For the past couple years our son has been suffering from sporadic and unexplained asthma attacks. We've recently broken down and had him tested for allergies, after several late-night trips to a few hospitals. Of course, the allergy testing was big on the pain and small on results. Oh, sure, he was found to have some dust and mold allergies, and a strong reaction to tobacco, but otherwise things were unremarkable.
So Sunday he starts hacking and coughing so dramatically that it sets off the little guy's gag reflex. Cleanup on aisle 7! We tried cough medicine, some cold medicine, Motrin....to the effect of allowing us to watch the USA-Canada gold medal game - and that was (in Raymond Carver's words) "a small, good thing".
Some game, huh? I digress from the kid to mention how great a game that was, although the team I was pulling for came up short. Two teams loaded with professional players - NONE of whom were playing for paydays. Hurling their bodies into potentially dangerous positions and going full-tilt. This is why Olympic hockey (in its' present form) trounces all other professional team sports. [For the record, I think the college games come close (ie-basketball, football, etc)] There's no pay. The guys play for prestige, for their country, at tremendous risk to their careers and livelihoods. Injuries lurk behind every play, every blocked shot, every collision. No other sport offers the spectacle that we, the viewing public, were treated to on Sunday. Oh, and it sucks to see Sidney Crosby win a Cup and a Gold in about 8 months. In truth, of course, if he was wearing my team's sweater I'd probably love the guy.
If you missed it, you're un-American.
Moving on, we spent Sunday evening listening to the kid hack and cough. We have a home nebulizer and tried that. By Monday morning at 5 a.m. it was apparent that nothing was working, so up the road we went. The nurses couldn't have been more helpful. But, watching your kid hooked up to hospital apparatuses and sitting on the big hospital bed looking so small...well, as a parent, taking your child to a hospital is probably one of the scariest experiences you can have.
Then there was the test for RSV. That was an exercise in sadism, as I was enlisted to hold him down while they completed the "test". It took three adults to hold down one 3 yr. old (he's stronger than he looks). Then - for all intents and purposes - snaked out his nose like a drainpipe. I noticed blood on the clear plastic tube as the nurse extracted it. It was awful.
The good news is that they found out he did have the RSV virus (giving a name to his pain) and he responded to treatment, despite coming very close to being admitted to the hospital for a stay. Yeah, try keeping a three-year-old bundle of steroid-laden energy confined to a small room. Once they'd pumped him full of the 'roids he was kinetic energy in the flesh, a human bouncy-ball.
That was fun.
It was great to see him back to his old self, but would it be unethical to shoot him up with some tranquilizers so we could sleep? Just for an hour?
Apparently, that's unethical. So we must all be tired. I'm saving the last bullet for myself.
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