So, the other day I heard a cough 👀. I quickly ran over to see who was choking…it was Oliver… only he wasn’t choking he “just coughed”. 🤷‍♀️ It didn’t sound like a sick or mucousy cough at all… so I didn’t think anything about it. Later in the afternoon, I heard his siblings telling him to “stop fake coughing already, we can’t hear the movie”

Still, didn’t sound like a sick cough… could be him trying to get a response like when I thought he was choking… mental note ✔.

Of course, this is all happening at the start of the busiest photography weekend of the whole year (leaf changing weekend). I had 5 photoshoots scheduled. So, I was a little distracted and had a lot to do…. I returned home from photoshoot number 1. Doug still at work, kids all on their AWANA zoom calls. Except where was Oliver? His call was happening, he was missing. I found him in the bathroom, got him back on his call and life was good. He finishes his call and comes over to ask if he could have some free time to play a video game with his friend. Only he looks like this:

“Why are you breathing so hard?”

“I’m not”, he says.

“Why is your mouth open?”

“It’s not", he says.

“Why are your shoulders moving up and down with every breath?”

“I don’t know”, he shrugs.

So, I say yes to the video game to see if he still breathes that way while distracted.

I check his oxygen level.

Yep, you read that right. 86… but why?

Husband was in top-secret land, so there was no asking him for a second opinion.
I texted my most trusted advisors…they guessed covid…
Thanks be to God, Oliver’s BFF, with whom he was playing the video game, has a mom, who is a nurse. I asked to speak with her and it pretty much went like this:

Thank you Miss Sharry.

So off we went…to urgent care… actually, I called urgent care… they said… ”with an oxygen level that low, we are just going to send him to the ER.”

So… off to the ER we went.

About 3 weeks ago, we had a terrible experience with the Trauma center here (which I am not ready to write about, maybe when/if the trauma ever subsides, I might). So, I was at a crossroad… literally.

Sitting at the light on Wyoming on Academy and prayed. Do I go straight to the trauma center or do I turn right to the new PressNow? (My previous minimal interaction with their front desk left me thinking: has covid given everyone a free pass to act like complete jerks to everyone?)

So, which should I choose? The trauma center with a pediatric waiting room? The last time we were there for this child, he had aerated into his foot, pulling all of the tissue out in the process and we waited close to an hour without even being triaged because they put us in as “foot injury" 🙄 we left.

Or…

Should I give the new urgent care/ER with the mean front desk another shot?

This is like a choose your own adventure. And by “this”, I mean, my life.

I asked my trusted advisors and they said “why are you not halfway there already"

Fine, fine… the closest one it is.

I arrived at the PresNow. You’ll be happy to know the front desk people were not jerks this time….just untrained maybe?

I told them “my son can’t breathe and I’m not sure why”. They asked his name and all the covid questions (they were all no). Then said I have to get back into my car and drive around the back of the building for triage.

She asked for my ID, I asked them if they wanted my insurance info, they said no.
🤨😐🤨😐 full stop.
”What?”

“You should probably ask someone"

Sure enough, they did. Then I gave her my phone number. Told her to call me if they needed any other info…because I feel like they would. And back to the car we went to head to the back of the building and wait for triage.

When we got there… No one was there.

So, we waited like the other car that was waiting.

***20 minutes later ***

Someone calls me and says “this for Michael?”

“Umm no, (but good thing I gave you all my phone number in case you needed more info) Could you be calling for Oliver?”

Oh yes, they have his name wrong. What is going on?

“He can’t breathe and I don't know why"

“Like right now? He is in distress now?”

“Yep, that is why we are here"

She says, “I’ll be right out”, and comes running out with another medical professional.

When we got into the building, she tried to ask him questions about what he did that day and he couldn't even complete a sentence because his breathing was so labored.

After that, the service was top notch.

They had Oliver hooked up to all the machines, an IV going, a flu test, RSV test, covid test all within minutes of arriving. They had a chest X-ray, breathing treatment, blood drawn, and doctor consult. Respiratory therapist, a couple of NP and RN’s, all assessing and serving him within 20 minutes of entering the building.

The breathing treatments worked well. Oxygen level up to 94.

He is no longer struggling to breathe: mouth closed ✔, shoulders steady ✔, torso no longer pulling ✔

“Can we go home now?"

***Breathing treatment ends oxygen level drops to 88***

* 10:00 pm Doug gets home, reads all the texts*

Ugh. A few more breathing treatments and some steroids…

He seems to be doing well… oxygen level still low…but he isn’t struggling. By now it's close to midnight.

“Can we go home now?"

The Doctor comes in and says, let’s watch him for another hour or so. A new doctor will be taking over soon.

Great, then we can go home, I think to myself.

The new doctor walks in about 15 minutes later. Says “how is he doing?”

“Great!” I reply, “I don’t know how you guys did it, but he’s not struggling anymore even though his oxygen level is still low”

“Can we go home now?”

“It’s too low, I’m admitting him to the hospital”

Noooooooooooooooo o o o o

Not that I don’t appreciate all the care and hard work of the hospital… But I’ve done this before…with other kids… I know this means 3 days. 3 days away from my kids, 3 days of eating bad, if at all. 3 days of needing to be in 2 places at once. 3 days of relying on others. 3 days of not seeing my husband. 3 days. I got fired for his exact reason when I was a single [foster] parent, the day after I met my future husband (God turned it for good, but still)

Anyway… I had to be grateful, he was breathing.

Saying goodbye to Nurse Tessa. He liked her.

5:00 am we arrive Rust Medical Center.

When we arrive, the nurse teaches me how to disconnect him, in case he needs the bathroom, and then leaves the room. He says he needs to go, so I disconnect one of the wires, and the machine beeps. He tells me to plug it back in, I assure him it is okay. He suddenly doesn’t need to go anymore and wants to get back into bed and have all of the wires connected. I assure him, it's fine and he can go potty. He insists he doesn’t have to. So, I reconnect him and tuck him back in. He rolls over and hits the call button and says “can you help me go to the bathroom" 🤨

She comes in and teaches him how to disconnect and reconnect himself.

At this point the sun was coming up. Here was his view

When it came time for breakfast, the nurse called it in and told me to call back in a few minutes if they haven’t come up to take his order.

Oliver didn’t let me forget. He asked me to call every 2 minutes.

Finally, I got up to call them and he says “Just give me the phone, I'll talk”

I refuse and turn my back to him so I can finish placing his order. He rolls over pushes the call button and says “can you please bring me some breakfast"
Again: 🤨🤨🤨🤨

Husband arrived at 8 am to take over.

We still didn’t know why this all happened. We were repeatedly asked if he went anywhere or ate anything unusual. Nope and nope. But we did know at this point, it wasn’t the flu, it wasn’t RSV, and it wasn’t Covid.

Then… in normal conversation about photography, my trusted advisors figured it out

Complete mom fail. How did I not put this together?

Anyway…. If you haven’t figured it out yet. Oliver has a reactive airway which reacts to allergens……like Straw.

We immediately threw him in the shower, and everything went up from there.

In the end, PressNow on Paseo and Rust Medical center did a fantastic job taking care of my baby.

We have great friends who love and support us, we are super grateful for them.

We are so blessed with healthy children and a wonderful husband/dad.

And now back to editing.

ps. if any of you want some bails of straw, let me know

The Busiest Weekend of the Year

Albuquerque, New Mexico