Poor, Sick Elliot

Poor Elliot has been sick with a cold for about a week now. A normal cold would be somewhat OK; but, this bug has really played hardball with Elliot. On Tuesday night, I had to take Elliot to the local ER (which is more like an after hours doctor office as well as an ER) as his eyes were so gunky that he could barely open them. He was diagnosed with viral conjunctivitis caused by the congestion in his nose causing his eye ducts to also get blocked up. We were given some eye drops and told to go for a check up with his usual doctor on Thursday.
Then, in the middle of the night on Wednesday I had to make a trip to the same ER because he was so congested that he was unable to nurse no matter what I did to try and relieve the congestion. He was so hungry and could not eat. At the ER, they used the asthmatic mister on him which helped immediately and he was able to nurse. He promptly went to sleep! - But, unfortunately not for long. I only got two hours of sleep during Wednesday night due to Elliot's discomfort and strong need to be held upright to help his breathing. He was, however, able to get a couple of hours sleep at a time...so, my lack of sleep was worth his comfort.
During this whole ordeal, I had noticed that Elliot was forming dry, crusty boogers up his left nostril which were the main reason for his inability to breathe. I was unable to get these out; so, I mentioned this to his doctor at our appointment yesterday morning. Using a very neat looking, light up tool, the doctor was able to hook the booger and drag it out. Poor Elliot. He does not mind the bulb syringe; but, he hated this thing. He screamed and cried; but, after he was able to breathe much, much better after. We misted him again and the doctor let me bring a portable misting machine home with me. Unfortunately, I had to take Elliot back yesterday afternoon as another dry, crusty booger had made itself known. Again, we dragged it out and again, Elliot screamed and cried. The doctor let me bring the light up tool home citing that he not seen this amount of "dry crusties" in a kid as young as Elliot. If Elliot keeps getting these boogers, it's off to the Ear, Nose and Throat specialist for him.
Last night was better. Every three hours, I would wake Elliot to clear his nose, nurse him and mist him. He loves the mist and tries to eat it. As a result of all this intervention, he has been able to sleep much better. The eye drops are clearing out the muck from his eyes and his eyes are returning their pretty white color rather than being pink. He is now taking medicine for the thrush he has on his tongue (trying everything we can to make nursing less uncomfortable for him) and I am still putting saline up his nose and using the bulb syringe. The poor kid - the only holes on his head that I am not putting something up or in are his ears!
Hopefully he will be back to normal in a few days and I can get back to getting more sleep!