And I considered canceling this appointment??

Brody got a cough on Sunday morning but I thought it was from the ice cream he ate the night before (He gets a cough anytime he has any dairy). By Tuesday evening he was much worse than usual, I scheduled an appointment on Wednesday morning and took him in at 11:50. I was planning on getting a prescription of Prednisone (sp?) a steroid to help his lungs. He was on this steroid when he had RSV at ten months because of his asthma.

The Dr. came in and listened to him, said he was wheezing and that he wanted us to do a breathing treatment of albuterol. I did the treatment and when the Dr. came in to listen again he said "now he has crackling". I didn't know what the "crackling" meant, but by the look on the Dr's face I could tell it wasn't good. I asked him if that meant it wasn't asthma and what it could mean. He told me "possible pneumonia" and sent us to get x-rays of Brody's lungs.

Brody did great while getting the x-rays done! I was able to be in there and help him which made a huge difference (his last x-ray -on his hip- was done while I was pregnant with little Gavin so I wasn't able to be in there with him. It broke my heart). He got 2 x-rays done and we had to re-do one so a total of 3! He was so brave! He got 2 stickers for being so good!

When we went back to the room the Dr had us start another breathing treatment while we waited for the x-ray results. He came back and told me that it wasn't a bacterial pneumonia (which is the worse kind) but it was a viral pneumonia. From the x-rays, the Dr could see that the pneumonia was spread out all through his lungs... scattered. Brody fell asleep during his 2ND breathing treatment so the Dr had me stop it and let him sleep for about 20 minutes.

Dr came back in and listened to Brody again. He checked his oxygen levels while he was asleep and they were at 86 (not good). He had me start the breathing treatment again and then wake him up to see if his levels would go up again. They went to 90 once he woke up. The Dr said " I hope you didn't have someplace to be!" I told him I was going to meet up with Bobby for lunch, but we'll do whatever we need to for Brody. He then said "I'm just trying to do everything I can to not have to send you to the hospital". I was shocked!

We ended up getting a prescription for an antibiotic and the steroid. We also had oxygen and a monitor (to check his oxygen levels) delivered to our house that evening. We have a nebulizer and have had to give him breathing treatments every 3 hours, although after the first day on his meds he has been doing much better and only gets a breathing treatment when needed- usually morning, afternoon, and before bed.

The first night with the oxygen was pretty hard. I was up most of the night and slept very lightly. His levels wouldn't go about 86 and the Dr wanted them at 90. I wasn't sure what to do, so I prayed. A lot. I felt so much better and was able to go to bed. Bobby and his dad gave him a priesthood blessing on Wednesday night and I had comfort in that. I am so thankful for this amazing gift in our lives.

The next morning I went upstairs to turn off the oxygen and found that it wasn't even on. I could have screamed!!! I was actually a little relieved once a few hours passed :) I began to think that even though his levels were low, they weren't too low WITH oxygen. They could have actually gone up! It made me realize that he wasn't as bad as I started to think the night before! (The reason it was off is that the oxygen was still in the chamber and showed a green=full level on the bottle... meaning "on". Turns out it can still show a little oxygen in there even if it's off. My bad! and, a good lesson!)

Last night was his REAL first night with oxygen and he stayed at 91! It was awesome! He's been doing great with all of this medicine and tubing stuff- a lot better than I expected! He had no problem putting his monitor on either- he just wants to make sure it won't hurt so he has to touch it first. He hated the "stickers" the first night- the things that stick on his cheeks to hold the tubes in place. He didn't like me taking them off and they left a nice red mark all day. I resorted to using band-aids which work quite well! While I'm putting everything on him he'll say "I sick?" (in a sad, concerned voice) After I put everything on him last night I turned on Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and went out of the room. He tried to get out of bed about 3 minutes later but was stopped by everything attached to him. I heard him start to cry and ran in there. He was standing by the side of the bed and I felt so bad. I put him back in bed and he held up a wire while crying "monitor, monitor" Poor little guy. I don't' leave him unless he is ASLEEP now!

I should be talking to the Dr sometime today to give a report, but Brody has been doing much better (to me, anyway!). He still looks a little sick and has his cough, but the meds are helping a ton! He is eating like normal and playing sports as always! You can't stop a sick kid. We have to keep telling him to be calm and to not play too rough. Thank goodness I didn't cancel this appointment and just wait it out. Turns out he was more sick than I even imagined. We're glad he's feeling better and hopes he's completely better soon!! We love him!