Clifford the Big Red Dog

What a night! Last night Andrew woke up with a croupy seal cough. This isn't unusual in our home. Whenever Andrew gets a cold it quickly goes straight into his lungs. We have a nebulizer that turns his medicine into a fine mist so he can breath it into his lungs. With this, his seal cough will go away long enough for him to have a good night's sleep and after a few more doses and a couple of days later his cough will be gone. So, last night I gave him a nebulizer treatment and it seamed to have no effect. He threw up, had a hacky seal cough and it seamed painful for him to breath. I began to worry! Kelly and I decided the ER might be a good idea. When we got there the doctors said it was a good thing we had come in because his throat was swollen and that is why he had a hard time breathing. They gave him an oral dose of steroids to help the inflammation in his throat. They said that it can take up to 6 hours for that to work 100%, so they also gave him a misted medication to help right away. Mr. Andrew was scared and wanted nothing to do with any of the doctors or nurses that where helping him. Then our nurse said, "Give me a moment and I will be right back." About three minutes later she came back with this darling Clifford the big red dog. She handed him to Andrew and asked him if "Clifford could come and live at our house." Andrew was putty in her hands. Andrew loves dogs! She didn't know it but that was the perfect animal to pick for Andrew. Andrew wouldn't let anyone else touch him except his new friend Joyce our nurse. So after a two hour visit they sent us on our way. It was about 5 a.m. by the time Andrew and I had gotten home. We were so exhausted from a long evening. Boy am I thankful for modern technology and medicine. --emily