More than just the sniffles

Ella has been battling a cold for a week now. However, it has gotten significantly worse over the past few days. So bad that you can hardly hear her scream she’s so hoarse. And she starts coughing so much it almost sounds like she’s going to vomit. Today we decided to take her to the pediatrician. Melvin was on call, and even though he agreed to watch the boys and just hope he didn’t get called in, I didn’t want to risk it. I assumed it would be a quick doctor visit, where her pediatrician told me she just had some virus and there was nothing I could do but wait it out.

Well, she did tell me that she had a virus, RSV, but the solution was to give her a nebulizer treatment for about 20 minutes! So my quick visit with some very active boys and one very sick infant turned into something much longer and much more complicated.

Cameron was already crabby, because he fell asleep in the car and I had to wake him up. Not wanting to deal with another doctor's visit fiasco (see Nov. 22, "Just Another Day" in Archives), I knew I had to use a drastic tactic to gain his assistance in making this a smooth visit...bribery. I promised to buy him a new cartridge for his Leapster if he didn’t cry, helped with Max and was a very good boy. Not something I have ever used before, but necessary for my sanity in this situation. Because when Cameron is tired and breaks down, there’s nothing you can do but ride it out. And sometimes that takes a VERY LONG TIME with lots of tears.

So while I was giving Ella the treatment, all was working wonderfully, at first. She was just sitting calmly as the medicine flowed through the steam into her nose, as the boys played nicely with a barn and farm animal set the nurse gave them. But then Ella started screaming and kicking and twisting her head around and just wouldn’t stop for the last 15 minutes of her treatment. And Max clocked Cameron on the head with a plastic cow. So he started screaming and took a while to calm down. Then Max kept opening the door, saying “bye-bye” (which I’ve never heard him say before), and then proceed to walk away from the room. I would then ask Cameron to be my “good helper” and bring him back. So he’d run out the room, and literally drag Max back, screaming. Only with God’s help did I remain reasonably calm throughout the whole ordeal. It almost felt as if I was watching a TV show occurring before my eyes…I’m just not sure if I was watching a drama or comedy.

After her treatment, Ella was sounding better. And now I get to give her the same treatment at home at least 3 times a day for the next 5 to 6 days. I’m thankful it’s not too serious, and right now, she has the biggest smile and is actually, for the first time, laughing at me. And that makes all of the above difficulties, completely worth it.