Aspirate Pneumonia

Ethan has it. We already thicken everything to honey-thick, so I don't know if something just slipped by or if he aspirated his own secretions. Who knows. I just know that he has had a cough for over a month. We went through a bottle of Mucinex and a round of Omnicef to no relief for poor Bub's. Ethan had his 3-month HEMOC checkup this past Tuesday and I asked for a chest x-ray. Even though our wonderful doctor said that his lungs sounded clear, he was happy to order the scan for me.

Dr. McLean called me with the results:

Dr.: Kristen, guess what the x-ray shows?

Me: NOTHING. (Simply because I was SURE that he had junk in his lungs, but the doc's like to try and prove my Mommy theories wrong. I thought that he was going to say "I told ya so- they are clear")

Dr.: Nope. He has a nice section of junk in his center right lobe.

Me: Really? Well, lookie there. Funny how that works when the Mommy is on to something. =)

Dr.: You were right. You followed your instinct and were right again. The area of pneumonia is pretty common for aspiration pneumonia.

Me: Well, that's just great. (can you sense the sarcasm dripping?)

What we have here ladies and gentlemen is what we refer to as an ETHANISM: when nothing makes sense- medically, behaviorally, or developmentally, Ethan will do it HIS way. (3 different docs listened to him and said his lungs were clear.)

So, Ethan is now on a 2-week dose of Augmentin. He still has a cough, but it is getting better, the drainage has reduced greatly, and he is sleeping much better. His appetite is starting to pick-up again, which is nice since he lost more weight and I could see his ribs. =(

You could say an extra prayer tonight that he continues to heal. Thanks.