Can't Catch a Break

The cold wintery weather is holding on as long as possible this year which means these winter germs aren't backing down at all either. Everyone has been fighting off a cold these past few weeks and it finally caught up with Charlie a few days ago. Started with the sniffles and then he developed a cough. Unfortunately it became evident that we were dealing with more than the common cold when he got a fever that just kept climbing and wouldn't go away despite regular motrin. Poor thing was miserable with tons of congestion and mucous making him cough pretty much nonstop and gag regularly.

I brought him to the pediatrician's Tuesday morning after his breathing became obviously labored and he wasn't making any improvements at all. Turns out his cold had developed into an ear infection and a rattling in his right lung that might be another round of pneumonia. The NP who saw us didn't want to expose him to another chest xray unnecessarily, so he prescribed an antibiotic that should be able to handle the ear infection and whatever is going on in his lung.

So after two days of antibiotics and no improvement at all, we went back to the pediatrician this morning. Our poor pitiful little boy has literally spent the bulk of this week on the couch requesting movies, cuddling, and sleeping whenever his cough allows him a break. The NP was obviously concerned. We ended up getting a CBC, nebulizer treatment, chest xray and inconclusive diagnosis. There is no sign of pneumonia, but they did detect irritation in his bronchioles.

The thought is that Charlie caught a cold, the cold aggravated his reflux, and his reflux has irritated his lungs. Because of the fever there is some infection somewhere, so they are being aggressive. He was given an antibiotic injection in the office and we were given a script for a new antibiotic for the next 10 days and are hoping this does the trick!

Today was CDH Awareness Day and we will be putting together a special post in honor of today as soon as things settle down here a little... and by settle down, I mean not being forced to sit on the couch and watch Elmo and Thomas for hours on end while trying to convince Charlie to drink more juice and water. :-)

Where does the time go....

More than a month since my last post and I have no idea where the time went! Following his birthday, Charlie had a couple appointments - 2 year physical and his regularly scheduled check up with the surgeon. Charlie has taken huge steps backwards in terms of his anxiety level at the doctor's office. It is a struggle to keep him even remotely calm at all. At his physical he cried and fought so hard while getting his vitals that he fell asleep in my arms while waiting for the pediatrician to come in (a blessing in disguise!). He has never been completely at ease at the doctor's, but we were making some progress before he got sick last month. That appointment with feeling completely miserable, having an RSV test, a breathing treatment, and a chest xray while confined in that stupid Pigg-o-Stat contraption put him right over the edge.

Luckily the technician we had at the hospital for Charlie's chest xray prior to seeing the surgeon does not believe in putting children old enough to communicate and remember things in the Pigg-o-Stat. Though the trauma he suffered the time before was obvious and it took 4 xrays to get 2 clear views because he was in a melt down. Dr Ratner was happy with what he continues to see on the xrays though and has said we only need to come in once a year from here on out for checkups. His only concern was the fact that everyone believes the pneumonia in the beginning of February was caused by his reflux and aspirating something into his lungs. He wants us to see a GI specialist to get their input and make sure someone is keeping closer tabs on where things stand with his reflux. That appointment is in a couple of weeks. Sadly, this was our last time seeing Dr Ratner because he will be retiring this summer. He is an amazing doctor and person and we were so lucky to have him on our team these past 2 years.

Other than doctor office drama, Charlie is amazing. He speaks so clearly and (when he is not screeching in temper tantrum mode) he communicates really well. His latest thing in pretend playing. He sleeps with a few stuffed animal friends and many times I have heard him in his crib role playing with his friends, having full on conversations, playing hide-and-seek under the blankets, putting them to sleep... its so cute! He has also mastered the art of manipulation. We went to put him to bed the other night and he said, "no Daddy...want to watch basketball with you..." Of course Daddy let him stay up after that! He knows how to play the system!

We are looking forward to spring and warm weather. Charlie is just itching to get outside and insisted (in the aftermath of a major meltdown) that he wanted to sit out on the porch and swing. It was a bit chilly, but still light out, so we bundled up with blankets and swung on the porch swing for more than a half hour. Hopefully he will always want to just sit on the swing with us from time to time.

Truck/Train/Vehicle infatuation still going strong!

Seeing this made me seriously wonder if he has too many toys...

He created himself a "bed" with all the pillows and blankets

on the floor and then added every single stuffed animal

within reach and all of his books. He then proceeded to "read"

to the stuffed animals. All without any prompting from anyone!

Momma made play dough!

Don't know why I bothered to make different colors

because they all just got smooshed together into a

greenish brownish swamp color by the end...

Throwing stale bread out for the birds and squirrels

He loves to color!

Thomas!

And this is what I came back to find at the dining room table

after walking away to get something. Who knew bologna and

cheese could stick to your face so effectively?! :-)