oral antibiotics.......hmmmm now theres a topic we haven't touched on in a while.
Natalie has been extraordinarily healthy through this winter and spring.....if you don't count the November culture result debacle.....for those of you who missed it, you can refer to the blog post entitled "Homeless with PA. Please help!"
Well our luck ran out a couple of weeks ago. Its taken me a minute to write about it. It was scary and I'm not all about causing an unnecessary uproar amongst the few family members who do actually read what I write.
Natalie had done her evening treatments, as usual.....she went to sleep, as usual, but while she slept, she began to cough uncontrollably, 5 minutes of straight coughing then a reprieve, sleep, snore, then 5 more minutes of coughing......called the pulmonologist....contemplated an ER trip.....something was moving......she couldn't get it out......snoring, retracting while breathing mixed with this strange gasp in between, every couple of breaths.....snore, snore, snore, *gasp*......i repositioned her, tried to wake her (which she wanted nothing to do with) , contemplated extra treatments and just when i couldn't take it anymore.....she started to breathe easier.......she stopped the snore....she had cleared whatever "it" was, and drifted into a deep sleep. This, of course, was just in time for the pulmonologist to return my earlier call.....I told him what I thought, mucus in the upper airways, perhaps a bit of inflammation, moving a plug, her lungs were clear to auscultation anterior and posterior all the way into the bases..... what do i do? His response? "Well it sounds like you have it under control.....follow up with your primary and your pulmonologist."
Aggravation ensued....... Did he realize what I had just been through? How my heart sat in my throat. Did he realize what its like to sleep with a stethoscope around your neck, waiting, double checking, triple checking as if her lungs were suddenly going to be worse than they were 3 minutes prior......
I am a nurse, but you don't trust yourself with your own the way that you do with others.....I have heard hundreds of breath sounds ( I wont be arrogant and say thousands, but theres been a lot in my short nursing stint)......I knew what I was listening to.....I understood it.....but paranoia as a mother is overwhelming....."what if I'm wrong?" "what if i missed something?"
I crawled out of the bed the following morning, stethoscope falling to the floor.......I kicked it.....aggravation.
A trip to the pediatrician......
The nurse placed the stethoscope centered on Natalie's chest......I didn't know what she was doing....respirations? I didn't question her......but Natalie did. She looked at the nurse and said matter-of-factly "Ummm, my heart is on this side." pointing indignantly at the left side of her chest......I started to laugh. It was definitely a moment to remember.....but so sad.....she's four....and she's correcting stethoscope placement for an apical heart rate......The nurse said "I can hear just fine right here. Would you like for me to listen over there too?" Natalie looked at her as if she were retarded and said, "ummm, no."
As my stepmother said, "She's not going to be a firecracker.....She's going to be the whole fireworks show."
Oral antibiotics ordered.
Yucky Pink this time.....it could be worse. It could be Yucky White.
Improvement.
Moving on.......
Round one down.
~j
Natalie has been extraordinarily healthy through this winter and spring.....if you don't count the November culture result debacle.....for those of you who missed it, you can refer to the blog post entitled "Homeless with PA. Please help!"
Well our luck ran out a couple of weeks ago. Its taken me a minute to write about it. It was scary and I'm not all about causing an unnecessary uproar amongst the few family members who do actually read what I write.
Natalie had done her evening treatments, as usual.....she went to sleep, as usual, but while she slept, she began to cough uncontrollably, 5 minutes of straight coughing then a reprieve, sleep, snore, then 5 more minutes of coughing......called the pulmonologist....contemplated an ER trip.....something was moving......she couldn't get it out......snoring, retracting while breathing mixed with this strange gasp in between, every couple of breaths.....snore, snore, snore, *gasp*......i repositioned her, tried to wake her (which she wanted nothing to do with) , contemplated extra treatments and just when i couldn't take it anymore.....she started to breathe easier.......she stopped the snore....she had cleared whatever "it" was, and drifted into a deep sleep. This, of course, was just in time for the pulmonologist to return my earlier call.....I told him what I thought, mucus in the upper airways, perhaps a bit of inflammation, moving a plug, her lungs were clear to auscultation anterior and posterior all the way into the bases..... what do i do? His response? "Well it sounds like you have it under control.....follow up with your primary and your pulmonologist."
Aggravation ensued....... Did he realize what I had just been through? How my heart sat in my throat. Did he realize what its like to sleep with a stethoscope around your neck, waiting, double checking, triple checking as if her lungs were suddenly going to be worse than they were 3 minutes prior......
I am a nurse, but you don't trust yourself with your own the way that you do with others.....I have heard hundreds of breath sounds ( I wont be arrogant and say thousands, but theres been a lot in my short nursing stint)......I knew what I was listening to.....I understood it.....but paranoia as a mother is overwhelming....."what if I'm wrong?" "what if i missed something?"
I crawled out of the bed the following morning, stethoscope falling to the floor.......I kicked it.....aggravation.
A trip to the pediatrician......
The nurse placed the stethoscope centered on Natalie's chest......I didn't know what she was doing....respirations? I didn't question her......but Natalie did. She looked at the nurse and said matter-of-factly "Ummm, my heart is on this side." pointing indignantly at the left side of her chest......I started to laugh. It was definitely a moment to remember.....but so sad.....she's four....and she's correcting stethoscope placement for an apical heart rate......The nurse said "I can hear just fine right here. Would you like for me to listen over there too?" Natalie looked at her as if she were retarded and said, "ummm, no."
As my stepmother said, "She's not going to be a firecracker.....She's going to be the whole fireworks show."
Oral antibiotics ordered.
Yucky Pink this time.....it could be worse. It could be Yucky White.
Improvement.
Moving on.......
Round one down.
~j
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