If you read my Whooping Cough blog, you already know what kind of trial this month has been.
Believe it or not, it got worse.
One day after I posted the aforementioned blog, my son got worse. His coughing / gasping fits started happening regularly at school and around noon they called for someone to come get him.
At that point, my parents got involved. I’ve never been so thankful for my parents in my entire life.
At the behest of my son’s primary care doctor, they took him to the ER, where, once again, the ER doctor didn’t give a damn and basically told my son to “Man Up” and that children die from Whooping Cough and gave a number of deaths while stating at least my son is getting better (or something along those lines. horrific).
Fortunately, there was a wonderful nurse in the ER who contacted all of my sons doctors and finally pulled in a specialist.  Dr. Kallanagowdar actually cared and made a difference. He agreed that the suffering needed to stop. The cough needed to be controlled and he admitted him into the hospital with a plan to find cough suppressant that would control the gasping and wheezing and “whooping” for breath.
After two nights, my son came home. He’s still coughing, but the gasping and choking is gone. He can breathe!
Starting April 19th, no more middle of the night terror of gasping for breath. Still coughing, but … breathing is still happening. He has phlegm that needs to be eliminated, but I’m so thrilled and relieved.
It took my mother strong-arming the ER at Stormont Vale to finally get results.
My mom and I have had strong differences in the past, but now I feel nothing but thankfulness and love for the woman who raised me. Don’t get me wrong, we still have a lot of differences, but, they will always be tendered by this experience with my son.
There’s still a ways to go before he will be back to his normal, healthy self. I’m not sure how this past month will affect his future illnesses and how he’ll feel about the entire healthcare system as a whole. I know that I’m seriously disappointed in the whole system. I’ve felt this way before, but it’s never been so personal.
I will never understand where the idea of actually giving a damn about patients went astray or how these ER doctors can live with themselves or even sleep at night. When did the  Hippocratic Oath become so meaningless? What is our society becoming when other people stop caring. When DOCTORS stop caring. (Once again, I must give a shout out to Dr. K and all doctors who DO still give a damn. Interestingly enough, the ones who have always impressed me the most are of Indian descent. )
Anyway, today, my son went back to school. I hope that we can start a reasonable facsimile of normalcy from here on out.
We’ve earned it.
