kid and chalked him up as asthmatic immediately.
Snuggles at home

So it turns out he did get some genes from me. The allergy, eczema and asthma genes - a rather shitty genetic trifecta.

What did your kids inherit from you that you wish they hadn't?

24 comments:

  1. Oh darling! That sounds all kinds of sucky. x

    ReplyDelete
  2. Oh Trae, so sorry. Your little one is so brave, and you too! Luckily my little one got all the good stuff. I, on the other hand, was the one who got the bad stuff -- allergies to everything, bad teeth, hair and skin, and so much more. My sisters got all the good stuff!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Love to you, being in emergency with a small child is a special kind of terrifying.

    And to answer your question, my children inherited their brilliance from me. They inherited their broken gene from their father.

    ReplyDelete
  4. God, what a shitty week. Glad you and the Trickster pulled through it ok. If you want a bright side, knowledge is power. Tricky is actually safer now than he was a week ago, because you now know his issues and can mitigate the risks.

    I have weird sway ribs. I think my babies have them too. No bikinis for them, either, if they are as shy as me....

    ReplyDelete
  5. Mine inherited my shitty genetics too.

    Glad Tricky came through okay and fingers crossed it doesn't happen again!

    ReplyDelete
  6. My heart sank at your post... dragging me back to my own experiences with my eldest son... and his endless hospital stays.  And nearly losing him to asthma and not realising just how close we'd come until the following day dawned.
    Mega hugs, here's to the doctors having his asthma management sorted quickly as well as that scary anaphylaxis looked into!  x

    ReplyDelete
  7. Being in emergency with little kids and in a paediatric ward sucks.  At least you got a diagnosis and hopefully and asthma management plan.  You never know, he may grow out if.  There is mild childhood asthma that runs in our family, but luckily we do outgrow it.  Plus there are the mental health issues.

    I hope you both recover quickly from that drama.  Much love xx

    ReplyDelete
  8. What a shitty time for you. Glad you made it out the other end ok. Z inherited my genetic fuck up from me - not a problem now, but I am sure he will curseme when he wants to have kids.......Same way I am cursing my dad at the moment!! Gotta love genetics :-)

    ReplyDelete
  9. Scary times when your little one is in the ER, but I'm glad he's okay. 

    I passed my crappy genes on to my kids too. I'm still wrapping my head around that one and alternate between feeling guilty and super guilty. But I like to think they also got my sense of humour and general rockstarness to balance it out.

    I'll tell you what everyone tells me, you didn't choose it and it's not your fault, then I'll help you think up some great swear words to scream at the universe, which frankly is an arsehole at times. Big hugs.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Look at that face.  Gorgeous boy.  I just want to eat him up.

    And give you a cuddle.
    x

    ReplyDelete
  11. Sorry!  That is so scary!  My son has asthma as well and we had to take him to the hospital when he was about 9 months old for it.  It was so heartbreaking.  And now he has his breathing machine to use at home.  Hope your little guy is feeling better.  Sorry for such a scattered comment.  My brain shut down at 5:00 so it's the best I can do =)

    ReplyDelete
  12. I think when he gets older he is going to have your amazing, sick & twisted and all round awesome sense of humor! His cheeky grin is hiding something back there! ;)

    xox

    ReplyDelete
  13. Oh dear, what a week. I have tears for you. I can just picture you holding him while they had to give medicine. I don't know how you did it. May there be no more trips to emergency for you. Ever. 

    Both my sons have really terrible eczema but I don't know who they inherited it from!

    ReplyDelete
  14. whiningattheworldMay 8, 2012 at 5:29 PM

    That sucks. Boy Child has been on asthma meds since he was 5 months old. It missed me but my mum and grandmother both have it. So I guess it's my family dodgy genes that he has. Girl child has glasses and so do I so that's my genes as well.

    I remember the hospital visits with a young Boy Child. Not happy memories.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Poor little guy. I hope he is better soon.

    ReplyDelete
  16. That is truly a week from hell.  Thank goodness Tricky is okay.  Hugs to all of you.

    ReplyDelete
  17. I had no idea when we were talking on twitter the other day that you and your family was going through all of this. I'm glad Tricky is doing better. 

    I do relate to what you went through. 

    Take care.

    ReplyDelete
  18. I have an almost identical picture of me holding my son in the hospital. What a terrible experience for you, and I know because I have also lived it. My son isn't asthmatic, we have other issues we are dealing with, but the struggle to have to be the one to hold them down is too much to handle sometimes. I applaud you for your strength. 

    Good luck :) 

    ReplyDelete
  19. So glad you are all home now!  My daughter has also gotten my asthma and eczema.  I now hope to god that she doesn't get my debilitating migraines, they have ruled my life since I was 12, I pray she never gets one!

    ReplyDelete
  20. Poor Tricky, that sounds absolutely horrible!

    ReplyDelete
  21. Just read your post. Poor you and poor Tricky. Hope he's on the mend. Sending hugs. Catherine

    ReplyDelete
  22. Oh just when you thought it was all going well, then you end up back in hospital, what a total nightmare. Hope he is doing better now, at least they know what it was...

    ReplyDelete
  23. Fussy Eater's MumMay 10, 2012 at 9:57 PM

    That was a shit week, but as someone commented below, it's better now that you know.
    Perhaps I can ask for my fundraising money to go towards better fold away beds?

    ReplyDelete
  24. asthma, eczema, hayfever, hypermobility, hypotonia, and just when i thought i'd given my children enough … anxiety, the gift that keeps on giving. oh the joys of being anxious that your child is anxious. but the asthma totally sucks, hovering over a hospital bed counting tubes and peering at monitors when you know your gorgeous child should be running around without a care in the world.

    at least they got great teeth from me!  xt

    ReplyDelete

Comments are blogger crack.
Comments are taken through Disqus. If you don't see that here then please try another browser or device. Thanks x

LinkWithin

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...