Labor Day...was a lot of work!

When the boys are playing video games, and there's rampant trash-talking going on amidst the colorful play-by-play commentary, inevitably one of them will heatedly yell, at a critical turning-point in the action, "Don't! Jinx! Me!" Now of course I have scolded them for this--"There's no such thing, it's all silly superstition, your brother did NOT cause your Mii to miss the imaginary shot on goal just by voicing the possibility!" However, after all my protests to the contrary...I might have jinxed myself this weekend. You see, I was sitting around last night, listlessly contemplating whether I should write something, knowing it had been several days since I last posted. But no matter how much I mulled it over, nothing came to mind. "Wow, it's been a pretty dull week!" I marveled. "There's no story to tell!" Uhhh-huhhhh. JINX! (Dang it!)

Yesterday morning Riley woke up with a phlegmy, painfully-strong, almost-constant cough. It sounded like allergies gone wild, so we treated it as usual, with plenty of fluids, rest, and his favorite homeopathic remedy: spoonfuls of honey every few hours. But today, he emerged from his bedroom after a full night of sleep sounding like a rhinoceros had parked on his chest, preventing him from inhaling deeply enough, and causing a disturbing wheezy sound as well. Since the whole "difficulty breathing" was a new one for us (and, well, darn scary) I immediately made an appointment with the pediatrician. First she checked his pulse oxygen level (very reminiscent of the many hours I used to spend watching ER!) with a nifty finger device. "How does that work?" I wondered out loud. "Um, it involves physics...diffusion of light..." she began in a serious instructional tone. Then she chuckled and admitted, "That's all I can tell you!" Good enough for me! Then she administered a nebulizer treatment to see if it would open his airway and ease his labored breathing. (Yet another exciting new experience, by the way.) Finally she recommended that we get a chest x-ray to rule out pneumonia, so we could proceed with the best course of treatment based on all of the available information.

Normally, we would head down to the murky basement of the same medical building, where the Radiology Department lies. This being Labor Day, however, they were closed. So we got to walk next door...to the Emergency Room! Whoo hoo! (Or maybe I should say "Oh, rats!" instead, as this marks the end of an 11 year-span in which we never visited an ER once for our two rowdy sons! Let this not be the start of a new trend...please please please!) I briefed the on-call doctor about the relevant data up to that point, while he listened to Riley's chest. Dr. B. then ordered the x-ray, another nebulizer treatment, and a dose of oral steroids to hopefully begin easing the inflammation. (Husband later remarked, "I hope the U10 Soccer League doesn't do random drug testing!" Um, yeah, I think we're okay...) I imagine Riley felt like a VIPP (Very Important Pediatric Patient) when Al arrived from Radiology to push his entire bed to the x-ray area (although at a safe and sedate pace, rather than careening down the halls like they do in the movies). After receiving the auspicious news that his lungs were clear, Riley met the Respiratory Therapist who helped him with the nebulizer...then all of the hubbub ground to a halt and we entered the Waiting Phase of our day. Honestly the only time there was any breakdown at all on Riley's part was when he learned that he had to stick around the hospital for a few hours so the doctor could observe the effect of the meds.

Since we'd left the house at 10 a.m. for what we expected to be a routine doctor's office visit, and maybe a quick stop at the pharmacy on the way home to fill a prescription, it seemed high time (1 p.m., to be exact!) to fill Husband in on the action thus far. "Here's what's going on, and oh, please bring us Riley's DS, book, electronic Rubik's cube, and favorite stuffed animal." (And a sweater for me, it's downright ARCTIC in this joint! Where does it say that deep freezing the patients speeds their recovery? Sheesh!) When the Activity Squad (aka Dad and Derek) galloped in, Riley had eaten a little bit, utilized the remote control to turn on Cartoon Network...oh, and was noticeably breathing with less effort already. Dr. B. proclaimed himself satisfied with the recent results, and concluded that the most likely culprit is a virus of some kind that caused the swelling and subsequent wheezing. Official Diagnosis? Oh, let's call it "Bronchitis" for the paperwork. After some more resting, video gaming, juice drinking, and TV watching, Riley was sprung. And we even got to leave with some lovely parting gifts! A short-term course of prescription steroids, and the Grand Prize: our very own (wait for it...) Home Nebulizer! Yippee! (Seriously, they just hand those puppies to you on the way out the door. Um, thanks?) We get to "mist" Riley with it every 4 to 6 hours over the next day, including holding it under his nose in the middle of the night while he (maybe) sleeps through the treatment. (Yeah, that oughta be good...)

So to sum up: a great deal more drama than we anticipated during our 3-day weekend, especially when the original agenda for the day included nothing more taxing than attending a friend's picnic! But as they say, "all's well that ends well" (pretty sure that's Shakespeare) and also "tomorrow's another day." (Um...maybe Scarlett O'Hara?) For right now our fingers are crossed that Riley pops up out of bed bright-eyed, breathing well, and back to normal in the morning. And no jinxing it this time!