Cough Improving

You know you've been home too much with a sick kid when time slows down in a bad way. You wade around through piles of laundry, plates of Perhaps-You'll-Eat-This-Food are stacked uneaten by the sink, you're in your pajamas at noon and you're starting to envy the garbage collection guy as he drives by in the truck.

Wren's cough is better today, thank you. Although it is still spasmodic he is not crying (whining) and choking incessantly.

Yesterday, he had coughing spasms every 10 minutes all day. As he felt one coming he'd start to panic and cry (making it worse) and then emit a high decibel squeak (making me worse) and then run around in agitation as he looked for his Cough Tea which had to be in reach at all times. I had brews of it in water bottles so he could take it in the car. Picture me driving to fetch Frost while stretching around to take and return an open bottle of honey-loquat licorice tea. It would be safer to text. He would drink and cough until it passed and then he'd cry for a while and ask when the cough would go away.

Last night we gave him a cough suppressant and he was up only twice with severe coughing. I am still Very Tired and feel I am on a Very Long Haul Flight - only there are no other passengers besides Wren and I.

I wish they had better in-flight entertainment in this place.

We have been making do with Diego and the iPad. We like Harbor Master and of course Plants Versus. When the kids are in bed I have been ploughing through the first season of Dollhouse on Netflix. It is just the right downtime. I feel I have a legitimate claim to more screen-time for Wren because he coughs less when he is calm. He was much worse when I took him out to fetch Frost for an orthodontist appointment (although I had to drop Frost off and come back when he was done as Wren was coughing too much for company.)

How many times have I used the word Cough in this post.

cough cough cough cough cough.

Now my dream:

sleep sleep sleep sleep sleep.

Last night I was up 12.30-1am and then 4.30-5am. I don't do well with nighttime diversions these days. Honestly, I never did well but now the contrast between sane and sleep-insane Shannon is more noticeable.

The one help for the unrelenting Illness of Wren has been Joshua The Soccer Fan. Josh usually wakes late and goes straight to work. This week he has been getting up at 4.30am or 6.30am and watching World Cup matches before going to work. The kids get up and have breakfast in the living room (its all a wreck) and I stagger out later and catch up on goals and coffee. But wait, there's more! Since Josh is on the couch and Wren is not well, I walk Frost to the bus-stop and then go for a short morning run before breakfast. This is very luxurious. I love doing exercise (yoga, running, swimming) first thing in the day. Its my natural joy but I haven't got to do it much over the years. Perhaps when Wren gets a bit older, I will be able to leave him with Frost and the sleeping prince for half-an hour while I run.

Time (and health) shall tell.

Anyway, today Wren is much better. He's happier. His cough doesn't frighten him as much. He's having fits of cough MUCH less often (like, one per hour!) and he had more sleep last night (despite the two wakings). I am hopeful that he is on the rebound.

A few people have asked if it could be pneumonia or even Whooping Cough. Wren is fully immunized and he does not have the whoop-style cough. He does throw up when he gets bad coughs and/or pneumonia - I think he has a sensitive gag reflex because he gags when he sees dog poop or smells something unpleasant. We don't think he has pneumonia because his lung check (the aural one) was clear, he is not wheezing, fever has gone and his sats were fine (97%).

I now believe that he contracted a second respiratory virus on top of the one he was getting over. He's always had a bit of a harder time with the coughs and colds.

Thanks for the concern.