colin and the hospital

Okay, so it has been a couple weeks at this point, but things have been busy in the Fish household. Two weeks ago Colin started having some cold symptoms, including coughing and a slightly stuffy nose. By last Friday he was starting to wheeze a lot more and so Rebecca took him in to see the doctor. He gave us a prescription for Albuterol (the same stuff that asthma sufferers have in their inhaler), as well as a steroid which I'm not even going to try to spell. Plus, with the Albuterol, we got a cool new machine called a nebulizer!

So there began the Albuterol treatments three times a day, and a baby who did NOT want anything to do with it. Luckily we quickly figured out that when Colin looks at the tv, he has no idea what else is going on. I guess that throws a wrench into our plan of no tv watching for the first year.

On Monday he was already scheduled for a wellness visit, so he went back to the doctor to check on the progress. There wasn't really much of that, but the doctor upped the dosage of steroid and said to continue the Albuterol treatments.

The funny thing through all of this was that Colin had no fever and other than coughing and crying at times from the pain that caused, was his normal happy self. And after that appointment, a part of us thought that maybe he was getting better. Then came Tuesday, and Wednesday, where Rebecca was struggling between trying to get her work done at the office, and take care of Colin, too. Colin was also getting more fussy, and the Abuterol really didn't seem to be doing anything at all. Rebecca took Colin back to the doctor on Wednesday and confirmed that there really wasn't any progress and could hear a good bit of congestion in his chest.

From the doctor's office, Rebecca and Colin were sent for Colin to get a chest x-ray and the doctor called us back almost immediately with the results. There was definitely something, possibly pneumonia, in his left lung, but definitely not enough to cause a tremendous amount of alarm, as long as we continued what we were doing. He had also given us some Azythromax (antibiotic) just in case there was a lingering infection to knock out. Colin was also scheduled to go back the next day (Thursday).

At Thursday's appointment the doctor was still seeing no sign of progress but also pointed out that Colin still had no fever and was his happy self. He proposed that we could admit Colin to the hospital for monitoring, or go ahead and take him home and continue what we had been doing there. Rebecca was fine with the later option, but then only a few minutes after the Albuterol treatment done at the doctor's office, Dr. Dorsey noticed the wheezing had already returned, even stronger than earlier. This perplexed him and after a slight pause, said that he would rather go ahead and send Colin to the hospital.

Around this time, I got the call from Rebecca at work and was soon on my way to the Levine Children's Hospital. It brought back memories from only six months ago seeing Colin hooked up to all the little wires, and the little O2 sensor on his toe. In a way, it sort of felt like we were taking advantage of the situation by having our happy little baby taking up space in the hospital, while we had a room down the hall stocked with all the juice, ice cream, popsicles, and the like. For the most part the doctors just wanted to keep monitoring him through the night to get down to the bottom of why he is continuing to wheeze in spite of the of the Albuterol treatments and drugs.

Rebecca stayed overnight with him in the room and I went home to sleep and gather some things that she would need in the morning. One thing the doctor wanted to do is run a test called an upper GI exam, or also a "barium swallow" - which I like better, and it was really cool getting to see his food go down his esophagus and into his tummy on the x-ray screen. Luckily, they saw no problems with his esophagus leaking into his respiratory tract, but the radiologist did in fact notice some reflux, just a tad more than what they would like to see in a baby Colin's age.

Back in the room, the doctor spoke to us some more and from information from us and watching him before, during and after an Albuterol treatment (all of which was right after he ate), reaffirmed for her that he had some reflux problems. As of this point, her thinking is that he has higher than expected reflux, and when he contracted a cold virus a couple weeks ago, it only exacerbated those problems and the reflux has made it more difficult for him to break up the mucus that is plugging up his airways.

She has given us a number of suggestions, and after consulting with Dr. Dorsey will decide if Colin should go on to a medication for his reflux. They will definitely continue to monitor him and will likely keep him another night here in the hospital, which while doesn't feel great as a parent, we at least know he is in good hands.

Looking back over Colin's medical history, it is incredible to think about the doctors he has had and their own relationship with Christ. Rebecca's Ob/Gyn who delivered Colin is a strong believer who prays with all of his patients prior to delivery and our doctor here at the hospital shared with us her story of doing yearly medical mission trips to South America and her openness about her faith with her patients and colleagues. It does not seem common for doctors to be such strong Christians, but our experience has been incredible. We truly believe that it is because of God that these individuals have been able to be a part of our son's medical story.

I know it might be crazy for me to say, but neither of us have really been terrified through any of us. Stressed? Yes. Tired? Yes. Confused? Yes. But scared of what the outcome might be? Not at all. Whatever happens, this is all in the Lord's hands and it is in Him that we trust.

I will try to post an update as soon as we hear more. Thanks for reading!