I always thought croup was some name they had for a disease way back in the day when they didn't really know what things were or how to cure them....like "the consumption"--which is of course the way-back-in-the-day code word for tuberculosis.
Turns out, it isn't.
Turns out, Luke has it.
Short version:
Luke woke up last night gasping, coughing, and "wheezing". Luke has an inhaler for said wheezing so we gave him multiple treatments of the inhaler over a few hours. No improvement. I freak out, we go to the ER. Got there at 1 am...left at 4:30 am. They do tests, stick my baby, make him hurt, give him meds, make us wait, drive us crazy with monitors that beep, send us on our way. Ugh.
Aside: Its not that I don't like doctors or don't trust doctors...I do. My two dads are doctors, my mom is a nurse, my step-brother is a doctor, his wife is a nurse....I know a lot of doctors. That said, I don't like doctors who don't explain things to me.
After hours of being there the nurse comes in to discharge Luke and gives us a prescription and says we can go. I have to ASK her what he has. Croup. What exactly is croup? Go home and google it.
Again with the ugh.
So fast forward to today. We are tired, we are exhausted, Luke is still coughing. Nothing to worry about--just a cold that has settled in his chest (I googled it). The ER sent us home with instructions to visit our pediatrician today...so we did. He tells us the same thing, but he explains.
Aside again: I also can't stand doctors who explain, but are condescending.
Basically our conversation goes like this:
doctor: what you have here is a misunderstanding of what a wheeze is...a wheeze is this--(does wheezing sound)Ugh. I'm going to bed.
me: uh-huh
doctor: luke has that bark-like cough with a stridor sound that sounds like this--(does the stridor sound)
me: uh...huh
doctor: so you need to distinguish between the wheeze and the stridor because the albuterol (inhaler) is basically ineffective when it is not a wheeze
me: ....
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