Father's Day Nightmare

Last year on Father's Day, I thought it was going to be a day where I enjoy the day with family siting by poolside. Instead  my son was sick and I had to stay home with him while my wife worked. This happens when your child is around children all the time.

The day started out fine knowing that Peter was sick. As the day progressed he seemed to be getting worse. His fever started out low and rose as the day went by. In the late afternoon the fever went to 104. I started to get nervous. His fevers have never been that high. I kept giving him medicine to bring the temperature down but nothing was working.

He started to cough lightly which did not alarm me. It was a normal cough at the beginning. I would ask him," How do you feel?" He would respond, "Not too well daddy." I would keep my eyes glued to him. As the day progressed his cough got bad. It was a hacking cough that sounded like it was coming from the toes.

He decided to take a nap which is very unusual for him because he rarely takes them. He fights them. He slept for a good two hours. When he woke up he was crying but nothing was coming out and he was gasping for air. He was also coughing. It really scared the crap out of me but I kept very calm.

I scooped him up and said to Kate, "let's go to the hospital". Both of us panicked and were very worried. I was more calm than Kate was. You can see in Peters eyes he was very scared and was panicking. He held on and started to relax which made him breathe easier. It felt like the longest car ride to the hospital but was very short.

When we got to the hospital all of his information was already in the system because it was the hospital he was born in. The hospital did some tests. They checked his lungs. He had a hacking cough.

The hospital ended up giving him a nebulizer and medicine. He ended up having croup and strider. 

Croup is a respiratory condition that is usually triggered by an acute viral infection of the upper airway. This infection leads to swelling inside the throat which interferes with breathing causing a barking cough.

Stridor is associated with croup but for Peter his voice box swelled which caused him to wheeze.

After about 6 hours in the hospital. He was released. He did not have any reaction to any of the medicine they game him. Myself and Kate were grateful.

We do not know how and where he caught this. It could be from anywhere. We are just glad that he was well taken care of.

And for Me and Kate it was the most scariest things we have dealt with as parents so far even though it was Father's Day I felt that even though we weren't celebrating like most. We were together as a family and when you are a parent Father's and Mother's Day is everyday. Twenty four hours a day seven days a week for the rest of my life.