Calvin is a healthy baby. He really is. However, we have spent more time than any of us have wanted to in doctor's offices and hospitals lately.
When Cal was born, during his first check-up his pediatrician heard a heart murmur. She recommended that a pediatric cardiologist should take a look. So the very next day, Cal was under the care of a cardiologist who diagnosed him with a ventricular septal defect (VSD) and a patent foramen ovale. Or in plain language, he had two holes in his heart. The cardiologist said that they were both small and thought that they would close on their own eventually. But still you worry. We had a checkup at 2 months and both defects were still there. However, at his 6 month checkup with the cardiologist (which was really at 7 months) the cardiologist determined that both holes had closed up on their own and he has normal cardiac anatomy.
One of his first colds went to his chest and he received an albuterol nebulizing treatment which really seemed to help. And so he was prescribed albuterol and we ended up purchasing a nebulizer to give him treatments pretty much whenever he got sick with a head cold. And while its not fun to get him to hold still during a treatment they always do seem to really help him. I have it figured out how to get a full treatment in him, and it usually involves restraining him in his carseat.
We have ended up at the doctor's office for colds, fevers, and ear infections. We have spent more time visiting with our pediatrician and her associates at the office than we really want to. I have become friends with the nurses who I have spoken to on a regular basis on the phone at the office...one even came in just to meet us one time when we were in the office. We really like our doctor, the other doctors in her office, and the nurses. And fortunately for us his doctor's office is across the street from his daycare and only a few minutes from my office and has a great pharmacy in the same building. And he is such a happy baby, that even though he is sick, he will still smile, giggle, and charm the doctors and everyone around him.
The week before Thanksgiving Cal hadn't been feeling so hot. The Thursday before Thanksgiving he got sent home from school because he had a fever. And so he couldn't go to school on Friday, which was the day we went to the cardiologist and we got the great news that his heart was normal. Friday evening he woke up from sleep and I could tell something wasn't right. He was warm and he was coughing and he just wasn't breathing right it was too fast and too shallow. We did a nebulizing treatment, put him in a steamy bathroom, and even took him outside where it was cooler...nothing really seemed to help. Nick commented that it was as if he was having an asthma attack. So I packed him up and we headed to the ER. He was put on monitors where they identified that his oxygen levels were low and so we were admitted to the hospital. He got another nebulizing treatment and they diagnosed him with RSV. We spent Saturday in the hospital and got discharged later that evening. And over the next two weeks, Cal recovered to be 100% healthy (despite an ear infection) as we kept him home from daycare to make sure he was healthy for surgery.
Ellie had some doozies of ear infections and got tubes in her ears in December 2009, at almost 10 months old. Apparently its genetic. Cal had several ear infections in a row this fall, and most were pretty nasty. Every time we ended up in the doctors office for a cold or for a check-up he had an ear infection and it usually was described with adjectives such as, bulging, colors of a tequila sunrise (which I'm pretty sure ear drums shouldn't look like), nasty, must be painful...never anything really nice to say. Cal was constantly pulling on his ears and it was painful for him to lay on his back, so much so that he if he was asleep he would wake up and cry in pain. On December 4, Calvin had tubes installed in both ears at Children's Hospital of Los Angeles. It was almost de ja vous to 5 years ago to when Ellie got hers back in Boston. It has only been a few days but it is obvious that they don't hurt anymore and that he is already hearing better.
It has been a long couple months. After more than two weeks out of daycare he is now back and we are all happy to have him there again. Now that we know his heart is normal and he has ear tubes, we will just have to keep him free of head colds that require the use of the nebulizer.
He gets his flu shot tomorrow because he is finally healthy enough for it.
