Background story:
Friday night when I got home from work Kris told me that Tanner had a choking close call about 40 min prior on a piece of talapia. He said he eyes got real big and he started scream crying and alternating with coughing/gagging. By the time I got home he was still pretty upset about it and not wanting to drink anything. I looked in his throat and could see a little bit of blood on his left tonsil. We offered him some ice chips and Motrin and it seemed to help. He was able to drink his milk before bed no problem. We just thought he scratched his throat on the fish breading or something like that. (the idea of a fish bone was also brought up)
I went to work Saturday like normal except I worked a 16 hour shift and didn't see Tanner at all. Kris said he was pretty normal all day and ate fine.
Sunday morning I was cancelled 7-3 so I was home when Tanner started gagging/coughing and threw up some blood streaked mucous. He also was drooling uncontrollably. We tried to get him to drink or eat ice chips and he wouldn't.
I was concerned so we called our pediatricians on call nurse line and they said that it would be best to bring him in considering the choking close call Friday night.
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| Poor baby drooling the whole way to children's, his shirt was soaked |
Of course I was freaking out thinking he had the worst case senarios…fish bone in his throat, epiglottises, or a number of other scary life threatening things.
When we arrived they took us back really quickly. He got an X-ray of his neck right away. The doctors saw some swelling that they were concerned for possible fluid collection or abscess. The radiologist ordered a contract CT of the neck to get a better view. I knew this meant he would need an IV for the contrast. I also knew he would needs something for sedation, they ended up ordering Versed and it did the trick, he held still for the CT.
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| After IV playing with some toys child life brought him. |
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| Before the IV The CT showed swollen tonsils but no food or fish bone which was great. The doctors were still concerned about the drooling so they consulted with ENT to come and scope him to make sure nothing was missed. ENT did the scope and didn't see anything but they were not comfortable sending him home until he had a chest Xray and esophogram to confirm no foreign body, food impaction, or other scary reason for the drooling. Tanner was such a good baby the whole time he is so brave and strong. I on the other hand was a complete mess. By far the worst test was the esophogram (swallow study) they strapped him down on a board and basically poured contrast down his throat while he is screaming bloody murder! Talk about ripping momma's heart out. I cried for a good 20 min after that one! At the end of it all his diagnosis was upper respiratory infection - swollen throat/tonsils, and hypersaliviation. I am so thankful that he is okay and it was nothing really serious. I am thankful to the doctors to were very thorough in their assessment and made me feel confident that when we left he was really okay. That being said, I hope our next ER trip isn't for at least another 10 years. I don't think I can handle another one sooner. |
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