What is it with our children and lung problems?

For one reason or another Kerry and I have always been rather hyper vigilant about breathing difficulties, and sometimes we get a little worried that we could be labelled overly anxious parents (I’m a nurse, I know how judgmental healthcare professionals can be). Still, they can call us whatever they want behind our backs; as long as our kids are OK I don’t care. On Saturday Evan developed a cough that caused both Kerry and I to look at each other with trepidation. It was chesty, wet and generally unpleasant and so we ring NHS Direct who as we expected told us not to worry about it but to call back if his breathing became faster.

On Sunday morning we noticed that Evan’s breathing had become faster and he had a slight temperature, so we rung NHS Direct again. They told us not to worry about it but to call back if we started to notice that he was using his stomach muscles to breath as well as his chest.

Yesterday evening we noticed that he was using his stomach muscles to breath as well as his chest, and his breathing had become even more rapid. His temperature had also gone up again, and he was making the same “hur hur hur” sound that Amy does when she has a chest infection. We rang NHS Direct again who initially told us to ring back if he became blue (no, we’d be ringing a bloody ambulance). We then got to talk to a specialist children’s nurse who advised us to take him down to A&E just to get him checked out.

This time it looks like we weren’t being over anxious, the doctors think he has bronchiolitis, an infection of the smallest air passages in the lungs. They admitted him to the children’s ward for observation. The doctor has said that it is likely to get worse before it gets better and so they are going to keep him in for tonight as well in case he needs putting on oxygen.

I don’t think there is much to worry about; the admission is really a precautionary one. They will keep an eye on him, stick him on oxygen or a nasal feed if he needs it, and just wait until he gets better. No one has mentioned any concerns that he won’t improve, and from what I can tell there are unlikely to be any long term consequences of the illness.

But the question remains, what the hell is it with our kids and lung problems? As far as I know there is no history of them in either my or Kerry’s family. My sister has “sports asthma”, but that basically translates as she gets out of breath when she does a lot of vigorous exercise, hardly an earth shattering diagnosis.

Don’t let this little drama distract you from entering/adding to your entry for the globe trotting competition though. Kerry’s going to be staying in the hospital overnight with Evan while I look after Amy at home and she’ll only have terrestrial TV and bedside internet access to keep her entertained. I’m sure she’d enjoy reading your traveling exploits (What me? Exploiting my child’s illness to emotionally blackmail people into participating in my feeble little blog? How dare you!).

Truth be told I feel a little guilty for rushing it ahead and starting the contest without giving Bon Bon the chance to set her rather excellent judging criteria; after all the competition belongs to her really. So if you do fancy revisiting your entry and adding a tiny bit more that would be lovely. If you can’t be arsed however then that’s cool too, after all it’s meant to be me writing this bloody thing not you.

You can find the competition here, and some additional guidance here. I’ll keep you posted about how Evan’s doing but I’m pretty sure he’ll be home by tomorrow.

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