Our adopted son, Brandon, has been very sickly with allergies, coughing, infections and such for some time. He is also going through orthodontics at the age of 9 trying to correct and possible expand his palate to make room for adult teeth, help him breathe easier and correct an under bite. It just seems he has been really hard for him right now.
A few weeks ago, we were at the orthodontist and he was showing me a picture of his adult teeth just waiting to come up and how there isn't room for most of them...I saw the picture and asked what that thin line was in the X-ray...the ortho doctor smiled and said that isn't suppose to be that way...it was an air way passage from his nose...it was so restricted he doesn't really get used much. All the mommy alarms went off in my head when I remembered his pulmonologist saying there has to be some kind of blockage for him....ding ding ding!
At the next appointment for the pulmonologist, I mentioned what I saw and she said to go to our ear, nose and throat doctor and have him possibly take his tonsils out and it would clear him up. We made an appointment within 24 hours even though he was scheduled out until March...our wonderful doc came in in his lunch break for Brandon! He said Brandon needed a T&A pronto ...so we scheduled it for the following Friday as he had 1 opening ...and then it began.
Brandon's allergy cough got worse and worse. We took him back to the pulmonologist to check him...he was struggling...more steroids and antibiotics. It just seemed to get worse so the doctor tweaked his medicine again. We ended up having to reschedule surgery until the 30th of January. He finally cleared up enough for surgery despite a lingering cough.
Monday came and he as well as 3 other kiddos came down with a 24 hour stomach bug. We made some phone calls and were told as long as he wasn't running a fever we were still ok...good!
Yeah! Brandon's surgery was routine...meaning all the things thy had prepared for didn't happen! We headed home an got him settled...he did so well the first 24 hours! He exclaimed I can breathe through my nose!
He started coughing and had some scary moments in the early morning hours of Saturday. His lips turned blue while coughing....we called the surgeons office and they told us to call the pulmonologist. We got a wonderful woman who went over all his medications and called in a new one to settle him down so he can breathe. We were in a regiment of meds every 2 hours with a nebulizer treatment in between alternating between 2 of those treatments plus his normal routine in the morning and evening. We have lists if all the different meds and when and how much we were giving him all over our room where we have had him staying since he came home.
By Sunday night he started to have ear pain so severe he cried through the night. It settled down some but would get worse with his coughing leaving him crying saying I can't do this! Back rubs, meds, breathing exercises...nothing really helped him...started making more calls...was told he was right in target for the residual ear problems. We were told of which is normal but I questioned if something else was going on. That night we heard some gurgling in his air ways and in the morning called the pulmonologist. They fit us right in and said his airways were totally clear but thy did find a raging ear iinfection! More antibiotics but we feel Brandon has finally made a turn for the better! He even got in in some cleaning of his bedroom....the reason why?? Our foster daughter came home with lice and so now everything has to be de-liced. She is walking around with Vaseline and a shower cap...the miracle of it all? No one else in the house has it!
So in the past weeks we have not been out much and have lysoled the house and are now washing everything not nailed down! I've lost track of the number of laundry loads and still have mountains to go through before tomorrow night where we have been warned of the impending blizzard expected to dump 1-2 feet if snow on our area!
We are learning that God is in the details of our life, is giving us lots of opportunities to be content right where we are and we are rejoicing in the little things ...family, doctors who go above and beyond for us, everyone stepping up to the plate to fill in for whatever is needed....what wonderful blessings in the midst of it all!!
Check out our pictures...Brandon's tonsils and his smile as he beat his dads record in Wii!
