Going Downhill and Fast

A week or two after we had the blood test done, and we were waiting for results, Josiah got a cough. I was a bit worried and took him to the doctor. We both were worried about croup, but that night, there was no barking cough, so I thought that was the end of it. But the next day, I could tell he was laboring to breath. I took him to the emergency room.

His blood oxygen level was in the low 80's and it took a large amount of oxygen to keep it in the low 90's. They immediately took him back and put him in a special room. A respiratory specialist came in. There was a lot of talk. They transported him (along with me) by ambulance to the children's hospital so they could keep him on oxygen.

It wasn't until I was in the ambulance that I realized they were talking Pertussis. We get to the hospital and they wheel JJ into a room in the children's wing and there is yellow tape everywhere and people are wearing armor (not really amour, but protective wear as well as masks). There was a new respiratory specialist who gave JJ nebulizer treatments. He told me that he did not think JJ needed them, or that they would help, but that he was ordered to do it. He also took off his mask shortly after the first nebulizer treatment. He laughed and said JJ did not haver Pertussis. But it would take three days before anyone else believed me that it was not Pertussis and they would stop wearing the protective wear and for them to take down the yellow tape and warning signs about contamination.

No one knew what was wrong with JJ, but just two days after being admitted, he was breathing fine and I expected to be released from the hospital. But I would be held in the hospital against my will. During that week, as well as the first few days of being in the room, I was looked down upon, and talked badly to. I was gossiped about behind my back and made to feel like I was the worst mother ever. No one knew what was wrong, but it was sure that I, the mother, was the one to blame.

No one could give me answers, but because JJ was failure to thrive, I would be kept in the hospital. We do not vaccinate, and we did not give JJ the Vitamin K shot when he was first born. Our regular doctor was on vacation, so we would not be able to see her, and the doctor on call was a real life Dr. House (from Fox TV). He was a mean mean man that blamed me and made me cry. There would be a full investigation launched. And he was certain that I had damaged my son's brain and that was the cause of all this so an MRI was ordered.

JJ had to be put under before going in, and of course I could not go in with him. I keep begging them to let us go home. This is all because of the food allergies. I am waiting for the results, and once I get them we will know what we can and cannot give him. The he will gain weight. But of course no one would listen to me.

After the results for the MRI came in, and his brain was perfectly normal, I was certain that JJ would be released.