I imagine many of you are wondering why I haven’t posted about our Disney World trip, yet. Well, when it rains, it pours.
Since we’ve been home (last Thursday), we haven’t had much down time. We celebrated my little sister’s birthday Friday evening, Valentine’s Day Saturday evening, and Cadie started getting sick on Sunday. Her breathing became very ragged and labored that evening, and she was restless all night. I think we got a combined two to three hours of sleep. So Monday morning, sleep-deprived and bleary-eyed, I called the pediatrician and made an appointment. She rested in my lap all morning until I finally drug her mattress into the living room, propped her up, and allowed her to rest like a queen. She loved it.
My first thought was RSV, but my gut kept telling me it was pneumonia. My gut was right. Dr. Mayberry wasn’t in the office Monday, so we saw Dr. Freed. He was concerned about how tight her breathing was, so we did some X-rays – Cadie’s first since the hospital – and some breathing treatments. He also measured her oxygen saturation using a Pulsox. She was “satting” around 94 (out of 100). Cadie did really well with the X-rays. I couldn’t ask for a better sick kid. She’s quiet, still, and very cooperative. She stood totally still, giggling just occasionally, and we got two X-rays on the first try. The technician asked if it was okay for me to stay in the room with her. She hesitated, then asked if there was a possibility I was pregnant. I laughed and left it at that.
Once we got back to the exam room, we started the breathing treatment. Cadie did breathing treatments for about a year after she came home from the hospital, but they were very different from this one. She used to do her breathing treatments with a mask connected to a chamber through which the medicine was pumped distributed from something similar to an asthma inhaler. It was a couple of pumps, then we were done. This is a lot more involved. The medicine is squirted into a chamber that connects to a piece that goes in Cadie’s mouth. Then, the medicine is vaporized using a nebulizer. All in all, it takes about 15 to 20 minutes for the whole process. Once Dr. Freed mentioned breathing treatments, I felt a lot better about Cadie’s condition. She’s always responded very well to breathing treatments.
The improvements were evident right away. He examined after the first treatment and could tell her breathing had already loosened up substantially. Dr. Freed ordered another breathing treatment, so we sat through the whole process again. After the second treatment, Cadie was starting to act like her usual self, and Dr. Freed was very happy with her progress. After the second treatment, she was “satting” around 91 (he explained the phenomenon of the sat actually going down after treatments before rising again, but I’m not going to bore you with it), so we had to wait a while for the treatments to show results on the Pulsox. Finally, about two hours later, things were looking much better. I wasn’t surprised when they had to move the monitor to her toes to get a decent reading on the Pulsox. That’s where we had to keep it to get a good reading when she was a baby. These things, I guess, don’t change. Dr. Freed sent us home with a nebulizer, a prescription for Albuterol (the steroid that goes with the nebulizer), a prescription for an oral steroid, and an antibiotic. He advised us that we wouldn’t need to bring Cadie in for a check-up unless she didn’t appear to be getting better.
That night, both of the girls crashed from exhaustion. Cadie slept really well and woke the next morning a changed kiddo. She’s done really well with her breathing treatments, putting up only the occasional protest. She’s not a big fan of the oral medicine (who is?), but as long as Maddie and I chant, “Drink, drink, drink, drink!” she giggles and chugs it all down. Her breathing was noticeably improved right away. The wheezing disappear almost immediately and her coughing lessened to just enough to break up the congestion.
Yesterday, Maddie started showing signs of not feeling well. Once we found out Cadie was sick, I started taking precautions to make sure they shared as few germs as possible. I don’t think Maddie has pneumonia, just a touch of something else, but I’m doing my best to make sure it’s not passed back to Cadie.
Last night, Maddie was having a hard time resting, so I brought her into our room with intentions of letting her sleep with Daddy until I finished up with my tasks for the evening. As I carried her to our room, I had the privilege of being thrown up on for the very first time. I’ve felt like a mom for ages now, but it’s nice to know I’ve experienced another rite of passage. Bless her heart, I got her cleaned up and showed her how to be sick over the potty. She was upset, but kept it together pretty well. After I got her new jammies on her, she curled up in bed with a very brave daddy and fell asleep. She slept well the rest of the evening, and woke with only a mild temperature this morning. It seems she, too, is on the mend.
