Children Routed Over to Urgent-care Pediatrician (C.R.O.U.P)

or Out and Back not in the Same Day

Last night, Tory had a coughing fit at 10:30. She had had sniffles on Friday and Saturday, and had a cough and sniffles on Sunday. Nothing noteworthy, until 10:30. When I got there, she was sitting upright, tears and snot streaming down her face, and barking like a dog after a squirrel. A quick web search and phone call later, we were on our way to the ER. There, they made her suck on a humidifier and gave her some "juice" laced with steroids. We were back home by 12:45, and everyone was asleep by 1:30 AM. Needless to say, Johanna, Stuart and Tory are sleeping in, Tory is staying home from school, and I am sucking on a double toddy (read "really strong coffee"). Some things of note:

1. The doctor told us that warm moist air is BAD. As he put it "it is a great way to promote respiratory failure." I guess we won't do THAT again.
2. Decongestants, antihistamines, and expectorants will cause croup to GET WORSE. Silly us!
3. Cough suppression is OK, but use with care. It may promote pneumonia.