Annie called me at work in the morning to tell me of his coughing problems last night. This sounded like the same thing that happened to him last time he was admitted for pneumonia so after a bunch of phone calls and left messages we finally had an appointment to bring Raphael into the hospital at 2:30pm.Annie had been checking his temperature all day but it was fine up until our paediatrician checked it at 3:30pm when it was 38 degrees. At one stage I thought the paediatrician said "you are very cruel parents, so if you are concerned when you call then he will probably need antibiotics". When I questioned her about the "cruel parents" comment she quickly clarified "cool parents!". To be honest though it is hard not to feel cruel when I have to hold him down to shove tubes in him or stick him with needles or even replace tape on his face.
He had an x-ray taken which showed pneumonia and tenting of the diaphragm (although I am not entirely sure what that means).
By the end of the night he appeared to be chained down with tubes and taped up like a mummy to keep all of them attached. He was attached to:- Blood oxygen saturation monitor attached to his foot
- Oxygen tube prongs in his nose
- Antibiotics in an IV in his foot (Here's a tip for kids that aren't walking yet, get IV lines put in their feet instead of their hands so they can still play.)
- Feeding tube down his nose
After ten minutes he was completely free from the goop saturated tape that was holding the oxygen tube to his face and so Annie and I taped up his face thoroughly to hold it all in properly.The CPAP equipment wasn't ready for him yet so this will still start on Monday night when they can get the most appropriate equipment for him. Our paediatrician thinks that we will still be in hospital then anyway.
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