Hospitalization x 2 (plus Cooper almost died)

LAST Monday (in June), Cooper was supposed to have surgery.  I've already discussed all of that (click here).  The next day, Cooper still had fever, but that afternoon he just didn't seem right.  I checked his pulse ox and it was in the low 80's.  So Brad came home from work (but to be completely honest, I think he was kinda glad to be getting out of the intensive care nursery at UAMS) and we took Coops in to the ER.   They were ready and waiting for us.  His chest x-ray showed he had pneumonia (again or still) so they started antibiotics and admitted him.  By Wednesday morning, they were pretty sure it was viral.  So they stopped the antibiotics and we just waited for Cooper to get better.  By Friday morning, the docs felt comfortable sending him home.  Overall, he had a pretty good weekend.  He had a really high fever Saturday at 3 am, but it was quickly controlled by motrin and he never had a fever again.  Then he threw up Sunday, but he was on oxygen at the time and had a ton of air in his stomach, so we weren't too worried.  Monday he went to school and they said he was a little fussy, but had a pretty good day.  Monday night his cough was awful.  If he was awake, he was coughing.  He didn't go to sleep until almost midnight (and neither did mommy) because of the coughing.  Tuesday morning he woke up coughing again.  So we were trying to figure out if we should take him to the GPC to see Dr. Becton.  Brad talked to the pulmonary attending who had discharged Coops on Friday and she said that a pulse ox in the low 90's was ok since he was post viral.  So we were just going to take him to school.  And that is when the shit hit the fan.

I was stopped at a red light pretty close to my house.  I honestly have no idea what made me turn around and look at Cooper, but when I did I could see he wasn't breathing.  I turned completely and started shaking his legs.  Nothing.  And slowly he started turning gray.  Then purple.  Then blue.  And his body started to curl up on itself.  His head slowly lowered and he was bringing his legs up.  I have never been more scared in my whole life.  I didn't know what to do.  Plus, I was hysterical.  Crying and freaking out.  I called 911 and when the first man I talked to figured out that I was in the car with Cooper, he transfered me to someone else (state vs. local maybe?).  That second man directed me to the Baptist ER, since it was closer.  He literally gave me step by step directions to the emergency room.  Plus managed to calm me down enough that I was coherent by the time I got there.  I was waved straight into triage.  Cooper was breathing at this point, but it was very shallow and Cooper was limp and unresponsive.  As soon as I told the triage nurse what happened, she grabbed Cooper and started yelling at him and shaking him, trying to get him to wake up, while running to a trauma room to get him oxygen.  Brad got there soon after (sacrificing a tire in his speed to get to us) and within the hour Cooper was at Children's in the PICU.  He moved this afternoon to a ward room, since he was greatly improved.  The running theory is that he choked on a mucus plug.  This is not my favorite theory because it is something that could happen again without warning.  And I'm not sure I will be comfortable being alone in a car with Cooper ever again.  Cooper takes a medicine that dries his secretions and they have upped that dosage.  But really, I don't think I could handle that ever happening again.