I forgot to add at his 15 month post that Chase had gotten sick for the first time. Sure, he's had some colds, but during the first week in July he had a high fever, was lethargic, had no appetite, and was coughing some. We took him to the doctor who prescribed rest and OTC baby ibuprofen until this "viral crud" cleared up. Luckily he was better in 3 days and ready for our trip to the Shore.
Fast forward to last Friday (July 22) and Chase's nanny calls me at work to tell me he's been coughing a lot. No big deal- in the prior week Sam (Chase's nanny share mate) had gotten Chase's viral crud along with a bad cough. Chase woke up coughing during Friday night and had a low grade fever Saturday morning. The symptoms continued to get worse throughout the weekend so we promptly scheduled a Dr's appointment Monday morning. Naturally they couldn't see him until that afternoon.
Chase was diagnosed with bronchilits, basically a cold in the lungs that babies are prone to. He got a nebulizer with treatments to be administered every 4 hours during his waking hours, with orders to give him ibuprofen until his fever went away and to return on Wednesday if he was still needing the nebulizer. By Tuesday his fever was gone, but his cough had gotten worse and he was wheezing. Due to some scheduling issues, he didn't get back to the Doctor's office until Thursday. Not only had his breathing not improved, but now he had an ear infection too. This time they put him on an inhaler every 4 hours, and a steroid and an antibiotic once a day. We were told to return on Saturday morning (you know it's not good if the doctor tells you to come in on a Saturday).
The inhaler treatments were/are awful. It came with a spacer and face mask which we had to hold on to Chase's face until he took 5 breaths. Unfortunately he hates having it held to his face and writhes and screams every time we do the treatment.
Saturday morning we returned and Chase was still wheezing and still had fluid in his ear. The Doctor showed us how to properly do the inhaler treatment (obviously in a way that made him scream even more) and sent us home with an appointment for Monday morning.
Finally (finally!) this morning Chase was given a clean bill of health. We still need to give him the inhaler treatments on Tuesday, but then he should be good. It's been a rough 10 days for him but we are so pleased that he is on the mend!
