Trachea-What?

Addy helping the nurses care for Caden

From the moment Caden was born he seemed to have a cough.  The day after returning home with him he definitely had a cough.  At his 5 day check-up, and again at his 2 week check-up, I pointed it out to his pediatrician who simply said he was coughing up whatever was left over from his delivery.  Problem - he wasn't actually coughing anything up.  But, I was inclined to trust the health professional and went on with life.  Then around 3 weeks he started struggling to breath.  He never turned blue or anything, but rather wheezing.  I called his pediatrician who suggested maybe he had Tracheomalicia and reflux, so she just simply put him on Zantac.  On Sunday, June 17th, we saw lots of family who were horrified at how he sounded and insisted we take him to the doctors AGAIN. So, on monday, instead of heading to Charlotte as planned, the boys and I ended up at his pediatricians office.  Because we were "fit in" we were there for 2 hours (with Carson and Cooper going insane) just to be told that he did sound terrible and we needed to go see an ENT.  She got us an appt for the ENT that same day, so I dropped the other 2 boys at my friends (I wasn't about to battle another long appt with them again) and headed there.  This doctor stuck a scope down his small nostrils (while he screamed for 30 minutes) to determined that there was no blockage and ruled out issues with his Larynx.  At this point he had no idea what the problem could be and he and his pediatrician threw up their hands and sent us home (telling me that if it got worse then we could go to the hospital).  Not really knowing what to do, but being exhausted from being awake all night wondering if he was going to stop breathing, I decided to keep my original plans and take the boys to Charlotte. 

It was Hannah's birthday so we all met at Sarah's pool to throw her a pizza party to celebrate.  Erin and kids, Sarah's Fam, Bryan, Heather, Caleb, Hannah, and the boys and I were all there.

That night we stayed at Sarah's.  I said a prayer that night that if I needed to take him to the Children's Hospital (and deal with competent doctors) in the morning then I needed some type of sign.  The next morning I was woken up by the ENT calling me to tell me "upon further reflection I really think you need to take him to Univeristy of Virginia or Wake Forest Medical Center".  I knew at this point that I had to do something and I might as well do it in Charlotte while I was there.  So, Sarah, being 8 months prego herself, was willing to watch Carson and Cooper while I headed to Levine's Children's Hospital.  They immediately said he was in moderate-severe distress and starting doing all sorts of tests.  He had to have an IV (which was horifying to me because I hate them) and they did an X-Ray on his chest.  The X-Ray showed that his lungs were clear and great.  The next step was for him to see a Pulmonologist.  They admitted us to the hospital which began my own personal, small, nightmare.  Caden was so little and I couldn't stand everything that was being done to him, so I naturally started second guessing what I was doing here.  Since Sarah had my kids, Erin took it upon herself to come visit us with her 3 kids.  It was actually a breath of fresh air.  Being a children's hospital there was lots for Marcus, Addy and Katie to do.  They got to do some crafts, eat all the snacks they wanted, watched tv, and then got coloring books and crayons.  The Pumonologist didn't make it to our room until 5ish which is when he explained what was going to happen.  They would have to sedate Caden (the 2nd thing to freak me out) and then put another scope down his nose that would be a lot longer and go further down to see his Trachea.  It was a 15 minute procedure.  Chris came down that night to be with us.  Caden wasn't allowed to eat starting at 1 am so in order to keep him calm, and hopefully asleep, I held him the entire night.  Then at 7am they came and got us.

Chris and I went to the waiting room and 20 minutes later the Pulmonologist came in.  He said that yes Caden did have Tracheomalicia.  This is where his Trachea was still really soft and collapsed.  Typically surgery isn't needed and it should heal on its own with time.  In the meantime we need to give him Prevacid (for reflux so it doesn't inflame his trachea) and daily breathing treatments of Pulmicort, and to keep him away from sicknesses.  He explained that he would be a noisy baby until it finished forming, around 1 year.  My own research says that it is more likely to be 2 years and some aren't even finished forming by then.

Going through this with Caden has made me appreciate my children's health so much more.  I have such sympathy for parents going through any type of illness with their children.  Our struggle is a trial, but so small compared to what others have to go through.  Caden's medicine has helped but he still has coughing spells and wheezing randomly, but we know what is going on and don't have to freak out as much (just get terrible looks from those around us).  It effects how well he sleeps at night, but maybe one day he will sleep through the night.