Post Results and a Name

These polls are always so fun for me!  I love having something fun like this to show my little one later on in life.  In truth the polls probably don't weigh a ton on what we are going to name our little one.  However, I  certainly love to hear what people's opinions are concerning the names we are thinking.  So the results of the nameing poll was as follows:

Evellyn: 30%

Madison 60%

Breeann: 10%

Now the big question is...have we picked a name?  Nope!  Did you really think we would have?!  Russ has picked what he wants the name to be.  I'm not sure about it though.  So, it will probably be a pick-at-the-hospital name again.  We'll see...

Asthma and Allergies

I'm sure you can tell where this post is going to lead, but I'm going to spell it out anyway.

After talking with my friend on the phone about her son and RAD, Russ and I decided it was time to take some action concerning Charlotte.  At that point she still had a runny nose and was coughing up a storm, even though it had been more than two weeks since the "cold" had started.  Instead of going back to the pediatrician, we went against his wishes and went to an allergist in town.  He was recommended by a friend because he really listens to you.  Also while checking to make sure he was covered by our insurance we discovered he was a Pediatric allergist.  SCORE!

Miraculously Russ had Friday off since they were doing maintenance at the plant.  Some close friends volunteered to watch the other two girls for us while Russ, Char, and I went to the allergist at 7:30 am.  Since we were the first patients of the day we were seen quickly by the doctor.  He started out by asking us exactly how things had started and progressed for Charlotte.  He listened as we spelled out the whole thing.  The best thing was that he completely believed me that Char had been sick since January.  Hallelujah!  We got through to the hospital part with him asking some questions.  Upon hearing exactly how fast Char went from cold symptoms to not really breathing on her own, he grew quite concerned.  He kept saying, "wow, that is fast!"

He asked about if she had been diagnosed with anything.  We explained about the pneumonia being a possibility.  He asked who had listened to her lungs, to which we told him Dr. Vavich.  He shook his head said, "Well, I don't trust his ears anymore, so maybe she did have it."  I explained Dr. Hardoin had listened too a few days later, but felt like she wasn't even sick.  Dr. Peters replied, "I've worked with Dr. Hardoin for many years, and he is a good doctor.  However, sometimes he is set in his beliefs.  He doesn't want to change them.  Clearly she is an exception and needed to be treated that way."  Ahh, sweet justification!

Around this time Char started coughing to which Dr. Peters didn't like the sound of.  He began to listen to her lungs and felt like they were cleared up.  However, he agreed with us that she should not be still coughing.  At this point he got to his first diagnosis.  I was surprised to hear him say that Char has asthma.  He didn't mention RAD at all, so I believe we are skipping over that straight to asthma.  He did say her asthma definitely is a cold/flu/virus driven asthma.  Her little body just can't handle those things well.  Dr. Peters was particularly concerned that a cold/virus had attacked her so hard during the season where colds/virus are more mild.  He expressed how fall & winter have much harder things for her deal with.  He then began laying out a plan for how to combat her current cold, and any forth coming colds.  After laying out the different levels of breathing treatments we would do, Russ and  I questioned about using a certain medicine.  She had already used it and we felt her symptoms got worse on it.  Yet again, Dr Peters listened to us and decided to skip that medicine for now because it may have been irritating her lungs too....which is very uncommon but possible.

Lastly Russ and I requested an allergy test.  We were really concerned that Char was allergic to Sprinkles and that was causing problems.  The doctor felt this was unlikely because "statistically" kids her age don't have environmental allergies but he went along with the testing.  He also added a few other triggers to the test.  Happily dogs came back negative, but a certain dust mite did not.  The doc was a bit shocked because well, Char is an exemption to another thing.

At this point the doc explained that the dust mites were probably causing her lungs to be inflamed quite often, you then add the cold on top of it and she's toast. He flat out told us that Fall & Winter this year are going to be really rough.  Great!{Note the sarcasm} So finally after a few changes the plan of action fell into a concrete state.  He gave us an inhaler to use with her to see if we can get her cough to go away.  He also gave us a list of things we can do to minimize dust mites, particularly in her bedroom.  Then of course there is the breathing treatments if a cold comes on.  He thinks we should be able to head off most breathing problems this way if we can catch it early.

