Nothing like an evening in the E.R.

We had a fun and exciting evening. Not.
Strangest phenomenon- Jack woke up not sick and by this afternoon had developed a raspy cough, then a raspy voice, then raspy breathing, then difficulty breathing and a burning fever and totally lethargic. When we got to the crying and couldn't breathe with high fever and lethargy part, I started freaking out a little bit inside because this was so sudden, he was perfectly okay (at least on the outside) this morning! What was this crazy sickness that overcame him so suddenly?! Any-hoo we ended up taking him the the emergency room after a phone-consult with the on-call doctor at the Clinic.......which, by the way, it's so lame that there is no 24-hour clinic. Or at least stay open until say, 7?

The ER was sad. Jack was sick and unhappy and so feverish and only wanted to lay on either mine or Garrett's shoulder. His little cheeks were just burning up and his breathing sounded like Darth Vader. After two hours we got to go back home, but not before Jack got a chest x-ray (ummmm, hello! we do NOT have insurance- keep that in mind as you're reading this lovely tale), and if you have never experienced a small child get an x-ray I DO NOT recommend it. HORRIBLE. They strapped him in some prehistoric torture device with his arms in the air and he was of course freaking out and then I had to GO IN THE BATHROOM AND SHUT THE DOOR. I cried.
They gave him steroids in a mist form and they were like a little miracle cure. Within minutes his raspy breathing and cough were significantly subsided and as the visit wore on he grew more and more perky and alert. His temp was back down to 98.6 by the time we left. His x-ray being so small they said it's hard to see much but they thought there might be some pneumonia at the bottom of his lungs. Either way though, they said he definitely has croup and isn't that fun? What a night. I was in the middle of cooking dinner when we rushed off to the ER and so by 9:00 when we got home we were starving, and little Jack Danger here is a whole new guy. He's played in his room like nothing happened, except for every once in awhile I could hear a little cough. And now he's going to bed, hopefully none too traumatized by the awful visit.
They did give him a new book and a teddy bear though. That was nice, considering we're probably going to have to pay a million dollars for that visit.

It just makes me more excited for us to have insurance and knowing that my son is going to be OK is worth whatever I have to pay. Maybe we'll skip the wedding. Ha ha.