The Croup

Wednesday night, Kasey was lucky enough to spend the night with Robbie in the emergency room. Robbie woke up at 1:30 am with a barking cough. Of course, at first, he was so hysterical and crying that it took us a while to figure out that he was having trouble breathing. Being asthmatic, my first thought was asthma... he needs to go to the emergency room. Once they were there and I relived the cough in my head... I had a suspicion that croup was the culprit.

It has not been well received by Robbie. I had to explain to him that this meant he couldn't go to school and, more devistating, he couldn't go to the Everett Children's Museum with his friend today. Robbie call it "The Croup"... a bit like "The Flu", but for some reason "The Croup" sounds much more sinister to me.

Anyhow, he's coping. Earlier the bark got fairly bad so I bundled the kids up and took them outside to play. It was cold! I lasted about ten minutes. In those ten minutes, Robbie did not cough once... and it took about an hour for him to cough again. However, I have no intention of spending ten minutes out in the cold every 10 minutes. Next... a steamy bathroom. I had to make him stop playing with Lyssie because she was picking on him and getting him upset... resulting in more coughing.

I've done the unmentionable and sat him in my bed in front of the tv and told him he can't move. I also told him, no books. Seems cruel and I'm sure there are critics that can't believe I've taken books away from a sick child... but it has to do more with the pesky sister. When Lyssie sees Robbie reading a book. She either wants to sit next to him and read it too or she wants to take it. Neither of these things work for Robbie. Especially when he's under the weather. He normally is happy to read a book to Lyssie. But Lyssie has a way of siddling that can make you uncomfortable... and it's worse when you are sick.

I can keep Lyssie away to a point... but it's also not fair to her that she's confined to a space as well. Anyhow, it's working. Lyssie is distracted by the movie (she's a movie junkie) and Robbie is, as he most often does, following my instructions to help him get better quicker. There is quiet in the house again!

One final thought. Croup and Robbie don't mix. He's watching Ice Age (he finally agreed to try a new movie - only because I've insisted that there is more than one silly character in it) and every 15 minutes or so, I can hear him working himself into a laughing tizzy and "The Croup" takes over. Robbie is a silly, giggly boy... "The Croup" doesn't seem to like that.