"Crouping" it up

We were at a playdate on Friday, when Quinn abruptly came up to me and said: "Mum, I want to go home - NOW!"

A very odd request from my normally social guy, so I took it seriously and packed up the gang and left.  By the time we got home, full-on fever had set in and Quinn was out of commission for the rest of Friday and Saturday. 

In our house, when one kid comes down with something we are always on  the lookout for the next kid to drop.  By Monday it was apparent that Shannon was the next victim.  She started with a low-grade fever, but by 1:00 she was a feverish mess.  Poor thing was so sick she just didn't know which way was up.  I spent from 1:00 a.m. - 5:00 a.m. with her on Mon / Tuesday night, and on Tuesday she was out for the count. 

Chris stayed home with her on Tuesday, and by the time I got back from work she was wheezing and coughing away. (she made Darth Vader sound as quiet as a mouse!).  I spent half an hour on the phone with Telehealth on Tuesday night because she was labouring so much when she breathed in.  And the cough.... oh my gosh.  When they say 'barking like a seal', that's exactly what it sounded like.  Her whole little body would convulse as she coughed.  Telehealth convinced me not to go to emerg with her, but Tuesday night was a nightmare.  She was up every half hour alternating between fever and coughing.  Finally at around 3:00 in the morning her little body couldn't take any more and she fell asleep.

Having never dealt with Croup before I can certainly say it was an eye opening experience.  To see and hear how hard it was for her to breathe in, and then to hear that horrible cough.....  I can't imagine how awful Shannon felt.

I took her to the Dr. on Wednesday, and sure enough she was diagnosed with croup and he gave us a prescription to help. Unfortunately Shannon inherited my stubborn streak, and decided that after two days of Tylenol and Advil she had had enough of medicine.  Soo.... she flat out refused to take it.  We tried bribery, we tried threats, we tried begging  - nothing worked.

But, by some miracle she slept like an angel last night so we thought that maybe she had kicked it.  Nope, today she took two steps backwards.  Her eyes are sunken and red-rimmed, she's congested, exhausted and still coughing.  It breaks my hear to see her this way, because this is the sickest she's ever been.

I'm hoping she has another good night's sleep tonight and that tomorrow will start her road to recovery.