This crazy Rice life!

I wish I had kept better track of my labels throughout this crazy Rice life so it would be easier for newer readers to read the Respiratory Chronicles of Cooper. Maybe one day I will sort all of my posts. But that is highly unlikely. So I guess I can start with SparkNotes version. (Do people even know what those are anymore??)

Our first respiratory issue resulted in Cooper's very first hospital stay when he was 11 weeks old. We had no idea that was just the beginning. I already feel myself wanting to tell the whole story, detail by detail. Instead, I will sum it up. 

Cooper was diagnosed with Tracheomalacia based on symptoms by his pediatrician. Then, his ENT diagnosed Laryngomalacia and ruled out Tracheamalacia through a fiber-optic endoscope. Then, when the Laryngomalacia wasn't resolving itself as it should, Coop was referred to a pediatric pulmonary specialist where after many tests (including the scariest of all, a cystic fibrosis sweat test) Tracheamalacia was re-diagnosed. After recurrent pneumonia which resulted in 6 weeks of being admitted and discharged from St. Mary's last summer, a bronchioscope confirmed the Tracheamalacia as well as a foreign body trapped in the entrance to Coop's right lung, blocking 90% of the oxygen trying to get to his right lung and resulting in the inability to recover from pneumonia.

Phew! That was confusing. And that was the short story...

So since removing the foreign body and recovering from pneumonia,  we have only had 1 additional case and about 1,000 colds (and this is an improvement!) Our treatment plan was 1 nebulizer of the highest dose of Pulmacort morning and night with 1 dose of Albuterol via nebulizer. Additional doses of Albuterol could be given every 4 hours to total 4 doses in one day, if necessary.

We have been hospital visit free since this past December. That is THREE months without an ER visit, not too shabby if you ask me! So our hope to figure out what the heck is going on with Cooper's lungs and trachea started to seem closer and closer. The medicine seemed to work but we just couldn't seem to kick the coughing and choking seemed to be happening more than we would like, not just on foods but on his own saliva, a few times, pulling over on the side of the road to get him out of his car seat.

This past Tuesday, we finally received a diagnosis. Based on his respiratory history, the current symptoms and the fact that Coop gets 1,000 colds and no one else in our house gets them, Cooper is thought to have... ASTHMA.

We figured this was in our future. We kind knew this was coming. And honestly, with our history, we are so glad it is something as simple as asthma.

We started a new medicine regiment, 2 inhalers (via spacer) of Qvar and Albuterol (2 puffs each) morning and night plus saline nose flushes and 1 spray on each side of Nasonex every night. This has turned our 25 minute medicine routine into a 6 minute routine. Coop is having a little bit of difficulty giving up the nebulizer (which is funny, since he HATED it before the introduction to inhalers) but I think it is because he can taste the medicine now.

Fast forward 72 hours and we all slept the ENTIRE night, no coughing, no stuffy nose, no breathing issues. This has probably happened less than the number I can count on my fingers. It was amazing. As much as I am not happy Cooper has asthma, it is so nice to finally have a plan in place that works. And I know Coop will get used to it eventually, but I am pretty excited about skipping the nebulizer treatments, not to mention not having to travel with all of that equipment. Plus, they say kids who have asthma early, grow out of it. 

So after every test under the sun, we are finally somewhere. Cooper already seems a lot happier and we are all happier when we sleep. So glad to have this problem solved before Griffin comes. Now we can move on to all the other medical issues going on in our crazy Rice life!