ds1 fighting for breath, very bad chest infection

[Greensleeves]

ds1 has got a chest infection (caught from me) . I spent most of last night going in and out of his room giving medicines/rubbing Vick on his chest/back/reassuring him. He is much worse today, his breathing is really laboured, his chest is sucking in with the effort to breathe, he can't talk properly because his breath catches at the end of each word. I can hear his chest rattling and wheezing all the way down his back, but he isn't coughing anything up. I have had a serious chest infection myself for the last week (I thoughti t was gone, but it has come back) and it has been a really bad one, for the first few days of it I didn't cough up anything either but then started coughing up really rock-hard infected lumps of blood-stained green stuff. (Yes, I know, TMI, but I am worried ). I assumed mine was worse because I used to smoke, but ds1 seems to be in an even worse state than me.

I have a GP appointment for him later this morning (dh is taking him, because I have no voice at all this morning) but it's not his own GP. I am really worried, crap lungs run on both sides of our family, in fact dh's father died of emphysema, they think his lungs may have been weakened by a severe infection as a child

Does anyone have any advice on how I can clear his chest/halp him to breathe/get him to eat? I don't care what he eats at this point, I have asked dh to get chocolate buttons in case he will eat those - he really is so ill and he's very miserable.

Sounds very grim and scary Greensleeves.

Let me know if you would like visiting with supplies of junk food or stimulating intellectual debate

can do inane wittering instead if your brain is tired.

Heavens above, what a nightmare for you Greensleeves. Glad you are all back home & hopefully on the mend. Hope you get a chance to catch up on some much needed sleep and get a nutritious meal inside yourself.

No junk food for Greeny - she needs her strength building up. Inane wittering is allowable in small doses.

a combination of my homemade soup and inane wittering might lose her the will to recover

It is pretty normal to be wheezy when ill. I probably have been wheezy when ill for ages, but now that I have (very mild, only brought on by exercise) asthma, I use my puffer when I have a cold.

Morning

I have just got up, am drinking a cup of tea made by dh and letting the boys chuck toys everywhere in their PJs, am just so happy to see them looking and feeling better. They hate their inhalors (especially ds2) but we'll just have to get used to that, there are worse things!

Have just heard an amusing snippet from dh which he didn't have time to tell me before When ds1 was transferred from the assessment room to the ward, dh went back for one of his socks, and the very wet and annoying doctor (everyone else in there was brilliant, but there's always one) was still there. She asked "Have you got his red book". DH (not being in the best of moods, usually he is very polite) turned round slowly with a bemused expression and said "His what? His red book? No, no, no, we don't do things like that!". She replied "Tut tut tut!" Apparently there were three nurses p*ssing themselves laughing in the corner

Glad to hear this Greeny!

Greeny - so glad they're doing better and you've had (by the sound of it) a nice resdtful morning.

FIT, will also email you soon - I got my lovely parcel of goodies in the hospital, the morning after ds1's worst night - it was such a huge boost to get it, and last night I sat and ate ALL the chocolate at one sitting with a huge glass of wine

I would send you parcels Greeny, if you ever gave me your address when I asked for it

Am so glad you sound quite chipper

LOL at people clamouring to send me parcels, I could get used to this, you know!

I will email you my address (thought you already had it! ), and you must send me yours, so I can furnish you with a suitably lewd and tasteless Christmas card

Hi greensleeves good to hear boys are making a good recovery - FWIW my DS2 aged 3 was admittd into hospital in the summer with a 'viral induced wheeze' sounds sim to your DS's. They wouldn't diagnose as asthma then as too early to say, however since then he has had two similar episodes and has been diagnosed asthmatic. He does not use an inhaler all the time, and he only gets a little wheezy ehwn he has a cough/ cold. It certainly hasn't slowed him down. If you have any concers again I would always err on the side of caution and get them checked out. hope this isn't patronising, just want to say it's not uncommon. I was upset at first over the asthma diagnosis - seems like alife sentence.

No, it's not at all patronising, thank you very much for sharing your experience. I am very new to the whole idea of asthma, I've learned a lot in the past few days! I am a bit upset, as you say, it's the idea of anything being "for life", I felt the same about ds1 having a little scar on his forehead, even though you can hardly see it now I felt as though I had let something permanently "marr" him, IYKWIM. I do know lots of people with asthma to varying degrees though, and it isn't the end of the world. It's just that it came out of the blue, both boys at the same time - I'm still reeling a bit!

Greeny I have asked for it on numerous occasions to send you and the boys presents, but have been spurned

How lewd and tasteless exactly are we talking, here?