Uphill Task

Tuesday

C woke from his nap feeling warmer than usual. I thought nothing of it initially  He was his playful self but when he declined to eat, I grew suspicious. Grabbed the thermometer and it slapped me with three digits 386. Geez no symptoms, no change in baseline "Let's give him his feed and monitor further" I told myself.

Close to 3 hours later...

C acted strange. He grew quiet and laid very still. Repeatedly pursed his lips and told me "mouth very sticky". He made a feeble attempt to turn to his side, winced and gave a look of discomfort. His breaths were shallow, stomach bloated and heaving. I kept calling out to him but he gave little response. When asked if he was feeling ok, he shook his head. He seemed to be drifting away, with eyes half shut.

I went ahead to suction him. At least I thought that was the next logical thing to do. Within seconds of inserting the suction catheter, he threw up. On the bed. Loads of it. C broke the silence with his hysterical cries. I shouted for hubby and continued with the suctioning. Hubby scrambled for the toilet papers, threw loads of it to soak up the vomit and desperately doing his best to do damage control. So that was it. We spent the next hour clearing the mess and sent the boy to sleep at 11pm.

Wednesday

He slept through the night after a dose of paracetamol. Needed another dose at 7am and it went well for the day with just a low grade fever.

7.40pm... he cleared his throat incessantly.

8.15pm... he didn't seem to stop so I knew I had to help clear his throat. Brought him to the room and C gave me that same awkward look again. This time, with the new sheets and mattress protector, I didn't want to risk it. Placed him on a rubber mat before I proceeded with suctioning.

Nope I wasn't expecting what was to come (Note: last milk feed was almost 3 hours ago).

Suction. Vomit. Suction again (as I needed to clear the remaining vomit in his throat to reduce the risk of aspiration). Vomit again. O2 dropped to 90%. Suction again. Vomit again. O2 at 94% and not picking up. C cried and screamed. Refused to let me continue.

I was in a dilemma. Should I continue and risk inducing another vomit or call it a night.

So there he was, coughing, trying to clear his throat but failed. O2 was still not picking up. I guessed I needed one last suction (a swift one!) and I better do a good job. So the tug of war began. C fought hard. He sure didn't want another. In the end we had to do it by force. Flipped him to his side, daddy held him and I did my best to clear as much.

C is now asleep. O2 looks good at 98%. Fever came down on its own without medication. He is still at risk for aspiration. Shall see how he fares tomorrow.