Today while waiting at the school for the older kids Bryce had a terrible choking incident. I was feeding him little fish crackers. He gags a lot while eating and so I have become a bit paranoid and was only giving him tiny bites. Anyway, at one point I was feeding Annalise her bottle and I looked over at Bryce and he was looking at me with fear in his eyes. I know that look and I don't like it! I realized immediately that he was not breathing. I did the normal reminding him to swallow and breath and telling him that he was ok, but I soon realized that he wasn't. I started unbuckling his buckles on his car seat so that I could get him in a better position as his lips starting turning blue. He threw up a little mucusy stuff and I thought that would help, but he just started choking on that and his eyes started to roll to the back of his head just as I heard the school bell ring. I reached for the door to call out to someone for help and grabbed for my phone so that I could call 911. At that moment he started coughing and throwing up a bit more, but he also started to respond to me again and the color began coming back into his face. I knew he was going to be ok. It took him a while to get his breathing back to normal. I dropped my phone and just held him. I was shaking. It was one of the scariest things I have been through.
The thing that I found kind of weird about the whole thing was that Spencer was also in the car and he had been talking to (at) me. When this started happening, he just kept right on talking as though nothing was going on. I kept telling him to hold on for a minute and that Bryce was choking and not breathing. He briefly looked at Bryce and then went right on chatting away. Maybe that is normal 5 year old behavior, I don't know, but it just seemed kind of strange to me that he continued in his own little world and didn't even seem to notice that there was a problem at all. Whatever.
Anyway, on to the great news. After 2 hours of phone calls this morning and almost giving up, I finally talked to someone who could tell me where we are with Bryce's communication device. I had talked to Bryce's case manager, our insurance, and lots of other people who either didn't know anything about it or who were out of the office for the day. It was very frustrating and I finally couldn't think of anything else to do, but wait. I put all the paperwork I had down on my desk and started walking away. Then a thought came to me to look at the original letter that I had received back in Aug/Sept when they first did the evaluation and ordering of the product. While reading that, I read the name of the manufacturing company and had the thought that I should call them. Well, guess what, they were actually able to answer my question. And the best news is that the device has been approved by insurance and we are now just waiting for it to arrive! Hooray!!!! She did say that there is a slight backup right now so it could still be a few weeks before we get it, but at least we know it is on the way! I am so excited...and thankful for the inspiration that came which told me who to call to get my questions answered!
3 comments:
Super scary! Glad he is okay. Was he just choking or was he having a seizure, too? Did you get the results of the scan to see if he was having seizures back? Poor boy and poor mom!
I'm happy about the communication device!
Wow! I feel so bad that Bryce (and you) have to go through so much. That would have been so scary!!!
I hope that the device comes soon that is awesome that it is one step closer!!!!
Dear Jodi,
How frightening! What a good mama to be able to read the fright in Bryce's eyes. I am glad that everything turned out well. (Vomit, at rare times, is a blessed thing).
As for your other little one...we are taught in education that a child actually lives in their own world until 5-6 yrs. where they begin to contemplate a bigger world than their own needs and self.
I am glad his communication device is coming--probably bogged down by Christmas mail.
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