Crap! The croup is back!
March 25, 2011 by Shannon
By far, one of the things I hate most about this motherhood gig is dealing with THE CROUP. It is a miserable ailment. Kellan is prone to it, and if you didn’t know, the hallmark of croup is how it attacks a kid’s windpipe. The swelling is so great that it affects the vocal cords, making Kellan sound like an 80-year old lifelong smoker. It also compromises his breathing. Scary. After a couple of ER trips due to stridor (one of which was on Mother’s Day – nice gift, huh?) our doctor finally prescribed some steroid pills we could administer at home if he seemed to be in dangerous territory.
Well, this week, the croup returned. I knew the familiar wheezy sound right away. But I was prepared, with not one dose of steroids, but two, just in case the going got rough.
Boy, did it get rough.
Kellan needed both of those doses. But when he still didn’t improve, we had to go see the doc. What did she prescribe this time? A stronger steroid – the kind they give to kids with asthma. Sad face.
First of all, steroids are scary. I hate them. I hate how they can affect the immune system long term. But when you have a kid who can’t breathe, believe me, you’ll race to get them down your kid’s throat as fast as possible. Sadly, they are the best – and only option – during a breathing emergency.
So I spent the week obsessing over Kellan’s every wheeze, taking him into a hot, steamy bathroom, making him warm honey and lemon drinks, and constructing what I like to call the humidity teepee. It’s a cute little playplace, with one added benefit: stick a humidifier in there and you instantly get a great “smoky” place to play that soothes the lungs and windpipe. It’s great, but the sooner he doesn’t have to have a humidifier with him in there, the better, as far as I’m concerned.
Go away, croup. And don’t come back.
Comments (4)
Shannon - Does Asthma or Allergies run in your family? Both kids have been getting this lately. I just picked Cole up & heard that horrible sound come from him. It makes me whince. I’m worried about longterm breathing problems. Have they said anything about that?
Also, I adore the picture of Kellan in his tee-pee. I think that’s a great idea.
xo, Shannon too
great idea about the tee-pee!
The humidity teepee is a great idea! sometimes when my allergies are killing me I may want to crawl in there with Kellan and play (and breathe all the lovely humid air!)
Love the tee pee! Ugg! Jossy has had the croupy cough and voice and gunk in her windpipe for too long! She hasn’t had it bad enough for steroids yet thank god…but we do the steamy bathroom/humidifier almost every night too. I think the air quaility was especially bad yesterday, because I had my own gunk in my throat too and we both sounded like old smokers. Hope Kellan feels better soon!