This past week started with Charlie getting a little cough. Nothing to slow him down; just an annoyance. By Tuesday evening, however, he was laid out on the couch feeling miserable. The cough had worsened and he was running a fever that we couldn't seem to control. So, Wednesday morning I called the pediatrician and they got him in right away.
I fully expected another "his lungs sound fine - its just a cold - fluids and rest" kind of diagnosis. That seems to be what happens when I get over anxious about him coughing or not acting quite right. But the pediatrician definitely heard something in his left lung and was concerned. They ran an RSV test (that came back negative) and gave him a breathing treatment in the office. She listened to him again and sent us to get a chest x-ray. Luckily our pediatrician's is located within a medical center that has a radiology office so I was able to just scoop him up and carry him down the hall. He was so miserable he was fighting every step of every procedure he was subjected to. It was heart wrenching. They did see something in the "upper section of his lower left lobe" and diagnosed it as pneumonia. Since he had no symptoms leading up to this, the guess is that he aspirated something into his lungs that caused the pneumonia. He had choked during dinner right before this started, so we don't know if that is when it happened or another reflux episode. They put him on a five day antibiotic and breathing treatments every four hours and thankfully he bounced back fairly quickly. By Thursday afternoon he was able to get off the couch and play a little bit, though he got winded easily. And he has just continued to improve since then. He still has a cough and gets short of breath here and there, but is basically back to normal!
Which is good since we had a big weekend planned! Friday was Charlie's 2nd birthday! :-) On his birthday we brought him out to a diner by our house for dinner then over to the pet store to pick out his present...... a cute little goldfish! Mommy and Daddy are not exactly "fish people" but Charlie has taken a liking to goldfish thanks to Elmo's pet goldfish, Dorothy. We thought he would name his after her, but instead he chose to name him Nemo. He gets so excited to feed him every morning and it seems to have been a good choice in presents since he certainly didn't need any new toys! He requested a blue birthday cake with Elmo, so that was what he got and he was quite pleased! Grandma and Grandpa joined us for cake and it was a great day all around.
On Saturday we had a birthday party at our house with our friends and family. He has been looking forward to this party for weeks and was so excited. I have a video of him talking about his birthday that I have to figure out how to post (it is on my phone and I cant quite figure out how to get it here...) We stuck with the Sesame Street theme and it all came together really well. Charlie loved seeing everyone (including the Olmsteads with Charlie's special girl, Kayla!!!) and soaked it all in! He completely bathed himself in Elmo red frosting making for some pretty messy picture moments. It was a great time and we are so lucky to be able to surround ourselves with such an amazing group of people to who love us and Charlie in particular.
Big boy insisting on holding the nebulizer mask himself.
Blue birthday cake with Elmo and M&Ms :-)
trying to blow out the candle
cake time!
He is trying really hard to get Elmo with his fork!
the next morning: learning how to feed his fish
(lesson learned: 2 year olds need to learn by example.
Do not put the food in his hand and expect him to
know what to do because you will end up with fish
food being thrown at the tank rather than sprinkled into it!)
cupcakes ready for the party!!
the birthday boy (with a mouthful of goldfish crackers)
enjoying cupcake #1
For some reason a frosting facial
sounded like a great plan to him!
And cupcake #2
Much damage was done
(Can you guess which Muppet this used to be???)
Goodbye hugs for Kayla Mae
so sweet!!!
1 comment:
I looooove the cupcake #2 photo!! Haha, so cute!
Post a Comment