All this was not the best news, but I was so happy to get to the bottom of where this was coming from.  I was even more grateful to have a PLAN, so the next time we don't have to end up in the ER.  

Poll Time

Baby Girl #4 is due in about six weeks.  EEKS!  Russ and I are in the same huge dilemma as always, we cannot figure out a name for her.  We ran out of girl names back with Lily.  So we've come up with three that we  "think" we like.  Go ahead and weigh in on what one you like.  The poll is on the sidebar of my blog, so if you are reading this using a feed you will have to pop over here to vote!  And if you have any legitimate other suggestions for us, post them in the comments.  We would love to hear them!  The poll stays open until Aug. 28, then Russ and I will be forced to pick something.  LOL!

Stir Crazy and Small Blessings

A few of you have asked how we all are doing, so here is a bit of update.

It has been a little over two weeks since Char was in the hospital.  She's doing better, and not all at the same time.  Thankfully she hasn't had any more breathing problems since we went to the ER two weeks ago.  However, the cold{bronchitis, pneumonia, or whatever it is} has still not gone away.  She still coughs frequently and has a runny nose.  Don't get me wrong, it isn't as bad as it was, but it's still going.  Just. like it has for the past eight months.  I'm at a horrible crossroads because I know there isn't a point in taking her into the pediatrician, but I so want her to feel 100% better instead of 80 - 90% better.  Sigh.

Because Char still hasn't recovered fully I've hunkered down in the house with her and the other two girls.  Russ is gone on business{gets back tonight}, so none of us have really left the house in two weeks.  It is starting to show in the girls behavior.  I can tell they are going stir crazy inside.  That should end tomorrow though.  Russ has convinced me that tying all of us to the house really isn't going to help Char in the end.  She's going to get sick or have another breathing problem regardless. So tomorrow as we run errands she'll be coming with us, and even bigger she will be going to nursery on Sunday.  I shudder just thinking about taking her to nursery, but it must be done.  The girls will also be going out.  Allie has a birthday party she's going to, and we are trying to think of something special to do with Lily.  maybe a park?

I've kinda been in a daze of indecision since all this has happened.  A few nights ago a friend called me.    She explained she had read my blog post about Charlotte and had wanted to tell me some things because her son had RAD too.  I don't know how I missed that fact, but I had!  She explained a bunch of things she does to help her son, some of which I had never thought about but are such good ideas!  She also gave me the advice to get educated on RAD, and take it into the doctors so they will be more apt to listen.  Coming off of that phone call I felt so much better about our situation.  Just knowing that someone else has gone through this made me realize I can as well.  I know her call was a small blessing from Heavenly Father to help me with this whole situation.

The next day I actively searched the internet to find out more about RAD.  There isn't much, since it is a fairly recent terminology, but what I did find was so helpful and informative.  Since Russ has been out of town we haven't fully been able to discuss how we want to go about helping Char to the fullest, but we do know we want to start with getting Char tested for allergies.  Something is setting off these episodes and we want to know what it is.

So that's where we are.  Struggling to get over this bump in life, but working at it.  

Reactive Airway Disease

***I've been working very hard on getting our whole summer updated on the blog.  It is slow going but I have been making progress.  However, I felt at this time it was very important to record this experience while it is fresh in my mind.  It is also out there for those of you who did not know this happened.  Over the next while I'm going to go back pick up where I left on updating the blog, so you may want to scroll past this post to see if anything new, since this one will stay on top.***

This story begins with me stating once again that Charlotte has pretty much been sick since January.  She'll have a cold or something for two weeks, be free of ailment for one week, and then get sick again starting the process over again.  The doctor has claimed multiple times that most of this is due to teething.  Supposedly she catches things easier because she is constantly teething.

