Croup De Ville/ SLO 4 (November 29th, 2006)

Heading home, we stopped by my parents to pick up Faith. My parents were excited, they loved having her for those couple days. They described all the cute things faith did with them, like singing happy Birthday to everyone that walked by in the Supermarket.

Kellee and I noticed though that Faith wasn't her outgoing self. She usually runs up to me and Yells, "Papa"!!! However, she just quietly hugged me and said, "Papas home".
I just chalked this up to us being away from her for two days for the first time since we brought her home from her homeland.

My mom told us that she woke up with a little cold and seemed to be wheezy. It didn't seem like a big deal. Faith did seem to be getting worse by the minute though, so I thought she might do well to just rest in the truck.

We stopped by Starbucks; it was a 4-5 hr ride home and I was already tired from staying late. I picked Faith up some Tea with Chamomile and honey to sooth her little throat that was getting more and more horse by the minute.

In the meantime Kellee is freaking out over what? A little wheezing? A sore throat? She is telling me that she wants to call her doctor and when she does they're at lunch, so now Kellee is in a panic! I tell her to call her mom. They talk for a minute and decide that we should give her some cold medicine (but we never get around to it).

We get on the highway and go a couple miles, when we notice that Faith is yawning every couple of seconds. Kellee tells me that she is struggling to breathe. I look at Kellee and see the panic in her face, and thinking she is overreacting, I turn back to look at faith. She has a look of terror in her eyes as she is gasping for breath and when she gets one she begins to cry; this happens a couple times within a minute. Something is definitely wrong! I tell Kellee to call 911 and find us a nearby hospital. She does and the dispatch tells us of one that is a couple miles up the road. So I put my truck into B for boogie and head down Highway 101 going over 100 miles an hour; flying around diesel trucks and weekend drivers.

We rush he into the emergency room where a very warm and attentive nurse checks Faiths breathing and other vitals. Once they figure out that everything is ok they send us over to the Urgent Care where we sit and wait and wait and wait. The doctor over at the urgent care tells us that he believes that Faith has the Croup (a viral infection that clogs up a child's airways), and one of the telltale signs is a barking seal like cough.

However, Faith is not coughing and doesn't do so the whole time we are in the Urgent care. As a precaution they take x-rays to make sure that faith didn't swallow anything, gave her a breathing treatment, and filled her up with some anti-biotic. The doctor tells us that Faith is now getting 98% oxygen and we should be able to get home, but if anything should arise then immediately get off the road and back to a hospital.

We made it home; faith slept most of the way. But, it was still one of the scariest trips 4 hour ride I have had in awhile (it ranks up there with my car breaking down in the middle of the desert without a phone or Triple A).
When we put Faith to bed, she finally began to cough, and sure enough the little thing sounded like a seal. Kellee took her to her doctor the next day and sure enough she had the croup. One of the strangest things happened the next day as well: the doctor from the urgent care in Santa Maria called our house to make sure we got home alright! I don't think I have ever heard of that happening!