The first time I heard about croup I was young. Sitting upstairs in our TV room, watching Terms of Endearment on cable, and hearing Debra Winger tell the philandering husband that baby Melanie had "the croup." Remember? The older boy had it twice? And the husband shrugged, and she said, "I guess you weren't alive then." And it seemed like he was giving her points for a good, snappy comeback. And then came the steam. The steam seemed important so I filed that away.
^^^^
Years later, I was at a mom's group of some sort and a woman was talking about how her son kept getting croup even though they were supposed to stop getting it after about age five. I hadn't known that, but I thought it was interesting. Anyway, the whole experience sounded pretty miserable, and I was glad we had avoided it.
^^^^
About a year after that, we were at birthday party at a public park. Paul and Max found a windchime hanging in a tree. Twice a year a local group hangs the windchimes all over the city for people to find. The group was started by the parents of a three year old boy who died. Of croup.
^^^^
Because of that, I ended up doing more research into croup (viral infection of larynx/trachea, can cause pronounced swelling of the airway, gets worse at night and frequently you end up in the ER getting steroids or epinephrine to reduce the airway swelling). But by the age of about five or six the tissue is more mature and croup ends up just being a cold. We had avoided the whole experience with Max and Julia had been pretty healthy since we had the ear tubes in last year. If you ignore the broken leg, I mean.
A couple of weeks ago we got a notice from her school that strep was going around. Julia got a bit snuffly and I was just watching her. You know when your kids are kind of like a ticking time bomb? Either it's going to be a dud and it will pass quietly or it's going to explode in a mess of fevers and snot and you pretty much have to just wait it out to see what happens. Eventually, Julia finally woke up with a bad cough and a sore throat. I got her in to see the new pediatrician at our office. I would have waited, but I thought it was strep.
And no, it wasn't strep, she was pretty sure it was going to end up being croup based on how her larynx looked. And then she tried to give her a flu vaccine, while she was sick, and since I think this new doctor is going to be the replacement for when my doctor retires, I'm now shopping pediatricians.
The bad night came on Friday. I don't know how to explain what stridor sounds like, but I could hear her struggling to get air into her chest (her chest, thankfully, was clear, and her color was good). She was coughing so hard she was vomiting, which made her cry harder which made the whole thing worse.
I took her into the bathroom and told her we'd stay in the steamy room until her throat cleared. Or until I lost 20 pounds.
She didn't get it, but she settled down, and her breathing calmed, and I relaxed enough to know that a day will come when we'll watch the movie together and she will finally get it. Once she fell asleep, I lined up my shoes, wallet, keys, and phone just in case and then went to watch her breathe. But by the next morning she was better.
And good thing. For a cat and a rattlesnake needed an adventure tonight.
Yikes. Glad she's better. And that movie is where I learned about croup too.
Posted by: Jill | October 27, 2011 at 04:10 AM
Dude, I have been there with L and it's awful. I've been sitting in the steamy bathroom trying to decide if she's getting better, if I should call an ambulance, or if I can drive her to the ER myself. GAH. Usually by the time she finishes a popsicle, she's calmed enough & the steam has worked and the worst has passed, but it's awful in the meantime.
The only good thing that's come out of her several bouts of croup is that she calls wheezing "weaseling." As in, "Remember when I was weaseling and Uncle Martin came over to give me breathing medicine?" WEASELING. I DIE.
Glad you guys are all better! Down with croup!
Posted by: Linda | October 27, 2011 at 04:43 AM
My kid thought croup was awesome because all he remembered in the morning was that I set up his sleeping bag in the bathroom and he got to sleep there. I, however, did not sleep and came in every hour to run the shower for 15 minutes to re-steam the bathroom.
And I learned about croup from that one episode of Happy Days where Joanie and Chachi were babysitting and then Howard came home and couldn't find them because they were "upstairs"...not fooling around but hanging out in a steamy bathroom and that's why they didn't answer the phone.
Posted by: SarcastiCarrie | October 27, 2011 at 06:41 AM
Terms of Endearment -- YEP.
Also, Anjali gives those costumes an emphatic thumbs-up!
Posted by: cagey | October 27, 2011 at 08:17 AM
Sorry for the croup adventure. My oldest had it around age 2. Terrifying. And my worst experience with the clinic nurseline - they couldn't explain when to go the ER - unless she turned blue!
If you're filing croup tidbits away, (hmmm, just remembered you're in Arizona. The desert gets cold at night, right?), when it gets really bad, take them outside, colder the better. The shock and temp change usually gets them to breathe again. (Tip from my cousin whose sons had it over and over - she said every time she'd get them to the car to go to the ER, they'd start breathing again. Finally her doctor explained it was the change to cold)
Hope neither of us need to know croup survival ever again.
Posted by: Sarah | November 01, 2011 at 05:26 AM