On July 16th Charlotte started the process over again.  That morning she had started coughing horribly and had a small runny nose.  We treated it the same as always....a cold.  That night we were up with her the whole night.  She was breathing funny and could only sleep if she was upright on mine or Russ's chest.  We waited until first thing that morning before I took her into the doctors office.  The doctor saw her and because she was "stomach breathing" started her on nebulizer treatments.  She was diagnosed with bronchitis and a sinus infection.  As the week progressed and Charlotte received her breathing treatments I noticed {and Russ agreed with me} that we had never seen Charlotte so happy and so active.  Even though she had bronchitis and a sinus infection she appeared to be feeling better than she had in months.  The week ended and so did the treatments.  She seemed okay for the following week.  She finished her antibiotics Thursday July 26th.  

Sunday{July 29th} Charlotte was a bear at church.  She cried and screamed and both Russ and I wanted to pull our hair out trying to deal with her.  Monday I noticed a small runny nose.  In the pit of my stomach I knew she was getting sick again.  I just couldn't believe it was happening again.  Tuesday we had a well baby checkup with our doctor.  I mentioned to whom the whole situation.  He checked her over thoroughly and declared that she had a runny nose from teething but was perfectly healthy.  I tried again to explain that I really thought she was coming down sick and he said that he couldn't find anything and that it is perfectly normal for kids Char's age to get colds three or 4 times a season.  I left feeling unsettled, but what could I do?!  I told Russ, and in a fit of anger I said, "Well, maybe he will believe me when we are back in his office Thursday with her!"  Russ said I should have told the doctor that, but I'm not that outspoken of a person.  Maybe I should be though....

Wednesday morning Charlotte woke up with a small cough and her nose running more.  AHHHHH!!!  I was mad at the doctor.  We went to playgroup that day and Charlotte was a bear again{screaming, crying, clingy}  I had talked to another mom there about how worn out I was from Charlotte being like this, and she sympathized with me when she saw Charlotte.  

Thursday came and Charlotte's cough and nose was pretty bad.  I spent the morning making her nap because we were going to an awards ceremony for Lily that afternoon.  As we walked in to the ceremony I noticed Charlotte was breathing a little bit with her stomach.  I passed it off as me being paranoid since she was sick.  Charlotte tried her best to be good at the ceremony but she fussed as she tried to go to sleep for her nap.  Her coughing came more and more often.  finally I took her out of her stroller because she seemed miserable, and the ceremony was almost over.  Charlotte coughed once and I knew what was coming.  I left the stroller, my purse, and Allie, and started walking as fast as possible to the restroom.  On the way I saw a friend who said she would take Allie.  I made it halfway to the bathroom when Charlotte threw up all over me....twice.  Then the full blown stomach breathing started, except this time it was worse, much worse.  I cleaned us up the best I could and went to gather up our stuff.

On the way there I ran into Carolyn who said she would bring Lily home for us.  I packed me, Char, and Allie into the car and called the doctors.  They had no appointments for the day, and recommended we go to the ER.  I called Russ and we debated whether I should go to our Urgent Care or if I should go to the ER.  In the end I felt the ER would be best{total whispering of the Spirit, glad I listened!}  We drove the two blocks to the hospital, and arrived there at 3:30.  The receptionist saw Charlotte and declared her a two.  I think one is the worst.  We went and sat down.  Charlotte by this time was laying limply on my chest.  Allie was being amazingly good and was sitting next to me.  I was listening as other people declared they had been there for over three hours and hadn't even been seen yet.  The ER was really full!  My friend Carolyn showed up a few minutes later and Allie{and Lily} home with her.  I found out later that was a good thing since kids under 18 are not allowed in the ER.

At 4:00 we were called back into triage.  The nurse who saw us first comment was, "Wow, she's retracting bad."  She took Charlotte's oxygen level, and it was 77.  Oh my, that is really low!  She then called in another nurse who seemed to either be the head nurse or a pediatric nurse.  The nurse took one look at her and declared she wanted her in a room now, she didn't care that Char hadn't been triaged.  Two minutes later Charlotte was on a hospital bed being wheeled to an ER room where they wheeled some else out to make room for Char.  At that point Char was descended upon by four nurses and a doctor.  They were taking some stats on her and asking lots of questions.  I was just trying to stay holding onto Charlotte's hand so she had some comfort.  Two nurses and a doctor left and then the fun began.

