Thursday, March 19, 2009

Stridor--ever heard of it? Me neither, but the Wiki defines it as the high-pitched sound heard when a child breaths in, signifying an obstruction or narrowing in his upper airway. No doubt our knowledge of the medical lexicon will greatly expand as the boys grow up and develop who-knows-what...

For most of the week, Nathaniel and Carter have been exhibiting the odd cough--nothing steady, but definitely causing them (and us!) some grief, esp. at night. Nathaniel's cough was more persistent, and much more severe than that of his brother's. After a restless Tuesday night, in which he had difficulty sleeping, we arranged a last-minute appointment with Dr. Papadouris Wednesday afternoon...

Upon examination, she concluded that it was simply a mild cold for each of them, but in Nathaniel's instance, the fact that his cough disappeared entirely when he was laying on his stomach and was present only when on his back had her suspect the ailment listed above. She scheduled an X-ray for Nathaniel at Sick Kids for the next morning to make sure there was nothing physically wrong with his breathing passage.


So Thursday morning, Lidia and Nathaniel went through with the x-ray and within an hour, Dr. P called us with the results. A major relief: no physical problem was detected, so it's purely a viral situation. She advised that if Nathaniel's cough didn't subside over the day, that she'd give him a mild steroid to help ease his difficult breathing (given that DS children have somewhat weaker muscle tone and might need a bit of boost).

Although his evening bath seemed to clear up what remained of his congestion, overnight Nathaniel's breathing once again became laboured so in the morning, Lidia took him back to Dr. P's office for the steroid prescription--their second frenzied trek through Toronto morning traffic in a row. It was worth it, though--the single shot of dexamethasone cleared it all up in about six hours, and in the days since then, Nathaniel has exhibited nary a hiccup or sniffle...

On the other hand, I've been mainlining Neo Citrin since Thursday and have only succeeded in doping myself up into a permanent waking coma. Wonder if I can convincingly forge Dr. P's signature to get a shot of that steroid for myself...?

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