Setting a Record

When the pediatrician walked into our exam room this afternoon, she said, "Well, are you trying to set the record for the most number of visits?"

Yes, indeed we are on record-setting pace this year (and last). I knew having two kids would mean twice the sickness, but I didn't count on this much.

Yesterday, I took Ethan for his 6 month well-child visit. He weighs in at an even 15 lbs., is 26 .25 inches long and is in the 9th percentile for weight (even lower for weight to height ratio). Since he's meeting all this developmental milestones, I think I give up on worrying about his weight. However, I am worried about his never-ending cough.

And apparently, I have reason to be. Ethan's had this cough since early December. It started off innocently enough, but it has steadily gotten worse. He had minor wheezing by the end of December and we did a round of antibiotics. He still had the cough and by yesterday, it was sounding pretty icky. Even when he was just breathing, he was raspy. And apparently, still wheezing.

So when the pediatrician listened to his lungs, she heard substantially more wheezing and ordered a breathing treatment in the office (with a nebulizer) and ordered a chest x-ray. She thinks his cough/wheezing are a result of his reflux, but we're not sure. Then she sent us home (after 3 shots and an oral vaccine) with a nebulizer of our very own to use three times a day for the next week.

Did I mention that he screamed through the entire 15 minute treatment? Oh...and Emily cried through it too, but she has her own issues......

Because today's appointment was for her. Yes, Miss Em began coughing on Sunday, while at Grandma's house. Then her nose started running, so we naturally assumed it was her allergies flaring up, which is might have been. Then she woke up on Monday with a fever which continued to climb all day. She was pretty lethargic, just sitting on the couch not really doing anything, which is very unlike her. Tuesday, she still had a fever and it climbed...and climbed...and climbed until it hit 104.4. As the pediatrician said, "That's pretty impressive!". More like scary, if you ask me. I gave her Tylenol and it did come down, but she was a miserable little gal.

So today, we went to the doctor just to make sure that Em's cough wasn't morphing into wheezing as it has once before. Well, I don't think we're dealing with wheezing this time, though we are going to be doing the inhaler three times a day again. We are, however dealing with pnuemonia. And so, Em's bedtime cocktail these days now consists of Zythromax, Nasonex, Zyrtec, Albuterol (inhaler) and Tylenol for any substantial fever.

The fun just never ends. Please pray, if you are so inclined, for a quick recovery and no more sickness for a good long time. Em's been out of school all week and will miss at least one day next week for a follow-up appointment. Getting back into the groove is hard for her on a good day, so we really need to just keep plugging along without a lot of interruptions. All this sickness is taking a toll on all of us.