Last week I took all three kids to the Doctor because of a cough they were all battling. We have been taking the medicine she prescribed for a week now and it did seem to help the other symptoms around the cough, but not the cough. By Monday poor Ademan was coughing so violently that it would end in retching. That had us very worried because he has had a Fundoplication which is a procedure where they wrap the Esophagus around the stomach to prevent reflux. Which also means he does not have the ability to throw up. The retching was worrying me that he was putting stress on the Fundoplication. He has quite the health history, complete with feeding tube for a year and a half. So when he began retching Monday night I was just praying that we were not going to have to make a trip to the ER during the night. I decided to give him a breathing treatment and some cough medicine right before bed, which seemed to at least mellow him out enough to sleep through the night. I was aware that I could not just let it go and see if he got better so yesterday we went right back to the Doctor. She decided that he and his sisters ALL need to start doing breathing treatments every four hours. She felt that they were all struggling to breathe. Urgh!!! I can not tell you how big of a pain this is...
I feel like a pharmacist at the moment. All kids are still on antibiotics. Two kids take their antibiotics twice daily, one kid only has to take it once a day. All kids are now doing breathing treatments every four hours. Each breathing treatment takes 10 minutes then you have a few minutes of cleanup and prep for the next kid. So in reality every three hours I am doing breathing treatments since we only have one nebulizer (the machine that does the treatment) for the kids to share. All three kids are now taking Benadryl right before bed. All three kids are now taking Zyrtec when they wake up. Ademan still has to take his Prilosec first thing in the morning to help with his reflux. Oh and we can't forget that anytime Ademan has liquids to drink I have to add a thickener to whatever he is drinking so he does not reflux and aspirate. Oh my gosh! That is just craziness...
She did not order any tests because on Monday, the day prior we were at Ademans Gastroenterologists office and she ordered two large tests to be done next week at the Hospital. So let me tell you how my next week is shaping up... Tuesday Ademan checks in at the hospital for a UGI study which is an Upper Gastrointestinal Series. Then on Wednesday LeiLei checks into the hospital for her toe surgery, the doctor believes she has a bone spur and nothing worse but we will not know until he gets in there. Then on Thursday Ademan checks back into the hospital for a gastric emptying study which I believe will be a long test, at least four hours. On top of that we will still have all of our regular weekly appointments like Physical Therapy, and Behavioral Therapy. Well, that's one way to spend Spring Break...
Maybe it is better that I do not know what I am missing as far as 'uncomplicated kiddos' goes. This is my normal and as crazy as it can be at times I would not have it any other way.
Sounds like they all have what I had in January. My doc threw the pharmacy at me including a nebulizer. I can't imagine having 3 children with the same symptoms all at the same time. Even "uncomplicated" kids can have scary illnesses. Brian used to have problems with breathing when he was a baby. Into the shower for a quick treatment and then a vaporizer. He outgrew it, thank goodness. Love, Aunt Linda
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