Bad Season

This has been a rough fall and winter for our family, illness-wise. Has anyone else been experiencing this?

After Thanksgiving week (with those two ER trips - one for Baby Butterbean and one for Banana), Banana ended up sick again last week. He went to the dr. on Monday and was diagnosed with tracheo bronchitis. After three oral medications and nebulizer treatments, he is doing much better. He had his follow-up with the dr. yesterday, and Dr. G declared Banana wonderfully healthy.

Baby Butterbean, on the other hand . . .

Sunday night, I noticed that awful, wet-sounding cough coming from Baby Butterbean, and I thought, not again! My poor baby has had upper respiratory junk pretty much since he was about six weeks old. Retractions in breathing, wheezing, fever, snot, everything. So I called the dr. before Banana's appointment yesterday and told them to add Baby Butterbean to the roster. He was running a slight temp and you could tell, he just felt rotten.

Dr. G was quite concerned about Baby Butterbean's condition, and upon examination, diagnosed him with "clinical pneumonia." I just about came unglued. The doctor said clinical pneumonia is when the child is diagnosed in the clinic with no chest x-ray. He did a CDC and determined that it was viral, so he didn't insist on a chest x-ray yesterday. But we go back to the dr. tomorrow and he'll reassess BB to see if one will be necessary. In the meantime, the same regimen: three kinds of oral meds and the nebulizer. So far today, no fever, but lots of coughing.

I was just about at my wits' end yesterday and asked Dr. G how much longer this could go on. Why was BB always getting sick? Part of it has to do with his being a tad early, certainly, but isn't there something that could be done? Dr. G mentioned a drug called Synagis and went to check BB's chart to see if he was a candidate. Synagis is a vaccine given once a month to babies, usually babies who were much more premature than BB, to prevent RSV. Dr. G was back in the exam room in short order with his mother (who runs the office) to have her explain to me about what to tell the insurance company in order to get BB's monthly vaccines. Dr. G said that BB was most definitely a candidate, having five upper respiratory episodes within six months (and he's only six months old). But apparently Synagis is very expensive and insurance is usually pretty stingy about paying for it. So please pray for us as we begin this process. Dr. G wants BB to have his first shot on Jan. 1. And please pray for BB's health in general until we can get the Synagis going.

The girls have had these dry, hacking coughs. It is more annoying to them than anything. Noodle's is pretty much all gone, but Chicken Nugget still asks for cough medicine and cough drops every day. So far, no fever for them. A few sniffles, though. But these seem to come and go with each rise and drop in the temperature. And we've been having LOTS of rises and drops in the temperature lately. Silly Texas weather.

Buffalo Wings also has had his bout with illness. He kept coughing and coughing and coughing. I kept trailing him around the house so that I could catch his lung when it fell out. It was a really bad cough, ya'll. He'll make sure the kids get to the doctor five times a week, but as for taking himself . . . nope. He won't. Finally, I insisted. I said, "You're sick. You have an infection." He said, "I'm fine. It's just allergies . . . *COUGH* *COUGH* *COUGH*" (I go over to catch his lung). And then he said . . . "OK *COUGH* I'll *COUGH* go *COUGH*" He called me from the doctor. He said, "You're right and I'm wrong. *COUGH* I have *COUGH* bronchitis and *COUGH* sinusitis *COUGH*" He's much better after a round of antibiotics.

I have had a little sore throat. That was about a week and a half ago. Now I just have a tickle in my throat. I've been, by far, the healthiest member of the family this season.

I'm praying that all of you have been wonderfully healthy and happy!

Banana Update

Banana's going to be just fine!

Dr. G was very upset that Banana didn't get better treatment at the ER. Don't get me wrong - everyone at the ER Friday night was very nice. But Dr. G felt they were not in the least bit thorough. He looked in Banana's throat and said that there was our problem - his tonsils were inflamed and full of pus. (Sorry to be so graphic.) He asked if the ER doctors had checked his throat, and was surprised to hear that they had. He said he didn't know how they could have missed that infection.

I love our dr. so much. He really loves the kids, and he doesn't take any crap. I'm not trying to sound ugly here, but sometimes you just need an advocate, and especially when it comes to the health of your kids. I used to be kind-of timid when it came to my kids' health care. After all, I'm not a doctor. I know how to use Tylenol, and that's about it. But the older I've gotten, and the more children I've had, the more vocal I've gotten when it comes to the kids' health care. So I was not in the least hesitant to insist that the ER doctors call Dr. G Friday night, even though I could tell they didn't want to. And I know how much pressure those ER doctors have to be under, with the volume of children that are seen there each day. Still . . . my child deserves the very best treatment as well. I don't go to the ER just for the fun of it. I don't mind waiting, just as long as my baby gets the correct diagnosis and treatment.

Woah! So this totally was not meant to be a little soapbox time for me, but that's what it turned in to! Sorry. All that to say, Dr. G gave Banana a good going-over today and said that as severe an infection as he has, not to be surprised if the fever hangs on for another day or two. Thank you all for your prayers! Now we know what the problem is, and Banana just needs a couple more days of antibiotics and TLC.

Very Worried

I'm very worried about my little man, Banana.

This is his sixth day with fever and no explanation. He sees the doctor in about an hour. I had thought for sure the antibiotics would have kicked in by now. Of course my kids have had fever before, but never as high as he's had, and never this many days. He is not sleeping well at night, and when the fever is extreme, he throws up. He's miserable.

Please say a little prayer for my sweetie pie Banana.