Man oh man, it's been a tough twelve days. We seem to be on the mend. It started with Brent and Shanyn's wedding. That was not tough, we will get to it in the next post. Then the Sunday after Bricen started showing signs that he wasn't feeling well. I already had a scratchy throat the day of their wedding. It all went down hill from there.
Before I go further, this is my sister. I had went to the grocery, armed with my list of foods Bricen can not have and the words that don't come out and say wheat, milk and eggs but, are really wheat, milk and eggs. I knew I'd be there longer but had no idea I'd be there 29 hours. Anyways, about thirty minutes in I was fighting tears. Is gluten the same as wheat free? Is lactose free milk free? flustered. Yes, lots of kids have allergies. It's not the end of the world. I was just worked up. I needed to find food for the gosh for saken feeding trial to start the next day and I was getting frustrated and overwhelmed. Literally, fighting tears in the dairy section. A few might have actually fallen. I quickly sucked it up. Mostly because if a woman crying in the dairy section of the grocery doesn't say cray cray, idk what does. Anyways, my sister joined me. I tried to play it cool, but I was sure glad to see her. :0) I am thankful that we know about the allergies, just wish we had went to an allergist at our big children's hospital. Feel like they would have been more informative and helpful. Not, yea he is allergic to milk eggs and wheat. See you in a month. Maybe the allergies are adding to his oral aversion in a way. And I literally prayed while we were waiting for that Dr. for God to guide him, lead him to whatever testing may or may not need done in order to help Bricen. Now we know, maybe we can get him healthy and make big strides. p.s. the fruit my sister is holding is called Buddhas hand. She was so curious about it she had to Google it right then.
This is what I've learned about myself. I can not buy Christmas gifts early! Never Ever again!
What was I suppose to do? The pumpkin was sick and he worked so hard getting it down the hall!
Aunt Karen came to visit. She left to get us some pedialyte and came back with a surprise for this big boy! Her little visit helped keep my sane. I'm sure of it. He is very into sitting at the table in the big chair these days. He gives captain safety (Daddy) nine heart attacks each time he climbs up it. And even when he is sick he is saying "thank you" to everything! He will pick something up off the ground and hand it to me to throw away and say "thank you". So sweet.
So this started Sunday night for Bricen. I had him at the pediatrician Thursday and then Friday again. Yes, I was that mom and I did not care. He was coughing his head off. Pulmonary had already said he might need some breathing treatments to get through these winter colds. Each time I got the "his ears and chest are clear" and was sent on our way. By Sunday my baby was miserable. Sleeping, weak, you could tell it literally pained him to cough. It was pathetic. Moaning and whimpering. So back we went to the Sunday clinic. Same thing. And at that point I was officially done with that physician and his partner. Same office that kept dragging their feet on C diff testing in February and made my baby suffer for a month until they finally tested for it.
I called the pharmacy Sunday night to ask for OTC suggestion for the cough and they guy says in so many words, "yea, I'm gonna refer you to the physician. I can hear him coughing in the background and sounds like he might benefit from some breathing treatments or steroids." Yep, sure does, sure does. We were trying the vicks on his feet with socks, his chest, honey, etc etc. We spent a lot of time in a steamed up bathroom and then a few times let the cool air from outside hit him in order to get him out of a coughing fit. He was miserable. Few times I was turning on extra lights to see just what color his lips were. Let me be clear. I know babies can not do cough suppressant. But if he is having bronchospasms you (doctor) can help him.
I myself went to the minute clinic on Sunday and left with four scripts, one of which was an inhaler. I felt guilty using the meds because my poor baby was so miserable and I could not get anyone to give him anything. Ugh!
Monday I called said office again. Idk what those ladies are doing that I can't see but at least his office staff is always nice. I'm gonna guess I've gotten an eye roll or two. hahaha. They ordered a chest x ray. I had listened to his lungs several times. Thought I heard some fine crackles a couple times. Hard to tell. I'm use to adults that sit still and stay quiet while I listen. I'm use to ordering a stat chest x ray per protocol if need be. Got a call that the x ray was "normal".
I called our insurance and changed his PCP and then made an appointment for Tuesday with a new pediatrician.
And here we are. I will add that of course, he got a second wind once we got there. I was thinking this kid is going to make a liar out of me. Haha It was short lived though. :o( Anyways. I'm telling new pediatrician that prev Dr. called and said chest x ray was normal. She stopped me and said no it wasn't. She showed me the dictation pulled up the images for me to see. Was it horrible? no. But it was not normal. (Insert any derogatory names you want to call the old pediatrician here, because I'm sure they all went through my head at this time.) And his ears? "Full of puss." "Oh yeah, that thing is just covered." (Again, in my head bleep bleep bleh bleep bleep bleep) It's enough to make me lose my baptist hat. His cough was easing up but she assured me she would hook us up w/nebs if we need em in the future. And we left with an antibiotic.
Few friends suggested I call the previous Dr. back and inform them of a few things. I just wanted and want to be done with them. Done. And really, what would that do? Nothing. I will say, when I went in to request records be transferred, I was tempted to put "you suck" in the space asking why we are asking records be transferred. I didn't.
He is still not back to himself. He still has times that he will just whimper and moan. But it's getting better. And my oh my was he a mama's boy during all this! I know he is feeling better because he is letting Daddy do some of the holding. See Marty's hat pulled up? We froze him out. If Bricen or I got hot we'd cough more so poor daddy froze to death. Haha
After we got the script, later that night his button started leaking. I mean, for the love....We've never had a problem with leaking. And I'm not talking about a little drainage around the site, I mean his shirt and my shirt would be soaked. I was concerned he was missing entire feeds. And how would I get his antibiotic or Tylenol down him? I was stressing! I called Riley and talked to the GTube nurse. We changed out his button just to try to trouble shoot what we could. I had already checked the balloon on the old one and it seemed fine but I was at a loss. It is better, thank Jesus but we still have random times he will have a big leak. All I can figure out is that he lost a couple lbs. during all this. Maybe it was just looser? Anyways, I thought some might be interested to see the button. The balloon on the bottom is in his belly. The part at the top of the stem sticks out. Thank god for modern medicine.
We have an appointment with Pulmonary Friday. I had called them on Monday as well. I was determined to get somebody to help this baby. We were suppose to be released unless we needed them. Got a copy of the images of the chest xray for them to see. Hopefully we can just check in and they won't go crazy thinking we need anything else done.
It's a good thing I don't get really sick very often because my husband will vouch. I heard more than once "You're a meanie when your sick." Haha. I went back to the Dr. today for my wellness check for insurance at work.. Day 5 on my antibiotic and my lungs still sound junky. I pray Bricen can fully kick this and quickly!
