Asthma Attack

Emmet was admitted to the haspital again for asthma last tuesday. Since he’s almost 2 years old, the doctors can now conclude that he does indeed have asthma.

He was down with a flu starting Monday. That night he started caughing and then wheezing by the time he got up in the morning. But he was still cheerful and active. I gave him one round of Ventoline but it didn’t stop the wheezing. After I gave him a bath then another round of Ventoline, it too didn’t work. He was beginning to feel tired and I knew it will go worse if I don’t bring him to the hospital soon. He definitely needed the nebulizer.

So I called and asked Ayep and Yas to pick up Mika. Emmet was having his nap at that time. So I quickly solat, changed and pack some stuff in case he had to be warded. Ayep and Yas were kind enough to drive us to the Temple St. Children’s Hospital.

Luckily we needn’t wait for more than 5 minutes to see the doctor. Emmet was already low on oxygen and cranky. He wanted his milk but he struggled to suck and breathe at the same time, making him cry even louder. After some history note taking, Emmet was given a round of nebs. Then we had to go for chest x-ray in case he had pneumonia, but thankfully he didn’t.

There were a few Malaysian medic students at the A&E. Miza was doing elective, Lin was on assignment, she was the one taking note on Emmet’s history.

After 3 rounds of nebs Emmet is still wheezing badly but he’s in much better condition. By early in the evening he’s already wanting to run around the A&E and got really frustrated when he wasn’t allowed to. Hence making his asthma worse again.

The doctor was still not satisfied with his progress, that’s when she sent us to the ward. There were two other patient, one a teenage girl with a serebral something condition, another a 1-yr-old baby with pneumonia.

Rizal came after work and Mad visited before he was chased off by the nurse after visiting hours are over. Emmet was still wheezing very loud throughout the night and he had trouble sleeping. I had to pat him almost all the time. And by the time he was fast asleep, he had to be woken up for nebs and medcine again. Then I had to pat him to sleep again. So overall I only get one good hour of sleep after I pray before closing my eyes ‘Satu jam pun jadi la..’ Memang betul-betul after one hour Emmet pun jaga balik. By then it was already 8am.

Breakfast for Emmet at the hospital was a bowl of oat porridge. It was also his dinner the evening before. I requested powdered baby rice since they didn’t have anything on the menu that Emmet was not allergic to or favoured. But of all the powdered food that they have in the kitchen, they didn’t have any baby rice. They promised to get some that morning.

But by lunchtime, they said they couldn’t get any baby rice. Luckily Emmet was happy to settle for another bowl of oat porridge. And luckily I brought along his cream crackers before we left for the hospital yesterday. After that no sign of baby rice whatsoever until the end of our stay…

I was ready to go home since Emmet was already quite well and just slightly wheezing. But the doctor said he had to stay for another night of nebs and without oxygen before they can release him. To make matters worse we had to switch to another ward with more kids. There was a kid of near Emmet’s age named Connor. He got loads of toys with him. Emmet would always go to Connor’s bed and grab a toy and when I said “No!” he would scream and throw it away in anger.

And I thought that’s it…one more night and I’m gone. I don’t care what the doctor would say. So I constantly nag the nurse asking if I could go home after the next round of visits from the doctors. Psycho sket nurse2 ni so they would not tahan with my nagging and ask the doctor to release me. Hahaha…nice tactic huh.

And it seemed to work gradually. That 2nd night I didn’t care I took off the wires connecting Emmet with a machine that beeps every time the oxygen level went below 94%. Of course it went low when he didn’t breathe for a while searching for my nipple. They gave me a foldable mattress to sleep on the floor. I took Emmet out of the cot to sleep with me on the mattress. The nurse must be a bit pissed off about the wires I noticed they put it back on Emmet when we were asleep. Hahaha…

Don’t worry…. I assure you I wasn’t being a bad mom. I know Emmet was already well on his standard. He couldn’t go any worse but only better at this point. Mother’s instinct…

I however need some good rest so that I can take better care of Emmet. If I dont get enough rest I can’t take care of other people.