Bronchitis

A couple of weeks ago Kye got a little cough. His nose was slightly runny, but clear, and he never got a fever. Mom and I have been teaching the 3 year old Bible Study class on Wednesday nights and they pretty much all had coughs too so I didn’t worry about it. I know with a big weather change comes colds, no biggie. I had some cough medicine left from last time he was sick (Bromofed DM..I’m not one of those parents who gives my kid over the counter cough meds when the labels clearly state not to, only stuff from the dr for us!) and gave him that and it worked fine. The cough went away and I didn’t think anything else of it.

Then last week the cough came back. Same symptoms…just an annoying cough, clear runny nose, no fever. Common cold stuff and again I just gave him the cough meds. On Wednesday of this week I noticed that the cough meds weren’t helping anymore. He coughed ALL through his nap and it was so nagging that he couldn’t sleep a wink. I decided I’d take him into the walk-in clinic Thursday morning. I’m a not a rush-to-the-dr type person and I honestly thought he just had a common cold. Since the prescription cough meds were from Sept I thought he’s grown some since then and may just need a higher dose.

We went up to the walk-in clinic (I can’t say it enough, Winnersville Walk-In Clinic is THE BEST!) and Kye loves it there. I told him we were going to the dr and he’d get to see the fish and he was pumped 🙂 We waited patiently for our turn and literally every other kid in the waiting room had a cough similar to Kyes! It’s this season!!!

Once we got back they weighed him (SO happy to report he’s FINALLY over 30 lb!!! 30.8 lb yay!) and we went into a room. I’m always blown away by Kye’s behavior in those type of situations. He layed down on the exam table without us even asking him to and obediently did every little thing the nurse asked of him. I told her all his symptoms then Stephanie came in (She’s great! She did Babywise with her son and now has a 4 month old daughter…I see her ALL the time out and about and I’m so blessed to have such good relationships with all the physicians assistants up there!) and checked him over. She said it was good I brought him in because we caught him in the early stages of bronchitis.

She said she heard some wheezing in his chest and for me not to worry about it being asthma. Well I wasn’t worried about asthma until she said that haha! She probably just knows we’re a sports family (and by “we” I mean Zach) and that asthma would be a pretty big deal for us! She said we’d need to do a breathing treatment with him while we were in the office and see how that helped. Poor kid hated the breathing treatment. I didn’t realize when the medicine was gone so I made him have that thing on him for WAY longer than he had to and the mask kinda rubbed his eyes so it did not look comfortable. She re-checked him and said the wheezing was gone so she wanted us to do the treatments at home too. THANKFULLY she said he doesn’t have to wear the mask and that we could just hold the little medicine holder thing under his nose 🙂

When she checked him over she also mentioned that he has a heart murmur. Again, I didn’t freak out. My mom has one and, come to find out, so do Mrs. Charlotte and Zach! They aren’t a big deal and it isn’t something that really means anything at all, but still good to know.

It was a costly morning…the visit was $35 co-pay then he had to get 4 medications. Vial things for the breathing machine, more cough medicine, a steroid (which I had the option to do in shot form…um NO!), and one other medication. The meds set me back another $65. Then we also had to buy the breathing treatment machine thing! They are charging insurance $210 for that and I’m sure our bill will end up being like $200 knowing our awesome insurance…

I’m SO thankful I took him in!!! I really didn’t know that a nagging cough like that with no other symptoms (I mean the kid was even ACTING fine! Eating fine! Everything was NORMAL except the cough!) could still be something so serious. I asked her if I should have brought him sooner and she said that I did the right thing bringing him when I did because it probably was just a little cold that they wouldn’t have been able to do anything for anyways. I really, really love our pediatrician office. I love how thorough they are in their exams and how they don’t hesitate to prescribe medication. I’d rather give him medicine and stop something from either starting or getting worse than have the type of dr that says “wait it out” and have to make another trip up there ya know?

The breathing treatments have gone really well so far! He doesn’t mind it a bit now that there isn’t the mask and we just sit in his bed and talk and read and such while he does it. I have to do it 3x a day for like 6 days then 2x then 1x etc. He will be on meds for the next 10 days and has to go back for a re-check in 2-3 weeks. So there’s a high chance he’ll still be on all this stuff when we have the baby, I’m thankful I have so many helpers to help make sure it all gets handled!!! The medicine DOES make him very hyper, and so far it’s funny. He’s been SO playful and hilarious. Like right now he’s down for his nap and he’s been in the bed for 40 min but is still awake singing all these songs he’s made up and using all these deep man voices. I was worried that the medicine would make him difficult to handle, but for the most part Zach and I are enjoying it haha!