Hanging out at the Mercy.

It has been a whirlwind of a week around our house, as usual.

Ethan and I took a trip to Urgent Care on Wednesday afternoon for what I felt was definitely not admission worthy crumminess, but alas, I was wrong. Ethan's virus panel came back positive for only one virus; Coronavirus. Or a freight train version of the common cold. The hangover results without the fun! It causes upper respiratory issues-thus the oxygen needed for sats in the 80's, and gastroenteritis, thus the inability for him to tolerate anything more than Pedialyte right now.

What is really kind of freaking everyone out is that fact that Ethan continues to Brady down, or drop his heart rate. To the 30's. and not just while sleeping. It was pretty chaotic when he got down to 37 and hung there for a while. That low a heart rate gets a lot of people in your room. Fast. While awake he hangs in the low 40's-still pretty concerning. Cardiology was called and they recommended to stop his Digoxin and check a Dig level for toxicity. It's not back yet, but I'm pretty comfortable that's not it. *update: not the Digoxin.
His admission last fall he showed a new 'normal' sinus bradycardia in the low 50's. Now we are even lower than that consistently. I won't lie, it kind of scares me a little.
Is it the illness? Is this his new normal?
What happens when his new normal is in the 20's? Teens?

We don't get really excited about Ethan's illnesses, or we would be crazy. When the time warrants, we react appropriately. But I was chastised by the Urgent Care Dr yesterday for taking him there vs. the ER. She asked what our criteria were for deciding which place to take him. I told her I didn't feel he was sick enough that an admission was in the cards so we chose the UC route. Her concern was -mind you, she has taken care of the bald kid before in the hospital-her concern was us taking him to Urgent Care for a seemingly minor issue and him crump there. Should they have to code him or provide care for him that was more advanced than they are accustomed to, is Urgent Care the right place for him? She admittedly told us Ethan scares her. She's seen him go bad before and did not feel they could safely take care of him in Urgent Care.

Looks like we'll be heading down to the big house from here on out. I get that he makes people nervous, and I sure don't want someone treating him that is afraid of him. He keeps Dr's on their toes, that's for sure, and many have learned you can't take for granted he will follow the norm of any course of treatment. But come on, you're a pediatric urgent care Dr.
Coughs , colds, tummy aches, earaches and sprains may not be all that walks through your doors. Sometimes a really crappy sick kid might. And this time I didn't feel he was that kid. Yet.
It's frustrating, because I feel like maybe I'm reading him wrong, or have become too complacent with Ethan's new norms, that I don't get more excited when I should.
I'm going to talk to his regular pediatrician about her thoughts, and I guess in the meantime all our trips will be to the Emergency Room rather than the Urgent Care.

On the flip side, we sit here and watch his heart rate hang in the low 40's, and his oxygen levels hang in the mid 80's unless he's on a liter of oxygen. All the while one group of Dr's getting excited and another group of Dr's with little to no concerns about these changes.
When should we get concerned? Or when will they?