So we headed away for Easter, had a lovely first few days at the school house that we go to every year.... Sunday lunch time we packed up the caravan and moved up to the Murry with Mum, Dad and my sister and her DP.... that night MJ and Nina came down with a cold, typical i thought.
Mj being her usual self, solidered on and made the most of the holiday with a runny nose and frequent sneezes, no complaining, just needed to be always ready with a tissue!
Tuesday night she was a bit miserable, but with the clocks changing that weekend and being away we were eating at odd times for her and she was a bit over tired. She had developed a bit of a chest, slightly rattly, nothing bad though.
Just before bed she became clingy and told me that she had a sore tummy, i wasnt sure what was wrong, but as she is not a complainer a had a feel and a prod, nothing seemed to hurt, but i noticed that she was guarding just below her chest... a quiet game of cards and she was back to her normal self.
Wednesday morning, MJ woke at 5am and came into our bed, i noticed that her breathing was rapid and her heart rate was up a bit. Good thing that we were due to leave that day as i would have een asking to go anyway... putting the cold and these symptoms together i figured that she had a chest infection and would need antibiotics... Told DH that i wanted to pack up as soon as we had B/fast and then head off as i was a bit worried.
Mum and Dad helped keep her quiet (as in no running around - not gagging her lol) while DH and DSS packed down the caravan.
By the time that we were leaving, i could hear her struggling and was glad that we were leaving, as soon as we have phone reception i thought, i will make a Dr's appointment for her today.
She remained happy and as soon as we hit the nearest town i called our local GP and made an appointment for the afternoon.
By the time we were in Shepparton we decided to stop for some food... MJ barely ate a thing, was out of breath, but still happy (usually i use this as my gauge) so we packed her back in the car and headed back for home. I decided to sit in the back to give DSS some leg room and a break from wiping her nose! I was also a bit more concerned about her as she was breathing fairly rapidly.
DH must have been concerned too as he was driving a bit faster than he normally would when towing
It took us 3 hours all p to get home and as we were getting close i told DH that i wanted to go straight to Emergency with her. We hadnt spoken much, i knew that i couldnt freak him out as he needed to be sensible when driving but i was really concerend when she couldnt talk in sentances... then 20 mins from A and E she became really irritable and kept wanting a cuddle and crying Mumma...
DH dropped me at Emerg and i walked up to the counter, i didnt even know what to say, i just said, my daughter is sick (so unlike me to not have rattled off the problems) she cant breathe properly.
he checked her out then went back to his computer. At this stage i am still thinking chest infection, maybe bronciolitis... Then MJ asked to go to the toilet (bless her) so i spoke to the triage nurse and asked if he wanted me to go back to the waiting room after taking her... he was really blunt with me and said "No i would prefer you didnt"... at this i though, crap it must be bronciolitis as it can be quiet contagious, so off we went to the toilet.
By the time we were back the Dr was waiting for me and we walked straight round to Resus (OMG i thought) he was explaining that they were pretty sure that she was having an asthma attack and was asking about family history (None).
The next several hours were awful, As they were really concerned about MJ, there was no timr to explain to her about the ventolin spacer and medication, so it was pretty much forced onto her, she HATED IT, she kicked and screamed and begged them to stop (heart breaking). This went on every 20 minutes for an hour and then hourly for 4-5 hours.
She didnt respond well to the ventolin and we were told that we would be staying overnight. They checked her every hour. oNce they tried to do it ithout waking her and again it frightened her. I was angry after this, i had managed to get her to use the spacer (we did it together and the Drs and Nurses had to leave for her to be happy with it) and they undid it all... yep great that you want her to sleep, but maybe wake me and ask me what i think! Later when she went for an Xray they dumped the lead on her lap without telling her and that set her off again, poor thing was so exhausted and was just over it all.
6am they moved us to the ward, we had managed to get 2 full hours of sleep over night, MJ dozed a bit more than me, but we both slept on the emerg room trolley.
We finally got out at 4pm that day, she is still needing regular ventolin, but is improving heaps.
VERY VERY SCARY
I honestly feel like the crappest Mum in the world, I am a nurse for F*ck sake and i couldnt recognise an asthma attack in my own daughter!!!!!!!!!!!!
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