An All Too Familiar Feeling

Since the first of September, our little Tanner has had recurring episodes of congestion and coughing. At first it was just a virus, but that turned into a bad bronchial infection. A round of antibiotics and he was on the mend. A few weeks later however, sickness returned. Back to the doctor we went only to hear her tell me there is no infection or fever, just another virus. At this point his doctor brought up the subject of allergies and the fact that he is a little baby whose immune system just isn't strong enough yet to fight off every cold or virus he comes in contact with. (I had been taking him in with me to Nursery every week and thinking that might be the culprit, I quickly put an end to that!) It seemed to keep coming back and it sounded like he had a constant ball of phlegm in his throat. Frankly it was so frustrating to keep seeing the doctor and have her tell me it was just a cold or allergies. When it returned AGAIN about 2 weeks ago and his breathing sounded like a tractor, we'd had enough. I took him in with a prayer in my heart there would be a more definitive solution. We saw the nurse practitioner that day and she said, "I heard his breathing from the moment you walked in!" She immediately suggested an anti-inflammatory shot (or steroid) to get his airways to open up. I was all for it. I asked if some breathing treatments would help and she thought it was a good idea. She gave me some samples and told me to give him breathing treatments twice a day for three days. The shot and breathing treatments really seemed to do the trick and it gave Tanner some much needed relief. I was happy to finally see some results.

That brings us to this past Monday. The boys were scheduled for their second round of flu shots. However Tanner woke up in the middle of the night with a bad cough and sneezing that lasted throughout the entire day. Andrew and I thought it was allergies. I was so mad though because I knew it meant he wasn't getting his flu vaccine. We headed to the doctor and the nurses quickly took us back to the exam room after hearing Tanner's constant coughing in the waiting area. The doctor came in and we had a heart to heart. Because of the numerous episodes she said we needed to take a more serious course of action. We did a breathing treatment there in the office, plus she gave me prescriptions for Albuterol and Pulmicort and ordered that I started giving Tanner multiple breathing treatments everyday until further notice. I also needed to give him a daily dose of Zyrtec to help alleviate symptoms. And then she brought up a subject I was half expecting to hear - asthma. Actually the term she used was 'pre-asthma.' I asked her why this would just show up like this. She said he is probably predisposed to it, especially if someone else in the family has a problem with allergies or if anyone has eczema (Bingo! Andrew gets bad allergies and has been fighting eczema outbreaks for 9 years.) She said he is still really young and it's very possible he could grow out of this. As for now we will do the breathing treatments and daily Zyrtec and see how it goes.

As I sat there in the exam room holding Tanner and contemplated what the doctor had said, I was hit with an all too familiar feeling. In my mind I went back to that day over 6 years ago. Andrew and I sat in another doctor's office with a very sick little boy when a doctor said the word diabetes. I was struck by some similarities, especially their ages. We were even discussing it the other day - how Tanner is 13 months old, the same age Zachary was when he was diagnosed.

Maybe this is temporary and he will grow out of like the doctor said or maybe it turns into something more serious - but it's almost a relief to have a diagnosis of sorts for Tanner. All I know is it's only been 2 days and I've seen a remarkable improvement in Tanner's breathing and for that I'm very grateful.