Bronch-a-what?!

Our poor little baby wasn't feeling very well last week. We thought that he was either teething, or might have a cold. (Sometimes it's hard to tell). Well...after a few days, it started to seem more like a cold and he developed a sad, wheezing breath and a barking cough. I was worried about him possibly having croup or something. Miles talked to his Mom who suggested we take him in to be seen. It was a Sunday evening, so we had to go to the Instacare. It pretty much sucked since we got there seconds after a man who was checking in his three kids, all of whom were new to the system and he had to complete a lot of paperwork for each one. Fifty minutes later...we finally checked in. Since we said Owen was having trouble breathing, she brought a nurse out right away to check his oxygen levels. We were admitted shortly after. The doctor said he has Bronchiolitis which can be caused by RSV. After more waiting and Owen falling asleep in my arms, we did a nebulizer breathing treatment in the office and then the doctor checked him again. He sent us home with a prescription for an inhaler. However, he said that if he gets any worse to take him to the ER. He told us that babies used to be hospitalized for this and put in an oxygen tent, so it can be pretty severe. Scary! Luckily for us, Owen didn't need that.

We then went to the Walgreen's in Provo (the only 24-hour pharmacy around) and quickly proceeded to wait...and wait...and wait. I cannot even believe how many people were there on a Sunday at 9:30 PM. Gratefully, the pharmacy technician felt bad for our poor baby and got his prescription approved by our insurance and ready as quickly as possible. Still, when all was said and done, it was a three hour trip to get him taken care of and the poor baby didn't get to bed until 10 PM. (His bedtime is normally between 7 and 7:30PM).
He slept ok that night and didn't wake up until 7:30 the next morning (which is late for him since he normally gets up between 5 and 6:30 AM). He also took a three hour nap that day too. I'm sure he was exhausted. I gave him his inhaler treatments every three hours, but he didn't seem to tolerate it well. He would either try to eat the mask (making it difficult to secure a suction around his face so that he could breath in the medication) or he'd be screaming. A friend of mine mentioned that her daughter did better with a nebulizer, so I called her to borrow hers.

I picked up the medication the next day from the same pharmacy. And I was super impressed and touched when I went through the drive-through this time and the same woman helped me as on Sunday. She recognized me, or Owen's name...I don't know...and said, "Oh! How is he? I've been thinking about him for the past two days." It was so sweet of her to remember and show her concern for him. I may just need to switch all my prescriptions to this pharmacy. ;)
Owen has been doing ok on the nebulizer. He likes it for a while, and then gets bored sitting there with the vapors in his face. But hopefully he's getting more of the medication than he was on the inhaler and that it is doing something for him. Another friend told me her son recently had Bronchiolitis and that it seemed to last forever. I'm hoping that's not the case. I'm ready for all of us to be healthy.

At the pharmacy, waiting for his inhaler: