A Scary Ordeal

The entire month of August came and went so fast, yet so slow!  On the second day of August, Mason woke up with a raspy voice and a little bit of a wheezing sound to his breathing. I didn't think much of it, until it started to get worse by the hour. I had made plans to meet up with my sister at the Bountiful pool that afternoon. By the time we got to pool, the breathing noise Mason was making had intensified. He was gasping for air. I knew I needed to have him seen. I called the local IMC clinics up in Bountiful and was told he could not be seen as a walk in. They told me to have him seen by the local Insta Care. I called Insta Care and it was a 2 hour wait. I figured I would just make the drive from Bountiful to Riverton to have him seen by his primary care pediatrician. His doctor, Dr. Ring, was able to fit us in within the next hour. I left Allie with my sister and drove Mason down to Riverton Hosptial. By the time we got there, he was gulping for air. My heart was racing. We got off the elevators, and that's when I noticed everyone was starring at us, they could hear him struggling to breath!  I held him in my arms as I raced to the counter to check in, the receptionist ran in the back to grab the first available doctor.  Within a minute or so, they had him in a room with a nebulizer mask to his face! They had determined he had a bad case of croup! My heart was pretty much jumping out of my skin! I wasn't sure what was going to happen. Dr, Ring arrived shortly, I could tell by her face, she was nervous for how sick he looked. She told me, he would need to admitted to the hospital. He was still struggling to breath even with the steroids and breathing treatments they had given him. One thing that I was relived about was had we been at any other clinic or insta care, they would have taken him by ambulance to Primary Childrens. However, since he's pediatrician's office is in Riverton hospital, and Riveton hospital has an outsourced Primary Childrens center, we were able to have him spend the night at the Riverton hosptial.   We were sent home the next morning, and we ended back in the ER several times the next few days, because he was still having this horrible wheezing noise when he breathed. He would have scary episodes of struggling to catch his breath! So, by the 2nd time in the ER, they admitted him once again for 4 days. They did x-rays, blood tests, and still couldn't understand why he was still struggling to breath! They knew it had to be something other than croup, they just didn't know what it was! I felt hopeless, I felt torn. I had a little girl at home, who wanted her mommy, and a little sick boy in the hospital, who desperately needed his mommy! It was such a long two weeks!  

As I sat in the hospital bed, holding Mason on the third night, being exhausted, scared, and over whelmed. I began praying with great humility. I knew I needed to give all the pain I had, all the burdens I was feeling to my Heavenly Father. At that moment, I had faith that it was in the Lords hands. As I sat there praying for almost 2 hours, I had a thought come into my mind. I felt he needed to be seen by a Ears, Nose and Throat specialist. I knew that it was more than just croup. It was something in his throat that was causing him to wheeze. The next time the doctor came in, I told her, I wanted to see if a ENT doctor could see him.  We ended up having him seen by a ENT specialist the following day up at Primary Childrens. The ENT  took a camera down his throat to look for a possible infection or a foreign object, that is when they found he had bacteria in his windpipe. I knew, right then.. I had received an answer to my prayer. They had found the issue! Now, I was scared on what the treatment would be to ensure he gets better. hey scehduled him for emergency surgery that day. He got out of surgery, and was looking and sounding almost immediately better. They told us he would need to spend a few more days in the hospital getting treated with antibiotics. Dr. Meyers had told us, in all the years of being a ENT, doing surgeries, they had never seen so much crap (infection) stuck in a throat like they did in Mason's situation! It was something, I never want to relive! It was one of the most stressful times in my life! It is so hard to see our kids suffer and be so sick! It took a big toll on me! I'm grateful for what I've learned and the prayers that were answered. My testimony grew even more, I know without the power of priesthood, prayers and revelations we would have not had the outcome we did! I'm grateful for my Heavenly father! 

The first day with the nebulizer mask on his face

Mason in the ER

Mason getting checked by the nurse ( he was so brave)

Mason getting ready to go into surgery

The 2nd day after surgery, he was getting his appetite back

He asked for hotdogs, and strawberries for every meal!

Allie came up to the hospital each night to check and play with her little brother!

After 2 weeks of poking, masks, and surgery he was on his way HOME!