Ugh, the croup...again

Beenie woke this morning, after a restless night, unable to breathe well.  One quick listen at the stridor (tight, kind of wheezy, high pitched sound on inhalation) and I knew she had the croup.  I had her go get the stethoscope though and listened to both her throat and lungs to confirm my suspicions before calling the doctor's office.  Then I set her to drinking warm drinks to relax the airway while I was on the phone.  I really just wanted them to call in a prescription to the pharmacy - you know, save me the 45min (one way) trip, all that time in the office (not to mention the fee), when I knew what it was and what they would do to treat it.  Hey, I had(have) 120 pounds of tomatoes waiting to be canned. I really could have spent my time much better this morning (plus Beenie wouldn't have to be in a car when she wasn't feeling well - she suffers from motion sickness even when she's feeling fine).  Yuck!  A bad morning/early afternoon all around, and we haven't even started on the tomatoes.
I know why they want you to come in. I know older children don't usually get the croup.  I know they just want to be certain of the diagnosis.   But I do wish they'd flag my girls' files or something.  Every one of my children have had the croup, even as old as 17.  Beenie had it quite a lot when she was little.  I know what to do at home; I know when it's bad enough that we need the steriod treatment; I know when they need emergency treatment. Man I said "I know" a lot in this post - but I do know a lot about the croup, and I'd dearly love not to have to go to the Dr's office for it.  After all, I was telling the nurse (one I hadn't seen before) where to listen for the noise because she kept listening to her lungs. They also need to calm down a little.  If I were one of those easily agitated moms I'd have been a basket case after all the, "You need to come in RIGHT NOW!" and "We're not giving you an appointment, she needs to come straight in for assessment." stuff.  Hey, trust me, this morning had nothing on the one where Bree started coughing up blood, or the one when Ri woke up pale, with blue lips, almost incapable of breathing.
Note: This kind of makes it sound like the girls are sickly - they're not.  They're actually a pretty hardy group.  They have gotten croup at older ages, and some of them more than other kids, but one Dr thinks they may have slightly smaller than average airways, which exacerbates the problem. It's not a huge problem though.  The last episode was three years ago (4 of the 5-ages at that time-6,10,15&17), and before that there had been a lapse of several years between cases.  They've just had it enough that I can diagnose it while still partialy asleep - like this morning.
Oh well, I guess I can get off here and go redeem part of the day by putting some of those tomatoes in canning jars!

Becky