Feyruz Favorite Song

This video was taken a few days before Feyruz got the asthma attack. He loves this song so much. Always ask me to play it again and again :)

Feyruz’ Asthma Episodes

It started on Sunday morning when Feyruz woke up. He got a bit of runny nose and he was coughing here and there. The temperature here dropped 20 degree since the last few days, and I thought that it was just our body getting used to the changes. I gave Feyruz more juice/water that day thinking that his throat might hurt since he was consistently coughing throughout the day. As of that day, we were busy packing up our stuff, and cleaning up the living room and bedroom, vacuum the carpet etc. getting our stuff ready for the moving day (next weekend). Feyruz was around, playing with our stuffs. I called him Abah’s little sidekick because anything Amin touched/picked, he would want to do it too. And he’s been toddling Amin front to back and back to front again. Cute!

Well, that night, he couldn’t sleep well. Amin said at 2am he started wheezing and woke up crying over and over again. He refused to lay down on the bed, so Amin had to put him upright on the shoulder. I took turn after 5am taking care of Feyruz. After Subuh, while poking and looking at him all over, I realized that he was breathing really hard. The bottom of his ribs shrunk when he breathed. I told Amin he sounded like having asthma. Not sure that was true, I decided to wait until 9am to call Feyruz doctor. It was a long wait. Feyruz was so weak and sleepy. I gave him a few sip of milk and some baby cereal so that his tummy won’t be empty.

At 10.30am, we got to the doctor office. The nurse examined him and did the pulse checking and O2. His heart rate was so fast and his O2 level was at 75%. Crap… The nurse immediately called the doctor and they immediately put Feyruz on breathing machine, O2 tank and steroid shot.

The treatments were repeated 3x, and after each one, the nurse checked for his heart rate & O2 level. His heart rate still fast but his O2 level improved to 80-90%. After 1 1/2 hour, the nurse took off the breathing machine and let Feyruz breathed by himself for a while. When the doctor examined him again, his O2 level dropped back. And he was still breathing hard. This was when the doctor decided to call the ambulance to take Feyruz to the hospital. His doctor said that Feyruz had acute asthma attack, and he needed further treatment at the hospital, because this was not going to be a quick fix.

I felt totally devastated. Feyruz been thru a lot since he got the eczema.. A few months ago I found out that he is allergic to dairy and peanut after he threw up a lot. And now… the asthma.

The EMTs who took care of Feyruz to transport him to the hospital. IV was given.

At Children Mercy Hospital. On the way to see the doctor and nurses.

The doctor gave him another steroid shot, more breathing treatments every 4 hours. Feyruz getting some rest. We all slept at the hospital. Amin & I took turn taking care of him at night.

In the morning, Feyruz sounded better. I didn’t hear anymore wheezing, just coughing and runny nose. His heart rate and O2 intake had been normal since the night before. The nurse said that if it stayed like this when the doctor checked him, he should be able to go home.

At 8.30am, I was told to go to the Asthma class to get more info about the home treatment. It was a really good thing that the Asthma therapist taught us parents about the symptoms, the cause and how to take care of our kids when having asthma attack.

In Feyruz situation, I believe the fact that he was coughing, sneezing and had runny nose at the same time, and the fact that we were cleaning the house, triggered the asthma attack. Other triggers that we need to be concern of are any strong chemicals smell, cigarette smoke, and pet dander.

One thing I am relieved to hear from the therapist that people who has asthma is supposed to able to do all the things that normal people does (without getting sick). So toddlers like Feyruz who enjoy playing or soon, running around, should be able to do that without any breathing problem. If not, that means they are not well treated. As long as we avoid/prevent the triggers (dust, cigarette smoke, strong smells etc), Feyruz should be fine.

The day he was discharged. Busy playing the red car I bought at the gift shop.

Bye bye to the nurses. Hope he won’t come back to the hospital again.