Tuesday, February 17, 2009

Day Before Miami

So, one day BigGeek decided to take us all to Miami. Ok, the story is slightly more complicated than that, and shall be narrated in due course, when the time is ripe. So, as it happened, we had tickets and hotel and a car to go to Miami on the 14 of this month. It was a last minute thing and we had no clue what we wanted to do, except of course go and see the biggest swamp or rather, the river of grass - The Everglades. May be sun a bit on the famous South Beach (while trying best not to get the spirits dampened by the supermodels and sculpted bodies) and generally get away from the freezing temperatures here by heading towards the sub-tropical paradise, where the palms swayed gently in the breeze and the blue skies and the azul ocean beckoned. And of course try and practice my Spanish.

If something is too good to be true, it prolly is. So, said a wise man once. Ok, it really was BigGeek, but he is wise, you know. On Thursday, when I went to pick up Chip from the daycare, his teacher told me, he had been wheezing a bit. No problem, I thought. He had a bad cold and the fluctuating temperatures had not done him any good. A whiff or two of the broncho-dilators and he would be good as new. But, no. Thursday night, despite the bronco-dilators, his asthma worsened. I gave him a steady dose of the bronco-dilators every 4 hours, all night, but the wheezing would go down for an hour, only to come back with a vengeance. I have him some anti-histamine, and some homep, but the poor buy could not sleep. He wheezed and gasped and by early morning, his heart was beating rapid-fire. He was hyperventilating. His lungs, unable to oxygenate his blood, was making his heart pump it faster so all the cells in his body got proper oxygen.

When it was morning, I called his doctor and headed there immediately. The doctor said his lungs were quite hard and his blood oxygenation had dropped and he had been hyperventilating. The plane ride would be dangerous for him in this state, said his doctor. Lung collapse could occur because of the low pressure in the cabin. I was worried sick. This sounded a lot more serious than a mild asthma he often gets. The doctor put him on a strong dose of inhaled steroids and bronco-dilators through a nebulizer – right in his office. (Chip who does not use a nebulizer, but uses a metered dose inhaler was wide-eyed at seeing one. “This is just like House”, he exclaimed) 40 minutes later, the doctor checked Chip again. He was looking better. Sounding better. Very little wheezing. But since we were travelling, he also gave Chip of an oral steroid. Just to be safe.

But Chip was in a bad shape. The wheezing came back in 4 hours and another round of bronco-dilators was administered through the nebulizer. Add to that, BigGeek’s sciatica which has been troubling him for a couple of months now, had graduated to numbing feet and then to numbing hands which was definitely not sciatica related. Too much sickness in the air. I did not want to go to Miami. It seemed jinxed, you know. BigGeek scoffed at my superstitions and an exhausted mom, a limping dad and a cranky, asthmatic child boarded the plane next day to see if Miami did them any good.

17 comments:

Anusha said...

whoa, i thought u were going to say, "so we canceled." one brave family you are. ok, post part 2 soon.
and "just like house" - LOL! only chip!
poor darling, hope he's all better now...

rayshma said...

wow!!
chip watches house!?
u had me scared there for a bit, u know... but considering u went... i'm guessing he was okay?

Anonymous said...

I had the same thing happened with Samar whenw e were travelling to Singapore last summer. Cancelling was not a option and I was worried sick. Since he was so young and never used a pacer, I didnt even know whether the inhalers would work. But by some miracle, he didnt get any attacks and I just spent $150 on spacers and inhalers for nothing.

I am hoping things were okay once you saw the palm trees.

Just Like That said...

You sure like to keep up the suspense, don't you? :-)Post part 2SOOOOOOON, am hoping since you're posting about it, nothing unmanageable happened.

Unknown said...

uh-oh...hoping this story ended happily...

Mama - Mia said...

how can you people just stop the post leaving me in a lurch wondering what happened next?! HOW?!

let us know soon. even if the time isn not ripe! bah!

cheers!

abha

Choxbox said...

chip okay now? you? bigG?

Mamma mia! Me a mamma? said...

Bravo! I kow what you must have been going through. We faced a similar problem in the Andamas, which I will write sbout (eventually! I know I've been promising for a while now!!)

So, did Miami do theKarmic family any good?

Yet Another Mother Runner said...

my rss just picked this, and i'm sorry i made u write about this all over :(
hope he gets back to his normal, bubbly self soon!!

Anonymous said...

u know I had wheezing from very early on and a bad one that .. My dad(he's a doc) put me on inhalers--non steroid ones, for about 4-5 yrs everyday. It does seemed to have helped. At least, I know I don't get breathless and goto into panic like some others I have seen. Also, breathing exercises do help. May be something like this early on would help him on a long term ...

I hope u guys had a great trip!

-A

Sujatha Bagal said...

OMG, that's rough! Waiting for the next installment...

PG said...

Hope you all could recover in your trip! Looking forward to your next post.
God bless!

Tharini said...

Oh my oh my! That was scary to read, about hard lungs and all. It was certainly brave of you all to take the trip. And I have this very good feeling that it did you all a world of good. Tell soon please..

Subhashree said...

OMG, how are you guys now?

Anonymous said...

What is with you ladies? First, Tharini and then you!
Keeping us on the edge of our seats..the suspense is killing, OK?

Chip said, "just like house"? ROFL!! ahahhaa.

DotThoughts said...

kodi's mom: we did go.. brave or foolish? :)

raysh: he does. hes does. :(

asaan: well.. that's good he didn't need them..

JLT: nothing diastrous, no :)

munchkin: it did!

mama-mia: done!

Choxie: we are just recovering from a round of flu and cold and cough. damn.

m4: miami gave us much needed sunshine!

gnd: you know the story :)

anon: do tell what meds, please! prnayam is on cards.. though..

Suj: the crankiness, the crankiness.

PG: we stilla re PG :( caught a cold.

Tara: like I said, brave or foolish?

subha: down with cold :(

Upsi: gotta read Tara's post now.

Unknown said...

We suffered for years with Tani's asthma - in fact we lived from month to month wondering when she would have the next one .Homeopathy cured her - when youre down here next time could you try that? Its killing to watch a child with asthma .