Exhale. Bedside of my oldest around midnight. Twenty seven exhalations per minute. Sound asleep but breathing as fast as a panting dog. Out of my depth.
Exhale. The on-call nurse notes twenty seven exhalations per minute earns my son and me a trip to the emergency room.
Exhale. 1:00 AM detour around a fatal automobile accident, law enforcement wants to know where I am headed. Downtown, ER. Concrete cutters on the freeway fill the air with pulverized road, lights bright as day on the line of backed up cars.
Exhale. The new Children’s Hospital, empty waiting room – beautiful. A slow night? No, the patient they just admitted waited three hours. Luck.
Exhale. Blood oxygen saturation low, not awful. Not pneumonia. Wheezing – short breath resulting from viral inability to…exhale.
Inhale. Albuterol, a bronchodilator.
Home. Sleeping children. Fifteen exhalations per minute. Dawn comes soon. Exhale.
Shouldn't...but Do 
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