Mommy and Ben's journey to the ER

So after a breathing treatment at 6:30 AM I call my sister and ask:
"Should he sound like he is drowning?"
I do not think I need to post her response.
So I call the on call pediatric nurse and ask if I should bring him into the office or skip the office and go straight to the ER for a chest X-ray. She advises me to do another treatment and she will call back to see if that helps. Thirty minutes later we still have the same old man COPD 40 year smoker wheeze.
Off to the ER...
Thanks to his adroable good looks and bright red hair (and maybe the fact that they were not that busy) we went straight in.
It is very obvious from the wheezing and dark circles under his eyes that he doesn't feel well. The nurse comes in and gets a history. Then the student comes in to get a history... and goes out.. and comes back in, "Just one more question"....and goes out... and comes back in, "Oh I forgot to check his respirations"... isn't the main reason we are here because he has distressed respirations and didn't I say that within the first 5 words of our greeting, "We can't breathe too well..."?
Then the respiratory therapist comes in and gets a history.... she starts a breathing treatment... no change in chest sounds.... hour later, another breathing treatment..."It is really not making any change."
Then the MD comes in with the student, never greets me, continues the conversation with the student and starts his exam of Ben. Once the 30-45 second exam is over, he directs his attention to me....(without asking the history) "Well I am not really hearing anything, I mean it is obvious he is congested but I think he will just ride it out (wheeze, hack in the back ground).. I am going to ask the therapist to do another treatment and I will be back."
"What about a chest x-ray?"
"Well, even if it was pnuemonia, which I do not think it is, we wouldn't change the current protocol. Let's just keep an eye on him and see what happens. I understand that the on call nurse directed you to come in but sometimes nurses confuse the crackling sounds that you can hear with what is actually in the nasal and throat areas. (Boo.. hiss...apparently he did not read the portion of the chart that states that my family owns a home care agency run by nurses with more experience than the two of them combined. Of course the student doesn't count, he had NO experience)
"What about the fact that his oxygen stats keep dipping?"
"It is probably a machine error"
(then what the fuck is the purpose of the machine in the first place.)
So the therapist walks in for treatment number 3... what a surprise... no change in the chest sounds.
Hour later
MD... listens to the chest... "well, I am gonna back track a little... he is just not responding to the treatments (shocking analysis)... I am gonna order a chest x-ray. There is another breathing treatment that might help, but it is not licenesed for the home. It will give him relief but only temporarily" (well isn't temporarily good?)

Off to chest x-ray....

Now I am going to take a small jaunt off of this journey to tell you how incredibly amazing Ben was during this whole scenario. Never once did he cry, okay maybe moaned a bit with the rectal thermometer, but it was more like a "Hey lady, I thought we were flirting here...what the hell?" Even during the chest x-ray the tech was expalaining that he was probably going to cry, but that was what she needed in order to get a picture of his lungs expanded. So we sat there and he just kept looking at her and smiling...no cry. "Well...uhmmm, I need him to cry...."

He was a huge hit with the ladies, as usual. The nurses kept comng in saying, "I was told I had to come in here to check out the looker in this room" and Ben would shine on cue with his big blue eyes and gorgeous smile.

Back from X-ray... wait.... wait.... student comes back in..."X-ray looks fine, you guys can go"
(wheeze, hack)
Nurse comes in... "Good news, viral bronchialitis... you guys can go"
(Hellloooo... we already new that....I told the first 5 people who wandered in and out of our room that we knew that... he is having trouble breathing and is not responding to breathing treatments!!!!)
"Do I do the treatments or not?"
"Well, like they said it doesn't appear to be helping, but if you think it helps, then there is no harm"
(I DON'T THINK IT IS WORKING... THAT IS WHY I AM IN THE ER!!!!!)
"If he spikes a temp, check up with your regular MD"
(And when he starts turning blue I will call 911)

So now I am listening to my little old man wheezing in his sleep... ahhhh yet another sleepless night....