Croup again

Well, we just got back from the peds office and he confirmed what I suspected, which is that she has croup again. Yes, I say again, because the last time she was sick several weeks ago I was pretty sure it was croup, because Chloe had that characteristic seal-sounding barky cough, but since her airway is small anyway and the characteristic croup cough is caused by restriction of the airway we couldn't be sure if that's just how her typical cough sounds or if she actually had croup. But this time, she had a cough from the start and it did NOT sound barky in the beginning. It has transitioned to the croup cough. So, that leads us to deduce that she does indeed, and DID indeed have croup. :) (did you follow that? - hee hee). So we debated and decided NOT to treat with steriods at this point because although she can't really nap with all the coughing she does seem to be doing quite well at night thanks to the cpap, which if you remember is HUMIDIFIED forced air that helps to keep her airway open. It's the perfect treatment for croup. So as long as she can get into a good sleep so that we can get it on her, she should do fine. The doc said her cough should change over to a thick mucusy cough in the next few days. My guess is that's when the REAL trouble for her will begin, if at all. But fingers are crossed that she breezes through this one!

Last time Chloe had croup - too exhausted to sit up on her arms.

On a stranger note, in her vomiting episodes this morning she actually vomited up her meds from more then 12 hours before!!! Clearly her meds shouldn't have still been in her stomach so there is question as to whether her stomach is emptying correctly. Could have just been a freak thing, but something we'll be keeping an eye on.

Lastly, I was thinking about ME on the drive over to the doctor and how it does in fact relate directly to my life with Ms. Chloe. For the past 9 months (and really months before that) we have experienced crisis after crisis. Several taking us to the brink of death for our sweet angel. And each time as the crisis would subside I would feel this sense of withdrawal from the adrenaline that got me through the crisis. I am frustrated that my body has broken down in this way and in fact disgusted with it for I know what Chloe has gone through and continues to go through and keeps that smile on her face. I need to be here for her and my other kids. But I guess it does make sense that the constant roller coaster of hormones in my body has just finally warn down my systems that were fragile to begin with. I guess one of the hardest things about this is having to take the time to figure out and deal with what is going on with me. But my body has decided that I must.