Sawyer's Hospital Stay

Oh my goodness, I still can't believe this happened. I was on a business trip in Washington in early June and I was on my way home (June 5th) and stuck in traffic when I got a phone call saying that Sawyer was at the ER. Grandma was in town helping out Dad with the kids when she picked him up from daycare he was having a hard time breathing. After a quick call to the nurse line they determined he was having retraction breathing and with his history of asthma and allergies he needed to go to the ER right away. After an xray, steroid doses, an IV for his dehydration from breathing so hard, and albuterol treatments it was determined that he needed to stay the night.

Sawyer requested that Mike stay the night with him and while that was hard for mommy, what the sick boy requested the sick boy gets! I went home and grabbed all of his favorite things (pillow, blanket, toys, etc) and raced back to give him lots of hugs and say goodnight (it was about 9pm). That night was rough for him, lots of retraction breathing (his whole torso was moving hard and fast to breathe) and he wasn't getting enough air. Mike said around 5am things got pretty scary and lots of doctors and nurses were rushing in because alarms were going off left and right. After a few minutes they got him stabilized and on an air flow machine and as soon as he had that he told everyone to "please go" and then passed out from exhaustion.

When I arrived later that morning he was doing so much better and he was giving out lots of smiles :)

His doctor came in and told us he would be staying the night again, and the next night as well. He just needed so much support (from the machine) that they didn't want to send him home too soon. I left to go back home to allow Grandma to get back to Bend and when Blair woke up from her nap we went shopping for more gifts (of course) {which included a Paw Patrol DVD that he probably watched 49 times in a row} and then went for a long visit to hang out with our favorite boys.

Later that afternoon Sawyer's doctor came back to check on him and later that week at our follow up appointment told me that she almost never goes and checks up on a patient for a 2nd time in one day, so if that gives us any indication of how rough things were at first - yikes :(

The machine on the right is his airflow machine, which is what they weaned him off of slowly before he was discharged. 

The next day I had Mike go home and have a break from being cooped up and I got to spend some time with my little guy. It was kind of funny (or perhaps not) but the asthma medication he was one (8 puffs every hour) would make him so hyped up - and almost rude. I just laugh about it now - the 2nd day he was in he told me "Mom - I have a favor for you. Can you go home now?" Just funny little gems like that, oh that Sawyer! ;)

On Monday June 8th he was discharged and armed with meds and inhalers. He told me "It feels good to be back at my home!" We all agreed, the house felt lonely without the boys!