Some of you may know the issues we've had with Natalie's "congestion" over the last two years. If not, let me recap for you.
Natalie is always congested. No exaggeration. There are worse days than others, but there is always mucus present. Some days she'll just have minor sniffles, other days she'll be coughing all day from the "drainage," some days she'll have a runny...flowing nose, and on rare occasions she'll look like a semi slammed into her face. There have been many days over the last two years that I've kept her out of school because she was coughing so much or just looked like she felt horrible.
I've talked to her "doctors" about it about two to four times a year. The last three doctors she had (remember our doctors are military doctors and hardly ever stay around long) said she was fine and just had a cold. I insisted that there was something more to it because it was constant. Their reply??? ALL of them??? She's a kid, kids get colds a lot!
Last weekend, Nat spent the night at her friends house. I am friends with her mom and she knows all that has been going on. She told me that Nat felt horrible in the morning and at one point was almost yelling at me to take her in and demand that something more be done! I think its what I needed though, and I'm very thankful that she did it.
I made an appointment for Friday with a doctor she hadn't seen before. One we, not long ago, requested to be her doctor because I've only heard good things about her. One that cares about what she does, and isn't in the military just so they can pay for her schooling.
She asked a few questions of Natalie and me. Listened to her lungs and heart. Looked in her ears (told me that her tubes look great and that there really is no need to drive the 45 minutes to the doctors office who did the surgery for her to tell me the same). Then looked in her throat and nose.
She looked up and me and said, "Oh, I know whats been going on with her! And hopefully in two weeks she'll be feeling a lot better!"
It was that easy! If ANY of the doctors that had seen her before had taken the time to look into her nose she wouldn't have been suffering so long!
She has allergies. Plain and simple.
None that we tested for before (the allergen doctor just did the "24 common" skin pricks...never once actually putting a hand on Nat to check anything else).
The doc explained to me the different colors in the lining of the nose. Pink like the inside of your lip is healthy. Red and full of mucus is an infection. White to grey or even slightly purple means allergies. She let me look up her nose with the light instrument and it was obvious even to me. It was very white.
I asked if it mattered what shew as allergic to; the answer is no. It could be anything. Because it isn't affecting her breathing there really isn't a need to find out. (And it could be painful to have all the tests done.)
Friday night we started her first dose of Zyrtec (its a step up from Claritin, because she didn't think that would be effective enough). It could take three days up to two weeks to see results. If this medicine isn't helpful, we'll try something else.
I'm just amazed at our quality of care here. But I'm happy I pushed to get a better doctor for my kids. I am so thankful that she took the thirty seconds to look at our child and figure out what is wrong with her! Even if she has to take medicine every night before bed, her quality of life should increase dramatically!
Natalie is always congested. No exaggeration. There are worse days than others, but there is always mucus present. Some days she'll just have minor sniffles, other days she'll be coughing all day from the "drainage," some days she'll have a runny...flowing nose, and on rare occasions she'll look like a semi slammed into her face. There have been many days over the last two years that I've kept her out of school because she was coughing so much or just looked like she felt horrible.
I've talked to her "doctors" about it about two to four times a year. The last three doctors she had (remember our doctors are military doctors and hardly ever stay around long) said she was fine and just had a cold. I insisted that there was something more to it because it was constant. Their reply??? ALL of them??? She's a kid, kids get colds a lot!
Last weekend, Nat spent the night at her friends house. I am friends with her mom and she knows all that has been going on. She told me that Nat felt horrible in the morning and at one point was almost yelling at me to take her in and demand that something more be done! I think its what I needed though, and I'm very thankful that she did it.
I made an appointment for Friday with a doctor she hadn't seen before. One we, not long ago, requested to be her doctor because I've only heard good things about her. One that cares about what she does, and isn't in the military just so they can pay for her schooling.
She asked a few questions of Natalie and me. Listened to her lungs and heart. Looked in her ears (told me that her tubes look great and that there really is no need to drive the 45 minutes to the doctors office who did the surgery for her to tell me the same). Then looked in her throat and nose.
She looked up and me and said, "Oh, I know whats been going on with her! And hopefully in two weeks she'll be feeling a lot better!"
It was that easy! If ANY of the doctors that had seen her before had taken the time to look into her nose she wouldn't have been suffering so long!
She has allergies. Plain and simple.
None that we tested for before (the allergen doctor just did the "24 common" skin pricks...never once actually putting a hand on Nat to check anything else).
The doc explained to me the different colors in the lining of the nose. Pink like the inside of your lip is healthy. Red and full of mucus is an infection. White to grey or even slightly purple means allergies. She let me look up her nose with the light instrument and it was obvious even to me. It was very white.
I asked if it mattered what shew as allergic to; the answer is no. It could be anything. Because it isn't affecting her breathing there really isn't a need to find out. (And it could be painful to have all the tests done.)
Friday night we started her first dose of Zyrtec (its a step up from Claritin, because she didn't think that would be effective enough). It could take three days up to two weeks to see results. If this medicine isn't helpful, we'll try something else.
I'm just amazed at our quality of care here. But I'm happy I pushed to get a better doctor for my kids. I am so thankful that she took the thirty seconds to look at our child and figure out what is wrong with her! Even if she has to take medicine every night before bed, her quality of life should increase dramatically!
(And that was my rant...thank you for listening!!!)
1 comment:
All this time it was something as simple as allergies?! Poor kid. I hope this is the solution you have been waiting for.
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