October 18, Update

Well, it's official: Carrick has his first cold. On Wednesday we took him to the pediatrician because Carrick hadn't been eating well for nearly a week. The doctor noticed that he had a little wheeze and told us to put him back on his Xopanex which is like a rescue inhaler. The next day, Carrick started coughing and by Thursday evening his coughs were starting to sound a little wet. So on Friday it was back to the doctor. He told us that, yes, Carrick had a cold and his cough was due to a post-nasal drip. The cold is not what the big deal is. It's just viral and lots of kids get it. It's important that he never has a fever, that's a good sign. But Carrick is kind of a special case, being that he was born so early and has Bronchopulmonary Displaysia (BPD) which means his lung capacity is only about half that of normal babies. This means there is a higher chance that the cold could settle in his lungs and, for him, that may mean rehospitalization for a short time. So we were told to watch his oxygen saturation and increase his use of Xopanex. The doctor also said that it would probably get worse before it gets better. Why do they always say that!? If his saturation gets below 93% for an hour or so or if we notice that he is working really hard to breathe, then we turn his oxygen up. Sure enough, this morning, it got worse. So we cranked up his oxygen to 1/8 of a liter (he was on 1/32) to keep his sats up. This helped a lot, even though he sometimes still has to work to breathe. Because breathing and coughing are such chores, he is barely eating half of what he normally would. We are trying to get him to down about 1 1/2 ounces each meal to keep him from being dehydrated. The doctor said this is what we should do and not to expect him to eat well since he is sick. Today we called the pulmonologist on call for the weekend and he told us to up Carrick's Xopanex to every three hours. If we turn up his oxygen and he starts sinking or working really hard again or if he won't eat and is in danger of getting dehydrated, we just have to take him to the emergency room at the Children's Hospital and let them look at him. Will and I want Carrick to be safe and we don't want his cold moving into his chest but we think it's just not time for the emergency room yet. He's doing better on the upped oxygen, though he is still coughing and snuffling. He is also eating what the doctor expected him to eat. Regardless of how he does this weekend, this means a trip back to the pulmonologist on Monday and a total hold on weaning his oxygen for a least two weeks. We aren't even going to think about it until he's back on 1/32 and doing well for awhile. I really don't like having a sick kid. When Carrick coughs he gets this sad look on his tired little face and his eyes water. Then sometimes he just frowns and cries and it breaks our hearts. We are being extra vigilant and praying that this will just pass soon. Thanks for your prayers.