I don’t know exactly where to start on this post. You may remember my previous post about
T having pneumonia, a few months back. Well the COUGH IS BACK full force. I don’t know if any of you have ever experienced a chronic cough but it is just miserable. Poor Tae is the best little trooper with the whole situation, it makes us sad to think that she has been sick for so long that to her it must seem normal and she continues her daily life. She is a very active and happy girl, we just think about how much she would enjoy everything more if she felt 100%.
So a lengthy recap:
1. Cough started in 2006.
2. Repeated trips to the Pediatrician including blood tests concluded VIRUS.
3. Three months later treated for croup.
4. Cough came back accompanied by fever.
5. Moved to AZ, found a new Doctor.
6. Diagnosed with asthma, fever determined to be a VIRUS.
7. chest x-ray (inconclusive)
8. Given singular, pulmicort & abuterol (last 2 are given as a breathing treatment 4 x day).
9. Cough still coughing.
10. Tried another pediatrician, ran more blood work. Told to continue meds.
11. Still coughing.
12. Went to a pulmonary specialist.
13. Yes she has asthma.
14. Tested for allergies, had her back pricked 12 times, no allergies.
15. Had sinus x-ray. Seemed clear. Reviewed previous chest x-ray, determined it was inconclusive but was certain she had asthma.
16. Increased the strength of her meds, added an oral steroid, (switched her abuterol to xopenex) breathing treatment every 4 hours 24/7. Added a nasal decongestant (2 x day).
17. Cough got A LITTLE BETTER! Cool were on the right track. But were on 5 meds a day :(.
18. Cough gets worse, and fever is back, still on meds, go back to the specialist. She just has a VIRUS.
19. Fever goes away, fever comes back, fever goes away, fever comes back, cough, cough, and cough….you get the point. Still VIRUS.
20. In November the fever stops going away.
21. Go to a new pediatrician recommended by the pulmonary doctor. She has a VIRUS. Come back in a few days if it isn’t better.
22. Back in a few days…still VIRUS.
23. Fever gets to 105+ go to ER.
24. T has advanced pneumonia in her right lung, possible that the infection has spread to her blood. Has two large vials of blood drawn, given a HUGE shot in her buns, we were sent home with our shocking x-ray, prescription, and directions to follow up with our specialist. WOW!!! ER Doctor says that it is likely that the pneumonia has been there all along, maybe she doesn’t have asthma?
25. Finish antibiotics, decide to stop all asthma meds except the decongestant, NO COUGHING, go to follow up, 2nd x-ray is clear. (Went back to Children’s Hospital to make sure we got a clear one, no more “inconclusive”). Doctor says she still needs to be on the asthma meds and that pneumonia is common in children with asthma. (Which is true) but we keep her off the Asthma meds.
26. Fever comes back, ears hurt, go back to pediatrician.
27. Bulging ear drums, back on antibiotics. The nurse practitioner suggest we see a Dr in their office that specializes in asthma and breathing to determine what is really going on.
28. Wait THREE WEEKS to get in to that Doctor.
29. She doesn’t even want to do a breathing assessment on T because she doesn’t think she has asthma. She says that she should have never been diagnosed with asthma with out having a breathing assessment done. Very heated about the fact that they would prick her up and down her back but not have her breath into a machine for 20 minutes! OK feeling a little like a bad mommy, I didn’t know. Her conclusion is that possibly T had pneumonia for the last 15 MONTHS!
30. Have another chest x-ray just to make sure the pneumonia isn’t back. It’s not we’re good.
31. Good for a few weeks, a little cold hear and there.
32. Fever back bulging ear drums, little cough. LITTLE COUGH :(
33. We notice Tae complaining of her ears a lot. She is constantly asking for things louder, unable to tell if music is playing, constantly asking people to repeat what they are saying, unable to hear me if I sit in front of her and talk quietly, we decide she obviously is not hearing properly.
34. I made an appointment for an ENT. Oh and the cough is back full force, not kidding.
35. They do a test to determine the shape of Tae’s ear drums, and then we go in the sound room to test her hearing. I wanted to cry, any sound below a normal strong speaking range, NO RESPONSE. Sitting in there with her on my lap, hearing the birds chirp and asking T if hears any funny sounds was so sad, every time she would respond “no Mama”. SHE CAN”T HEAR BIRDS CHIRP. So then we did a recap of history, that was fun, I probably sounded like a lunatic. He wanted to obviously know about the cough, wanted to know if she had been complaining about her ears hurting recently, other than the lack of hearing, which she hadn’t. He takes one look and…BULDGING EAR DRUMS!!!! He was a very down to business kind of guy, he said he wants to solve the problem not treat the symptoms. He said that she definitely needs to have tubes put in her ears; otherwise she is going to have permanent hearing loss/ear damage. But he also said that he thinks even though she did have the pneumonia, it may not have been the complete cause of the cough and more the cause of the fever. Apparently in chronic cough it is typical to have more than once source/cause. He thinks it is all in her head, in her sinuses that is, that we have glands called adenoids in the back of our sinuses that serve a similar purpose as tonsils and if they are not working properly they can harbor bacteria and create a continual infection. Since T has never had an issue with ear infections or chronic cough when she was an infant he said that it is something that she typically will not out grow, as it is getting worse as she gets older. We do have another symptom that I don’t really discuss much, just because it freaks me out, and that is her lymph nodes. They are enlarged and protruding all down her neck (since she was about a year, she has had all her blood counts check and they are all good); she has some enlarged ones in her groin area but not nearly as bad. He said this would be a common sign as to why, since those glands are made of the same tissue as the adenoid that they could very likely be related.
36. So to summarize where we stand right now, today we are going back to the ENT so that they can do a CT scan of Tae’s head. Once complete the doctor will review what needs to be done and what our options are. He will be able to tell if the adenoid is enlarged or infected and if there is anything else that may need some attention. Basically if his theory is correct they will schedule a surgery for sometime next week, put in the tubes and remove what they need to at the same time. Very Scary for us. They want to cut things out of my 3 year olds head!!!! It may be considered routine but sorry, not common HERE!
37. So maybe this will be the end of the cough and the runny nose and the meds and the ears. After being sick on Easter, on her 3rd Birthday, on Halloween, on Thanksgiving, on Christmas, and Easter again. Maybe after 7 doctors, hundreds of hours of lost sleep, hundreds of dollars of medication (both conventional & natural), vomiting, diarrhea, no appetite, dark eye circles, no swimming, no stuffed animals, “no this”, “no that”, “you’re sick”,” you need to rest”, and one of my favorites “SHE IS NOT CONTAGIOUS”, maybe this guy will get it right. We have a wonderful and amazing happy daughter…can we please just have the healthy too!!!!
Please think happy thoughts for us the next few days. N is out of town this weekend, he leaves today, my mom is going to the ENT with us today, and everyone is a little on edge about the appointment. Maybe #36 wouldn’t seem so scary if that was the first thing on the list, maybe if I could 100% believe that this was it, but honestly I have thought that every time, can’t help myself. They all seemed to have valid points and it wasn’t until after the fact, after we tried their diagnosis and it didn’t work, did we realize that it wasn’t the right option. So I can’t get myself to feel happy about this one, because it’s a little more drastic than “try this pill” and “get rid of everything that harbors dust”. And although she is always telling us what a big girl she is, she is still very little.
An illustration of the sinuses
Actual CT Scan...NOT OF TAE 
