Elias was in the ED for yet another episode of respiratory distress last night. I came home after a 12 hour shift and he had been wheezing all day even on q4hr Albuterol treatments. He had a 100.4-101.2 degree fever on and off and was getting his characteristic retractions and nasty cough. Throughout dinner he coughed but remained stable but within 30-40 minutes after eating he was struggling to catch his breath so we headed back down to work to the ED.
They took us right back after hearing Elias hacking while coming through the automatic doors. Thankfully his sats weren't terrible on room air at 91-92% but that is not where a 3 year old child should be at resting. He earned x-rays, Decadron, and two more breathing treatments before I convinced the attending that I was capable of taking him home since this was probably the twentieth time we have dealt with the same situation. The attending agreed since aspiration pneumonia was ruled out and we were home before 1:30am. Good thing too.....I had another 12 hour shift starting at 6:45 that morning!
Mark one more compromise down for Eli's slowly healing BPD, asthmatic, chronic aspiration lungs. Caught up by age 2? Funny.
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