First up was attaching her to oxygen.  She did not want that tube in her nose.  One nurse held her down, and the "head" nurse taped it on her.  She then needed an IV put in.  The nurses wrapped her up "papoose" style, and called in a male nurse to help hold her down.  Char was done by then and laid patiently as they put the IV in.  She did whimper a little when they had dig for the vein since it disappeared on them, but that was it.  They also attached a blood pressure cuff, and an oxygen reader.  It was a good thing she didn't want to move because she would have pulled something out if she did.  Quite a few vials of blood were then drawn.  An IV drip of saline, and an antibiotic followed that.  

For a few minutes things calmed down, and Char and I were left alone.  She fell asleep for just a few minutes before the x-ray guy came in.  He explained he was going to take a chest x-ray and asked if I wanted to help.  I guess I gave him a blank stare because he proceeded to ask, "Do you not want to?  Is there a chance you are pregnant?"  Uh, yeah dude I'm quite a bit pregnant.  I stepped out and another nurse came to hold her, which was unnecessary since Char just looked at them as they moved her around.  With the x-ray done, a respiratory person came in and started a breathing treatment on her.  Coincidentally her name was Charlotte too!  They must have given her a pretty heavy dose of one because it took forever!  I did notice by this time with the combination of the oxygen and the breathing treatment she wasn't retracting so much.  Yay!

Again we were left alone for a bit, and Russ finally showed up.  I was relieved to see him.  He was able to give Charlotte a blessing while we had some solitude.  Russ stayed for a bit then he took off to run some errands, like get me a new shirt and some food.  The nurse came in when he was gone and said that Charlotte's white blood count had come back at 24.  Because it was elevated they were going to admit her into the hospital.  It would probably be a few hours, but we were going to be staying at the hospital.  The nurses switched about this time and we got another fabulous nurse.

One of Charlotte's machines went off about this time and she freaked out big time.  I don't think she knew where she was and it scared her.  I was trying to calm her but it was so hard to contain her with my belly.  The nurse tried to get cartoons on but there aren't many on at that time of night.  Finally, I asked if she could find a pacifier.  She sent a security guard to labor and deliver.  They came back with a tiny newborn one and Char had a hard time keeping it in her mouth but it worked like a charm.  Soon enough she was calmed down and I could set her back on the bed.

Russ came back and we ate our food.  Charlotte sat up and started demanding fries.  What a good sign!  While we were eating the nurse came in and explained all that was going on.  Charlotte had bronchitis, possibly pneumonia, hence the elevated white blood count.  Because she couldn't keep her oxygen level up by herself they were admitting her until she could breath on her own.  Also, the hospital was completely full, so instead being put in a room there we would be spending the night in the room we were in.  Apparently the nurse got nasty with whoever told her that and she demanded that a crib and a bed be brought down for us.  She was a great nurse!

After Russ and Char were settled I headed to get Lily and Allie.  We had decided Russ would stay with Charlotte since I just couldn't control her.  I picked up the girls, who had been having a great time with their friends.  They asked about Char and daddy, to which I explained they were at the hospital but Charlotte would get better soon.  We got home and I quickly put the girls to bed, since it was nearly 10:00.

That night was very rough for Char and Russ.  They got moved to their own room around 10:00, but poor Char just couldn't sleep.  Russ held held most of the night.  When he was able to get her to sleep and lay her down she would get woken up by another thing they had to do...blood draw, another x-ray, breathing treatments, etc.  The doctor also decided to come in at 4:00 in the morning.  Russ tried his best to remember what was said, but he was barely functional at that point.

