When I was pregnant, I was prepared for the loss of sleep, the change in priorities, and the way my life was "never going to be the same." But, I never imagined how much time I would spend in a doctor's office (at least twice a month), how many tears of frustration I would shed over not knowing how to help my baby feel better, or how much money I would spend at the pharmacy. After countless appointments with our pediatrician and an allergist, 4 chest x-rays, one set of tubes, and more antibiotics than I want to admit, we have come to the conclusion that Elliott has allergies, asthma and eczema.
It all started when he was about six months old with a rattly cough that would not go away. People would constantly ask me if he was sick, or suggest that maybe I needed to take him to the doctor, as though I hadn't already thought of that. I could feel other mothers giving me the evil eye when he would cough around their kid, as if to say "why do you have him out?" or "he better not get my baby sick!" But, if I kept him home every time he had a cough we would have been quarantined to our house, because seven months later that cough is still here. It doesn't come and go like most kids, it lingers, in fact we have not had a single day since the first time I heard it, that I haven't heard it again. For the longest time I was told he was just catching colds and/or viruses at daycare, but I knew it was different than the colds my friend's kids had.
Shortly after the coughing started, the ear infections started. As soon as we finished one antibiotic, we would start another. Nothing seemed to make them stop. After 9 antibiotic shots, and trying every oral antibiotic he could stomach, we were referred to an ENT. He suggested tubes immediately upon seeing Elliott's poor little ears, but a recent battle with "pneumonia" meant we had to wait several weeks for surgery. We hoped and prayed that the tubes would be the answer to our problems, but within weeks of having them put in, his ears were infected again and the cough was still as present as ever.
Our pediatrician put Elliott back on his reflux medicine to see if that would help, but no luck. She then added a daily singulair, and an albuterol inhaler for when his coughing seemed to be causing him to wheeze. The inhaler and singulair did help relieve his symptoms, but the cough and ear infections were still present.
I finally got frustrated and made Elliott an appointment with an allergist to see if he could give us any new answers. Upon reading Elliott's history (tubes, pneumonia, coughing, wheezing that was relieved by an inhaler, etc.) he immediately told me he had asthma. He prescribed him a daily inhaler (the control- alvesco) in addition to the albuterol (the rescue), singulair, and Zantac. He also tested him for airborne allergies, all of which came back negative. He asked to see us back in a month to evaluate his progress.
However, before we could come back, Elliott came down with RSV, another ear infection, and another round of pneumonia. He went back on antibiotics, and we weren't able to tell if any of the new treatments were helping because of him being sick. At this point I began to take things into my own hands. I was convinced that all of our problems had started when he started eating food, namely dairy. I did some research online and found thousands of moms who said upon taking their children off of all dairy products, (milk, cheese, yogurt, ice cream) their asthma cleared up. So we switched to soy. He did seem to be clearing up some, and I started to get excited, but then, you guessed it, he got sick again! When we went to the doctor she gave us more antibiotics, for his ears, and I requested a blood test for food allergies. The results came back and all were negative, including dairy. So, back to dairy we went. He hadn't gained much weight on soy and is already small to begin with, so I didn't want to keep him from the fat he needs unless I absolutely had to.
So here we are 2 and a half weeks since our last antibiotic, same cough, a runny nose and runny eyes that have been around for about a month, and now a dry, red "rash" all over his body. I could almost cry (again) when I saw it popping up. What now? Back to the doctor we go, but our usual pediatrician is on call so we see another one in our same office. Upon hearing our story and looking over his records, she said, "he has allergies, asthma, chronic ear infections, and eczema, and I think it's time to start being more aggressive, because we should be able to get this cough under control in between sicknesses." I was so relieved to hear that. I had almost come to the point where I had given up on ever not hearing that awful cough. But, it means more meds, lots of meds, and I hate that, but what else can I do? So, we left with an antibiotic shot in him, and tomorrow we start another round of oral antibiotics, his first ever steroid, and a double dose of his control inhaler every day, in addition to the Singulair, Zantac, his ear drops and Albuterol. I don't even want to know what I'm going to owe the pharmacy...
I asked about the "allergies" since all of the tests had come back negative, and she said we won't be able to tell for sure until he is 2 or 3 years old, because at this age he may not have been exposed to enough to show up on a test. As far as his eczema goes, we have to switch to hypoallergenic body wash and lotion.
Will he outgrow this? Maybe. Will our future children have similar problems? Likely.
I'm a little overwhelmed. Please pray that this day marks a turning point in Elliott's health.
But, however frustrating this process may be, I am thankful that we are not battling something life threatening as so many parents do. I cannot imagine their pain. There is nothing worse than feeling helpless when it comes to getting your child healthy and feeing better! I wanted to share this incase any one reading has gone though a similar battle. You are not alone, and I feel your stress and worry every day. Hang in there, we'll get this thing figured out one of these days, right?
