on day one but no pics. Inside Out Day, on Steroids. Literally. day one

What a week it was going to be! Adam and Spencer were at the Aaronic Priesthood Encampment in West Virginia, about a five hour drive from Leesburg. Marie was at stake girls camp, about 45 minutes away. Merilee and I were taking turns, doing our Grandma thing for the week with Emma, John, Brett and Tyler, and we had PLANS.

Monday, June 18, was  Cars day;
We took a road trip and looked for different makes of cars; (learned a lot! Who knew that so many people drive Hondas??)  In the evening, Brad took them all (but Tyler) to see Cars 3.

Merilee took the kiddles on Tuesday, and hey had a blast at Papa and Grammy's house. By Tuesday evening, Tyler started showing signs that he was coming down with croup. John had been sick with it the week before, so it was not entirely unexpected. Ty slept well on Tuesday night, with just a couple of coughs.

Wednesday was Inside Out Day! And, oh boy, was it.

Tyler woke up, still wheezing a bit, but John had sounded the same the week before, so I figured that Tyler's little body just needed to work through the virus.  At 10 AM, Emma, John, Brett, Tyler and I went to a friend's house to prepare for a missionary zone conference luncheon that would be held the next day. The kids played in the basement while I chopped veggies. Tyler was a little sad, so he came up and played with toys next to me. Eventually he went back downstairs, but at about 11:45 AM, he came to the bottom of the stairs, breathing with more difficulty and crying, so we all whisked out of the house. He was very tired, and when we got home, I laid him in bed, where he immediately fell asleep.  Emma and John were very worried. John stayed in the car after we arrived at home earlier. He came in and told me, "I was praying in the car." Sweet boy. Emma was praying too, very worried.
Still, I thought Tyler was just working through the virus. My kids never had croup, so I didn't have any experience with it.
The rest of us ate some lunch, but after about 30 minutes of sleep,  Tyler woke again. This time he was really struggling to breathe, and at one point, he panicked. He calmed down a little, but I was was worried and trying to figure out what to do. Just then, the doorbell rang. Merilee had come to drop off something for Brad to take up to girl's camp that evening. (Merilee's words: Trina grabbed the wrong pair of identical shoes before she left for camp - she took the broken ones accidentally, necessitating the need for me to drop off another pair. Also, I was planning to come at 11:15 am when you would not have been home, but I was visiting Carol Jenkins that morning and we just kept finding things to talk about, so I didn't get to your home until just after 12. Glad you were home or I would not have been able to help.)
TENCER MERCY!!!
 Emma and John had prayed her there, for sure. She came up to the bedroom to see Tyler, we talked and decided that it would be good to take him to the nearby urgent care; we thought that maybe they would give him a breathing treatment to help him breathe better, then send us home. She would stay with the other children while I took Tyler.

Holy cow. When we walked into urgent care, they took one look at him and rushed him into a examination room. We were swarmed with doctors and nurses: they cut off his shirt so they could get to where they needed, they gave him an epi shot, put a mask over his nose to give him oxygen and other medications. Within just a few minutes, they had called 911 to rush him to the hospital. The ambulance arrived,  and it wasn't long before Tyler was buckled into a seat in the back of the truck; I was in the front seat. He was very calm-looking, but I later learned that is a symptom of lack of breath. Yikes. The paramedics turned on the siren and we zoomed down Route 7 to the hospital.

When we arrived at the ER at Lansdowne, little Tyler's lips were white and his face was ghostly white. They rushed him in to a room and started administering medications through a mask.  Almost immediately, the doctor was advising me that they might have to intubate him. Mercifully he started responding to the medications, began breathing more easily and started getting his color back, which was a huge relief and answer to prayers.

Tyler even had a T-Rex nebulizer!

Our sweet little guy received a blessing from Brad, who "happened to be" on his way to the stake center to release a couple of missionaries, and was able to swing by the hospital first. Tyler also received a health blessing from two wonderful missionaries from the Leesburg ward, who were worthy, available, and willing. I'm so grateful for the priesthood, and for priesthood holders that keep themselves worthy, and are able to exercise their priesthood power at the moment it is needed. 

Priesthood power!

Meanwhile, I had been trying to get a hold of Marie at girls camp, but couldn't get a hold of her. I called Vi Moran and Penny Jones, who both went looking for her. Eventually someone found her and told her what was going on. She grabbed her duffle bag, jumped in the car and arrived at the hospital just in time! About 10 minutes after her arrival, the Fairfax pediatric ambulance arrived. Because Lansdowne doesn't have an Pediatric Intensive Care Unit, Tyler was going to be transferred to Fairfax. Tyler hadn't cried very much up to this point (no air), but cried when he saw his mommy and asked, "Da?" Mommy and daddy are supposed to be together! She had time to snuggle him for a few minutes, then it was back in the ambulance. Because croup goes in waves and can turn so quickly (as it had that morning!), they wanted to keep him under observation.

Finally snuggling with mama

This time Tyler was strapped into a pediatric stretcher, hooked up to all kinds of good oxygen (Heliox).

Heading of to Fairfax PICU

This time he was out of danger, and the ambulance didn't turn on the siren. 

Cute little ambulance...

Post script: yesterday, Monday the 26th, I went back to the same urgent care, this time for me; diagnosed with acute bronchitis. Thanks, Ty ;o)   I was ushered to a room, and sat there waiting, when the same nurse that helped Tyler walked in, recognized me and wanted to know how he was doing. Then the same doctor who helped Tyler walked in! She said, "What are the odds that you would come in here, with the same nurse, the same doctor, in the same room??!?" I had no idea I was in the same room, but that little tender mercy definitely brought the tears. I was able to thank them for all that they did for our T-Rex, who is just runnin' and running' around. Love you all!!!