Friday morning I woke up early took care of the dog, and then ushered the girls out the door.  I dropped them off at a ladies house in our ward with hopes of being back to get them around noon.  When I arrived at the hospital Char was just finishing up breakfast.  She saw me, waved, and said, "Hi!"  Oh it felt sooooo good to see her happy and doing better.  She was very jittery and excitable though.  She kept playing with her toys in her bed but in overly fast way.  She was shaky too.  After awhile I was able to help get Charlotte to sleep, and Russ took a nap at the same time.  An hour later I accidentally woke her up when I tried to cover her up since she had no clothes on and the air conditioning was going.  She freaked out again and I had to wake Russ up to help care for her.  

She calmed down shortly and had another breathing treatment.  Again she seemed to be wired.  Lunch came and she ate while shaking.  She eventually threw up some of her food, so Russ got the nurse to check on her.  Apparently she was fine, just extremely hyper from the medicine.  She was jumping all over the place in her crib, and walking shakily, but she was fine.  Around 2:00 I went and picked up the girls from the Oden's house.  We went home and they played while I dozed in the chair.  While gone the respiratory specialist took Char off the oxygen.  I was worried she would have trouble breathing again, but she did just fine.  We went and got some dinner at Chick-Fil-A since I couldn't bring myself to cook.  After dinner we headed to the hospital.  I wanted the girls to see Charlotte, so she knew that she was okay, and also to see Russ because they were missing their daddy.  We got there and the girls spent most of their time watching Toy Story 3 with daddy while I tried to care for Char.  Around 9:00 I left Char with Russ, and took the girls home and put them to bed.  Around midnight I got a text from Russ telling me that Char's IV had broke.  They had four nurses hold her down to try and restart it but they couldn't find a vein.  They decided to leave it and try it again later in the morning.

Early Saturday morning I dropped the girls off at the Meservy's and headed out to the hospital.  Again Charlotte was quite frantic when I got there, just coming off a breathing treatment.  A short while later two nurses came in and gave Charlotte a shot in both legs.  Since wasn't getting her antibiotics through IV they had to give to her through shots.  Afterwards, she spent some time playing with me before getting droopy eyed.  I struggled for quite awhile with her to get her to sleep, but eventually she laid down.  Russ was out prior to me struggling with her.  They both slept until lunch time.  Shortly after lunch the doctor came in to talk to us.  He first explained to me that Charlotte had bronchitis, and possibly pneumonia.  The pneumonia wasn't showing up on the x-ray's but he felt that it still could be that.  He said she also had an upper respiratory infection.  He also took time to explain that Char had Reactive Airway Disease.  Basically this is where a young child displays asthmatic instances.  They hesitate to label young kids with asthma because it follows them their whole life, when these instances could be isolated and never happen again.  He went through and answered many of our questions.  He also checked Charlotte out, and said she was doing well enough to be released.  She was going to have to continue doing breathing treatments at home and take an antibiotic as well, but who cares we got to go home!

We were super excited to have her coming home and we packed up the room quickly.  Turns out we didn't need to.  The doctor had said we would be out in an hour, it took almost three.  We put Charlotte to sleep because she was crashing again, and about 15 minutes into her nap was when the nurse decided to come in and release us.  We quickly went and got the girls and all of us went home.

We've now spent a few days doing breathing treatments and Charlotte is doing sooooo much better!  I went with her to the doctor this morning for a follow up.  He agreed that Charlotte had Reactive Airway Disease and that if it occurs again then we will need to go see a pulmonary specialist.  He however did not agree with the doctor at the hospital that she had bronchitis and upper respiratory infection.  He felt some kind of irritant was causing all the problem.  At this point I'm a bit perturbed with our pediatrician because he keeps insisting that Charlotte isn't sick and blames it on something else.  I'm sure when we are back in his office in two weeks with the same problem he MIGHT listen to us then.  He didn't change much of Char's medicine.  He just took her off her cough syrup since she hasn't really been coughing, and he also gave her a inhaled steroid to take.

I really want to be hopeful that once she is done with this round of medicine Char will be better, but I just have this gut feeling that we haven't heard the last of this.  I guess all we can do is wait....