Decisions, Doubts, and Second-Guessing

Our son has had respiratory issues since he was 8 months old. Every time he gets sick my husband and I wait and see if the wheezing begins before starting the breathing treatments and praying they help. Often times they don't so back to the doctor we go. There's always this dilema though of whether or not should we take him. Is he sick enough? Should we wait another day or two? What can the doctor really do anyway if it's viral? We're not those people that run to the doctor with every cough and sneeze, but sometimes we have been those people who have waited too long, kicking ourselves for not taking him in sooner. This appears to be one of those times.

Both kids have been sick for almost six weeks now. It started with both of them having a cold that lasted for two weeks. The runny nose stayed, the coughing got worse, and the sneezing increased. I started suspecting allergies but the allergy meds didn't do a thing to relieve any of the symptoms. While our daughter seemed to start improving, our son did not so after week 3 we called the doctor. She saw him, said while he was wheezing a bit she thought it was more a result of his asthma so recommended we continue giving him albuterol treatments. She said his ears were a little pink but not infected and she and I both are on the conservative side when it comes to medication so she prescribed nothing.

Well, two more weeks passed and neither one was better. Last week I debated daily whether I should call the doctor and each time I convinced myself that he may be better tomorrow, so I never called. After taking a turn for the worse on Monday night I called the doctor yesterday, they could hear him hacking in the background and so we made an appointment for first thing this morning. Well, I am glad I did because last night the poor guy was coughing so much that he started coughing up tons of dark brown phlegm, which then led to vomitting, I think as a result of so much phlegm being coughed up. It was gross and I am still trying to get the smell out of the carpet, couch, and any other crevice the vomit managed to find itself stuck in.

Long story short we saw the doctor, she wanted chest x-rays, and we walked away with the diagnosis of bacterial pneumonia, double ear infections, sinusitis, and an exterior lip infection (lip got so chapped, it split and is now swollen and infected).

So, now I feel horrible. The poor guy has been miserable for almost two months and while he wasn't as bad the first three weeks, had I trusted my gut and taken him in last week he could be on day 7 of a 10 day course of antibiotics and on his way to feeling better. Instead, he is miserable and on day one of the antibiotic treatment.