Please don’t let the cycle start again!
Since we’ve been home (last Thursday), we haven’t had much down time. We celebrated my little sister’s birthday Friday evening, Valentine’s Day Saturday evening, and Cadie started getting sick on Sunday. Her breathing became very ragged and labored that evening, and she was restless all night. I think we got a combined two to three hours of sleep. So Monday morning, sleep-deprived and bleary-eyed, I called the pediatrician and made an appointment. She rested in my lap all morning until I finally drug her mattress into the living room, propped her up, and allowed her to rest like a queen. She loved it.
My first thought was RSV, but my gut kept telling me it was pneumonia. My gut was right. Dr. Mayberry wasn’t in the office Monday, so we saw Dr. Freed. He was concerned about how tight her breathing was, so we did some X-rays – Cadie’s first since the hospital – and some breathing treatments. He also measured her oxygen saturation using a Pulsox. She was “satting” around 94 (out of 100). Cadie did really well with the X-rays. I couldn’t ask for a better sick kid. She’s quiet, still, and very cooperative. She stood totally still, giggling just occasionally, and we got two X-rays on the first try. The technician asked if it was okay for me to stay in the room with her. She hesitated, then asked if there was a possibility I was pregnant. I laughed and left it at that.
Once we got back to the exam room, we started the breathing treatment. Cadie did breathing treatments for about a year after she came home from the hospital, but they were very different from this one. She used to do her breathing treatments with a mask connected to a chamber through which the medicine was pumped distributed from something similar to an asthma inhaler. It was a couple of pumps, then we were done. This is a lot more involved. The medicine is squirted into a chamber that connects to a piece that goes in Cadie’s mouth. Then, the medicine is vaporized using a nebulizer. All in all, it takes about 15 to 20 minutes for the whole process. Once Dr. Freed mentioned breathing treatments, I felt a lot better about Cadie’s condition. She’s always responded very well to breathing treatments.
The improvements were evident right away. He examined after the first treatment and could tell her breathing had already loosened up substantially. Dr. Freed ordered another breathing treatment, so we sat through the whole process again. After the second treatment, Cadie was starting to act like her usual self, and Dr. Freed was very happy with her progress. After the second treatment, she was “satting” around 91 (he explained the phenomenon of the sat actually going down after treatments before rising again, but I’m not going to bore you with it), so we had to wait a while for the treatments to show results on the Pulsox. Finally, about two hours later, things were looking much better. I wasn’t surprised when they had to move the monitor to her toes to get a decent reading on the Pulsox. That’s where we had to keep it to get a good reading when she was a baby. These things, I guess, don’t change. Dr. Freed sent us home with a nebulizer, a prescription for Albuterol (the steroid that goes with the nebulizer), a prescription for an oral steroid, and an antibiotic. He advised us that we wouldn’t need to bring Cadie in for a check-up unless she didn’t appear to be getting better.
That night, both of the girls crashed from exhaustion. Cadie slept really well and woke the next morning a changed kiddo. She’s done really well with her breathing treatments, putting up only the occasional protest. She’s not a big fan of the oral medicine (who is?), but as long as Maddie and I chant, “Drink, drink, drink, drink!” she giggles and chugs it all down. Her breathing was noticeably improved right away. The wheezing disappear almost immediately and her coughing lessened to just enough to break up the congestion.
Yesterday, Maddie started showing signs of not feeling well. Once we found out Cadie was sick, I started taking precautions to make sure they shared as few germs as possible. I don’t think Maddie has pneumonia, just a touch of something else, but I’m doing my best to make sure it’s not passed back to Cadie.
Last night, Maddie was having a hard time resting, so I brought her into our room with intentions of letting her sleep with Daddy until I finished up with my tasks for the evening. As I carried her to our room, I had the privilege of being thrown up on for the very first time. I’ve felt like a mom for ages now, but it’s nice to know I’ve experienced another rite of passage. Bless her heart, I got her cleaned up and showed her how to be sick over the potty. She was upset, but kept it together pretty well. After I got her new jammies on her, she curled up in bed with a very brave daddy and fell asleep. She slept well the rest of the evening, and woke with only a mild temperature this morning. It seems she, too, is on the mend.
Please don’t let the cycle start again!
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