June 3rd/ 4th Hospital Stay

Not sure I have posted much about this on our blog but here’s a Sam update for all of you following---

The last few weeks of January, Sam began having coughing spells a few times a week that would often end in vomiting. They thought he had whooping cough at first but it turned out he didn’t and we have continued to deal with similar things ever since. He will be completely normal during the day- no coughing, eat well, sleep well, play- and then will wake up in the middle of the night racked by a strange cough. We have spent many a nights hanging him over the sink as he works to catch his breath and make it through an attack, only to collapsed back to sleep in our arms. Every so often we will have an attack or two during the day. Our pediatrician has treated it as chronic viruses that unfortunately, have come pretty much back to back over the last few months. Through it all, the good days and bad, Sam has been happy and busy, and continued to grow and play.

The end of April brought a few spells that put Bryan and I over the edge. We went in to a different doctor for a sick visit and basically said something was not right and we were needing to get some answers and explore an option other than the kid being cold-sick all the time. She suggested we start with chest x-rays and then go from there.

Chest x-rays looked normal and like Sam had had several colds over the winter, which he had. Thankfully, the people we worked with at PSL suggested we get to a pediatric gastric specialist and let him guide us as to what to do next. My brother arranged to get us in to see the number one guy at his hospital a few days later. After listening to our story, he said we could be dealing with a number of things--- chronic viruses, reflux, asthma, allergies, or breathing/ swallowing issues.

Our first step to cross a few of those possibilities off the list was to go in for a barium swallowing assessment. They took x-rays as he drank some yucky stuff and ate a little ice cream-like mix to see if all of those parts were working correctly. The results came back normal and great. Yeah God! They had also put Sam on three different medicines to really attack things if we were dealing with a reflux issue. We were on them for a good 24 hours before we stopped- he was a mess- coughed three times as much, laid and moaned, and was not the same kid. Not something we were going to do to him any longer.

Dr. Stathos, our GI specialist, suggested next doing an upper endoscopy to take a look at his esophagus, small intestines, bronchial tubes, and lungs. We decided to hold off with this procedure because it required us to put Sam under. We thought it best to explore the allergy route instead first.

Well, while waiting to get in for our June 4th allergy appointment, Sam had a few rough days again and after talking to Dr. Stathos, we decided to go through with the upper endoscopy. The plan was for him to go under light anesthesia for a 25 minute procedure. They would take a look inside and put in a PH probe to monitor his insides for 24 hours. They told us we would need to stick around for an hour or two as he was waking up from the anesthesia and then we would deal with the probe thing from home.

The endoscopy went well! Everything inside physically looked great and normal- yeah God again! Before they finished, the shot some clear saline into his lungs and sucked it right out. What they got out was instead white and frothy--- hopefully the source of Sam’s lovely cough!!! The doc thought that could be the result of some sort of allergies causing this fluid to secrete into Sam’s lungs. We were ready to head home with the probe in and get to our allergy appointment the next day to hopefully connect the two!

Things changed quickly from there… The PH probe would check the acidic levels in his esophagus but required the tube to come out of his nose, be taped behind his ear, and it was attached to a little transmitter pack that we had to hold/ keep from being tangled. As the lady was instructing us how to operate the pack, what to record, etc. – we found out that normally infants with this probe are kept for at least 6 hours to help the parents and also to make sure he really awakes from the medicine correctly. So we thought then that we were going to be there until 8:00 that night. All was well.

As we were walking back to the recovery room, the anesthesiologist told us she had witnessed a good choking/coughing attack right when he came to. This was probably the best thing because she was pretty worried and said she had ordered a 24 observation in the hospital just to make sure all was well- something we now know is normal with infants with these probes in after anesthesia. We were staying the night!

When we got back to Sam, he was pretty groggy and out of it. They plopped him right into my arms and he slept peacefully for a good hour. He awoke from this sleep with a usual Sam smile for his mom and dad- doing just great!!! We stuck around recovery to make sure he could tolerate milk normally and then headed upstairs to the pediatric floor. They told us we were there to just hang out overnight and get any help that we needed with the probe. All they were going to do was check his vitals every four hours and help out if we wanted them to. The big fear with these tubes and packs is that infants will want to pull at it all the time. They even told us there were elbow restraints we could get if we wanted them depending how Sam did. THANKFULLY, he ignored the tubes and the pack almost completely and we had a fairly smooth night considering! Bryan and I know we moved to Denver for a few reasons, and we know this was one for sure! Matt helped get us taken care of with Dr. Stathos and the nurses, Jamie had overnight bags packed for us before we even called to ask, and Matt and Ab and the kids brought us supper and some company to make the evening go faster--- they were wonderful.





(Right hand has a pulse ox thing taped to his thumb and left foot has his IV taped to his foot- PS they didn't put the IV in until he was under so that made us feel better! The thing on Abbie's shoulder is the pack thing that recorded his PH levels)

We got through our time in the hospital with the PH probe easily. Sam was such a trooper- such a trooper. The worst part of the whole hospital ordeal was definitely the tape that held the tube down as it came out of his nose and along his cheek. They had to adjust things a couple of times which brought out the worst sounds we have heard from him yet. Our problems could have definitely been a lot worse than screams from sticky tape!!!!!

Next--- I know this is forever of a story--- we were discharged a bit before 11:00 so we could make it to our allergy appointment that afternoon. As soon as I began talking to the doctor, she was positive he has asthma! They pricked his back 18 times to test for allergies and thankfully, he has none. We gave him a nebulizer treatment to help with the wheezing we heard in his lungs.

(18 sticks for food allergy testing- don't test for seasonal stuff until they are older- the two big red spots on the right are the control pokes- supposed to look that way!)

Okay--- the end of this post. We should be talking to both doctors again in the next couple of days to decide the official diagnosis and the best treatment as we move forward. We are giving him a nebulizer treatment twice a day for the next couple of weeks to help those little lungs.

(Fish nebulizer mask)

Hopefully, we have done all of the yucky stuff we have to do to take care of this cough. We are thankful to God for guiding the doctors and nurses, allowing Sam and his body to handle the medicine, the poking, the tape (!), and all of the messing we have done to him over the last month. We are thankful for our family and friends and their support and encouragement as we continue to push for some answers. We are so blessed to have a happy, healthy boy. He is full of so much joy! We are excited to be closer to answers and hopefully the end of Sam’s coughing!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thanks to you too for reading or skimming all the way through this!! : )