Coff coff

We thought Youngest was having bad allergies. So I took her to the pediatrician's on Tuesday, just to make sure there wasn't anything else going on. We were told her lungs were clear and not to worry. Fast forward to yesterday afternoon. Youngest and I lie down for a nap and she begins to cough. It's sounding nasty and she sleeps maybe 15 minutes total, but keeps waking herself up with coughing fits. So we get up and she goes off to play with Oldest. A couple of hours later, the Husband comes home and Youngest complains she is having trouble breathing.

Now trouble breathing in any child = bad. But trouble breathing in a child with a seriously messed up heart = totally fucking bad. So off to the doc we go, where they determine that she has croup.

Providing medical care for a child with a chronic health condition is a series of calculated tradeoffs. The treatment for breathing difficulities is usually administration of albuterol through a face mask. Albuterol stresses the heart, but if your kid can't breathe you will take the risk of stressing the heart over the reality of someone not being able to breathe properly, and you hope you calculated well enough.

For parents with chronically ill children, I think this must be the most stressful part. You have to trust the medical professionals to be able to analyze these tradeoffs correctly and you hope they know what the heck they're talking about. Sometimes you know they don't have a clue, and then you have to tell the dear doctor that they need to call your child's specialist for a consult. No doctor likes to be told this, so you have to be prepared to be pretty unpopular in order to get the best medical care for your child.

We are lucky. Our pediatricians are knowledgeable about Youngest's condition, and they have a good working relationship with her cardiologist. So far all the treadeoffs have ultimately benefitted her. But I dread the day where I have to take her to the ER (again) and have to question someone's understanding of her health issues.

Little do you know when you birth a baby with a health problem that you've just signed up for the job of advocate as well. Sometimes that is the hardest job of all...