i'm sick of sickness

We had to take Brecken to Laramie today, to see a "real" pediatrician since we don't have any in Saratoga. He just hasn't been able to kick the illness that put him in the hospital, even though it's been almost a month. Last night, he was breathing SUPER fast (76 breaths a minute!) and could hardly catch his breath. And Amy said at her house yesterday, he was saying his chest hurt and she could feel his heart POUNDING. So Josh called the Laramie Children's Clinic as soon as they opened and got an appointment for this afternoon. We both went.

Dr. Horst, the pediatrician, is almost positive Brecken has the virus that is identical to RSV, called the Human something-something Virus, but there isn't a test for it yet. But he's almost positive that's what B has. He thinks he got it a while ago, before the hospital stay. With this virus, it hangs on for a long time, and magnifies all other small germs, which totally makes sense because I keep wondering why my kid has the worst colds ever!! He's never been 100% since the hospital stay. Dr. Horst also thinks, based on our reports about the hospital stay, that B might have had a bit of pneumonia, but since he wasn't there, he can't say for sure. Anyway, since B has had this human something-something Virus for a while, the only treatment he is going to do for it is continue the nebulizer treatments 2-3 times a day and as needed. After a few days, we can cut back to just as needed. And if he doesn't have a healthy day by the end of February, we can come back and we'll talk about a steroid inhaler. Brecken has a bit of a wheeze in his lungs, but Dr. Horst doesn't want to classify it as asthma yet. I asked how he knows WHEN to say it's asthma (because I've always wondered if B has it...) and he said after a 3rd round of nebulizer treatments, he is "safe" to call it asthma. This doesn't count as a "round" though, since it's treating the virus. We told him he's been on nebulizer treatments before, and he said then sometime down the line, asthma might be discussed.

Anyway, he sent us to the Lincare place with a prescription to buy our own nebulizer machine since we seem to need it so much and I anticipate needing it more in the future. :) Cost us $150, but we can submit it to insurance. Plus, it will pay off because we won't have to pay a rental fee each time we need it now! We borrowed Amy's that she owns, last night, but now we can send that back to her house and have albuterol in the diaper bag so if she needs to give B a treatment at her house (like if a heart thing happens again like what happened yesterday), she can.

About the heart thing- Dr. Horst said in this age of kids, chest pain is always breathing related and not cardiac related. That makes me feel better!

We really liked Dr. Horst. He spent a long time listening to the lungs and doing a VERY good history. Asked a ton of questions. He was awesome with Brecken while looking in his ears (he was looking for french fries!) and nose (he said, "I want to look at your boogers!") and stuff. We have decided that we can go to the clinic here for shots, but anything more than that, we will be taking B to Laramie. Bummer that it takes so long to get there, but worth it for the care. The clinic has not been impressive to us lately. Today if we had gone there, they would've spent 2 minutes with B and not done anything.

We think he gained a half a pound since the hospital stay. He wouldn't stand on the scale but we weighed me holding him, and then just me. It read 23 pounds. He was 22 lbs, 8 oz. in the hospital. Yay for a good weight gain! But 23 pounds for a 2 1/2 year old makes me giggle. :)

While waiting for Josh to check out, B was playing in the kid area. There was a little guy playing there too, and it turns out his name was Brecken, too! Crazy!

So there's the update. Maybe soon this thing will go away and my boy can be healthy again!