Fear & Croup(ing) in North Carolina

Poor Will.

Lately, I feel like this kid rarely gets a break. Over the past 13 weeks he has had 2 week-long bouts with hives, 2 visits to the ER (one in full anaphylacsys reaction), 2 rounds of steroids, 2 rounds of antibiotics, allergy scratch testing, confirmation that he is allergic to tree nuts AND near confirmation he is allergic to the antibiotic Omnicef, at least 3 colds/viruses and somewhere in the neighborhood of 12 visits to a doctor's office of some variety. Needless-to-say, my anxiety and fear level regarding his health is pretty high.

This week it's croup. Which in reality is just another virus that happens to begin by causing his throat to swell so that he emits that horrible bark-like cough and, in the past, has lead to 2 ER visits, one of which included an over night hospital stay. Thank the Lord above that 2 year olds are so resilient.

I cannot say the same for 41 year old mothers.

Ok, ok, so not THIS 41 year old mother. I do not seem to bounce back well from all of this. Especially this morning when, after about 2.5 hours of sleep for the night, I try to steam the bathroom to help Will breathe, but since we keep our water heater temperature so low, I could not even get my glasses to fog up.

So then I bundled him up and take him outside at 6am because the cold air is supposed to help........and it is too warm! Now I will say that we both enjoyed listening to the birds as the sun came up while we swung on the back porch, but I was kind of hoping (this one time, mind you) that going outside at 6am in February we would at least see our breath!

Next stop was the freezer. At this point Will is looking at me like I have lost my mind. "Put your face in there honey. Come on, sweetie, breathe in and out through your mouth while I fan the freezer air at you."

I know he was thinking, "this chick has lost it." He actually laughed at me. Thankfully, by this time he had spit up a bunch of mucus (sorry, TMI) and was only "barking" every couple of minutes, so we could stop the shenanigans for the morning. Within 2 minutes he was happily singing and dancing with Shane and David (The Upside Down show) on Noggin. I wanted to scream/sleep/cry.

So who bears the brunt of all of my pent up frustration and exhaustion, you ask? Well, let's just say I should have started this post with "Poor Scott." Man, I was witchy (with a "b") and he could have been nasty back, but instead he calmly asked me what I needed and listened to me vent. Fourteen and a half years of marriage and he is more my love than ever. I think it would be wise if I actually cooked dinner tonight.

Say a prayer for both Eliza Gracie (who also has a cold) and Willby for their health..and for me for my attitude...and for Scott for his sanity :)

(pulse oxygen meter on Will's big toe during a recent visit to the ER - sorry for the poor phone camera quality)

(Despite shots, icky tasting medicine, breathing treatments, and strange people in the ER, Will musters up his winning smile!)