What's Wrong With My Son?
My son is ten months old and something isn't right.
We all know that newborn babies can be noisy. They snort and grunt, but sometimes they can be so quiet you have to lay your hand on their chest just to make sure that they are still breathing. This has never really been the case for him.
When he breathes, his chest rattles, and it's noisy. The strength of it comes and goes, but it never goes away completely. At his eight week check-up, I pointed it out to our pediatrician who listened and told me that she thought he had caught on to his ability to make a noise and was continually repeating it. I was impressed with him for about a day until I realized that it wasn't going away.
A week later, we brought my daughter in for a check-up, and the attention turned quickly to my son and his breathing. The doctor was worried that he may be developing pneumonia. I felt terrible that we had missed it, but with his happy disposition, no other symptoms and his already irregular breathing, I hadn't realized he was sick.
We stepped up our game after that. He's been treated for croup. He's been on Albuterol and the insurance company has sent us our very own breathing machine. He's been pin-cushioned and tested for a variety of food allergies as well as pet allergies and all blood work has come back negative. He's had a chest x-ray. He's been to a pulmonologist three times. He's been treated for reflux. He's been to a gastroenterologist. He's changed formulas four different times. He has two other x-ray orders waiting for him later this week. He's seen our doctor for his breathing more than he has for well baby exams.
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Everyone thinks he'll grow out of it. But the rattling continues and so do the tests.
I worry about him. I want someone, anyone, to tell me why he sounds like he does. I appreciate the efforts of the doctors, but we've had so many treatment failures that when a new suggestion is made, I have a hard time believing that this will be the ticket. But I try it anyway.
He brings so much light to our family, and if this is the worst he has to face, I'm so grateful. There are so many sick children in the world, and I know how lucky we are. I remind myself every day as I listen to his little rattle that we could be much, much, much worse off.
But I still want to know why he sounds like he does...
