Well, we had another meeting with the ol’ friend The Croup with Zack again last night.  It’s been quite a while since he’s had an attack.  Just to refresh anyone’s memory that isn’t aware of the troubles we’ve had with it, Zack’s been in the hospital at least 3-4 times in the past few years to be treated in the ER for severe crouping cough.  He hasn’t been bad enough that they’ve had to intubate him yet…but we’ve spent the night in the hospital at least 3 times with nebulized steroid/oxygen breathing treatments, shots, and constant monitoring.  One time, I ended up having to be transported to a pediatric intensive care unit at the main hospital by ambulance with him where they kept him at the hospital for 3 days.

Well, last night’s attack wasn’t quite that bad, but I think I caught it early.  About 5am I could hear him breathing very badly, coughing, and crying.  He gets bad enough that he actually has stomach convulsions, and if I don’t calm him down he could (and has in the past) vomit.  We got him bundled up and brought him outside in the sunporch (it’s cold here in Michigan, so it helps a bit to breath in the cold air).  I went with him and we brought the Archos (portable media player) which has a copy of Wall-E on it.  I sat out there for quite a while with him, and between the cold air, sitting upright, and calming down with the movie…I think we avoided any further disasters.

Hopefully he’s better tonight.  Usually he has one bad night, and then maybe a second minor night with the cough/breathing.  He should be coming out of the stage where it affects him, though…I’m still shocked that it’s occurring.  I’ve read that after 36 months, kids should grow enough so that their not as affected by swelling of the airway.  He’s going to be 4 years old in March, so we should’ve already have seen the worst with this problem for him.