Presently: Nina In and Out of the E.R.

Nina ended up in the ER on Friday July 9th, but was not admitted to the Children’s Hospital. She had been congested and coughing for a few weeks but whenever we talked about calling the doctor, she’d suddenly be fine. That particular day, daycare called Melissa and told her that Nina was having difficulty breathing. Turns out she’s pretty much alright, but potentially could have asthma in her growing portfolio of issues.

Melissa wrote up this update on Nina’s “care page” which sums it up very nicely… although I will throw in that I also went to the ER with Melissa and Nina, because I did.

On Friday July 9, I received a call from Nina’s daycare in the early afternoon saying she seemed to be having difficulty breathing, was coughing quite a bit and had been vomiting up mucus. Nina has been very congested for about two weeks and has had daily spells of coughing/choking and occasional dry heaving–trying to get rid of all the mucus that is draining down her throat–so I wasn’t that surprised by this call, but was very concerned about the fact that she was having difficulty breathing. I’ve almost taken Nina to the ER about half a dozen times in the past two weeks, but it seems that every time I get ready to leave, Nina starts coo-ing and makes me think she’s okay. However, since the daycare staff thought she was having difficulty breathing, I decided now was the time to take her in and find out what was going on.

The visit to Helen DeVos Children’s Hospital’s emergency department was excellent (once again) and definitely worth the trip. Our wait times for everything were much longer this time around, but I was actually thankful for that. I kept thinking that Nina must be doing okay or the staff would have been moving faster. It certainly made the wait times easier to deal with knowing/hoping that Nina wouldn’t have to be admitted this time around.

Nina had a chest x-ray taken, which ruled out pneumonia, and was given a breathing treatment while there. The respiratory therapist who was working in the ER on Friday was one of the therapists who had worked with Nina when she was hospitalized back in February. He is very good with kids and it was nice to see him again. Sadly, Nina doesn’t like the breathing treatments and cried/wriggled during the whole treatment. The physician who examined Nina concluded that she would need daily breathing treatments for at least a month, so it’s going to be fun doing those at home until Nina gets more comfortable with them.

Bottom line: Nina was diagnosed with reactive airway disease. The physician wrote her a prescription for a nebulizer to use at home with two medicines–Pulmicort (once daily for a month) and albuterol (every 4-6 hours as needed). The medical device company was able to bring the nebulizer out to us Friday night and Nina had her first breathing treatment at home on Saturday night (sadly she cried through that whole treatment too). Nina was also prescribed Zyrtec last week at her 6 month “well” child check-up, so she will continue taking that daily as well. We will follow up with our primary care physician on Monday for next steps. Nina also goes back to Mary Free Bed on Tuesday to repeat her head scan. If there hasn’t been any/much improvement to her flat spot and overall head shape, then she will be fitted for a helmet. (Lots going on!)

Please continue to keep Nina in your thoughts and prayers. All of these challenges are fairly minor and “fairly” manageable, but it does seem like the list of health issues continues to grow and compound. She’s definitely a fighter, but we’re hoping she gets a break from all this soon. It’s just so much for our precious little 6 month old to have to deal with.