A Trip To The Doctor

Almost three weeks ago Tyke and I caught a small cold.  He struggled with a stuffy, runny nose and a small cough, I struggled with a sore throat and headaches.  Things eventually cleared up but Tyke's cough stayed.  He doesn't cough constantly but he coughs enough that Chad and I discussed it yesterday morning and decided to call the pediatricians office to see if he should be seen.

Our poor little guy will cough a dry cough in the middle of the night until he wakes us all up.  In the mornings, about every second or third morning, he has a barking cough.  And throughout the day his cough sounds like he's coughing up some flem.  We have been concerned all along but didn't want to be the over reacting parents that we sometimes are, so we waited.  He is perfectly fine other than his cough.

I called the pediatricians office and spoke with one of the nurses.  I told her how Tyke has been coughing nearly 2 1/2 weeks now and how he has three different coughs depending on the hour of the day.  I explained that he's no longer got the runny/stuffy nose, and that we run the humidifier throughout the night.  She told me that because it has been so long and his cough varies so much (she was especially concerned about the barking cough even though I told her it was every other day in between) that he should be seen.  She got him scheduled right away with Dr. Lauritzen (Fullmer wasn't in).  Can I just say, we LOVE Utah Valley Pediatrics so much!!!

I left work a little early, and Jenny dropped Tyke off at the house just after 4 p.m.  We loaded up and headed to Payson to get Chad.  Tyke was scheduled to see the doctor at 4:50 p.m. but we didn't get called back for a while, which meant we spent a lot of time in the waiting room surrounded by sick kiddos.  After meeting with Dr. Lauritzen and being assured that Tyke's chest sounded great and his ears looked good, he suggested that we have a nasal swab done and check for pertussis and walking pneumonia.  And for the record our little guy weighed in at 20 pounds 11 ounces!

We were sent over to the hospital and had to check in through the emergency room because it was after hours.  After getting that all squared away we headed upstairs to the respiratory center.  We had to wait about fifteen minutes before someone showed up to help us.  The procedure itself was really quick.  Tyke didn't like it and threw the biggest fit which we don't blame him.  The lab guy had to put saline drops in each of Tyke's nostrils and then one at a time stuck a tube about an inch and a half up his nose to suck out the snot.  Poor Tyke was not happy!  Luckily he calmed right down as soon as it was over and his Daddy loved him better.  (He did however turn and give the lab guy a dirty look.)

We were told that the test results would take 24 hours to get back so we expected to get them tonight or in the morning.  Chad was called this morning and told that everything came back negative, yay!!  So, we just have a boy with a cough, but healthy as can be!  We have been so blessed this year with good health for our little guy!  We're super glad that his labs came back negative!