Drama-rama

It's been a busy week: 2 ER visits, 3 trips to the pediatrician, 5 days off of work, and so many medicines we've lost count.

The greatly condensed recap is that we went to Children's last Sunday when CJ was wheezing and had a high fever. After a long night and several treatments, we left early Monday morning. By late Monday evening he was turning blue, so we headed back. (That's when they gave us our frequent flyer card. Seriously.) Returned home again very early on Tuesday, and held on until a visit to our regular doctor that afternoon. Diagnoses: bronciolitis, asthma, ear infection, chronic respiratory ailment, or maybe something else. At Thursday's pedi visit, we were almost sent back to the hospital, but railied at the last minute, got a (surreal) lesson on how to hit the baby, and went home once more. By Saturday, we had to make double appointments -- one for the kid, and one for me. He's holding steady, and I've got bronchitis.

The good news: the diagnoses and, subsequently, medications, have decreased in number. Our many doctors seem to agree that it's a chronic repiratory condition, much like asthma, that we'll need to work to control throughout his life. We're giving 6 nebulizers a day, and doctors hope to see noticiable improvement in 6 - 8 weeks. In the meantime, keep us in your prayers, or cross your fingers and toes, whichever way you are inclined.

We're settling into a new routine, at least, and think that we're making some progress. CJ's learned to sleep through his nebulizer treatments, which makes life much easier on everyone (including our poor, unsuspecting neighbors). Cough syrup is helping me, and Adam's got Nascar and ice cream to help him cope with being the only able-bodied family member.