What the Croup?

Last Tuesday we were at a doctor's appointment where they had a Dora the Explorer pirate ship playhouse in the lobby. Tyler was manning the wheel when this kid comes over with this awful barky cough and licks the wheel where Tyler is standing. I run to grab Tyler, recognizing this child is sick and before I could reach him, Tyler licked in the same spot (no, Tyler is not a licker- I don't know why he chose to mimic this kid). Fast forward to Saturday.....

My mom is keeping Tyler and upon him waking up from a nap informs us that she thinks he is coming down with a cold. By the time we drive home, Tyler looks sick and very worn out. Sunday morning Tyler wakes up and has worsened. He was spiking a fever and very lethargic. Sunday after nap he woke up and had lost his voice and had a barky cough and was holding his chest. We called the on-call doctor and were told if he breathing was not too labored, then just bring him in on Monday morning. After no sleep for anyone on Sunday night, Tyler started struggling for breath at about 5:30 am. By 8:30 am we were at the doctor and were told Tyler had severe croup. I did not even know what croup was exactly, or that it even still existed. Croup is an viral infection of the upper airways that affects breathing. Our doctor told us to go straight to Children's Hospital and that he was calling them to say we were on our way.

After arriving at the ER, we waited about 5 minutes before he was taken in and given a breathing treatment and steroid shot. They both seemed to help tremendously. We left after a few hours of observation and came home. Tyler went to sleep at 2:45 pm on Tuesday and slept until 6:45am on Wednesday. His he feeling so much better. Voice and energy have not returned, but with blue bear, orange slices and cheese nips, and lots of movies- he is on the fast track to recovery.