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Am I being paranoid? (re: child illnesses)
Feel free to be honest and tell me I'm being a crazy, paranoid mom. Background: Liam was born a bit on the early side at 36 weeks, 5 days. When he was 8 weeks old, he had viral meningitis. After that, he was ok for a few months aside from the normal daycare colds. From January-May, he had ear infection after ear infection until we got tubes in early May (i lost count of how many, but probably 7 or so) He had an upper respiratory infection in May that required a nebulizer for 2 weeks. He's had the stomach flu twice in the course of 6 months.
He's never NOT had a runny nose or a cough, I swear, that's just his constant state of being. He had another ear infection after getting the tubes put in, then he had hand/foot/mouth disease, followed by a bad cold. At the beginning of this month, he had pneumonia....finished up the antibiotics for that, it cleared up, and now he has it again, and it's even worse this time.
I know he's a daycare kid and they get sick, I get that. But this is just much, much, much more than Jake ever went through. He's been so sick all summer, I'm truly dreading going into actual cold and flu season!
All of that being said---do you think it's just daycare stuff, or do you think I need to worry about an underlying issue? The pneumonia is what has put me over the edge, he was miserable over the weekend....coughing like crazy, fever of 104.6 on Friday night, you can hear him wheezing from across the room 
I already asked the pediatrician at his last pneumonia follow up visit about some type of immune disorder or something, if that's something we needed to be worried about...he agreed that Liam has had quite the long list of illnesses, even for a daycare kid, but didn't feel we needed to subject him to any testing right at that moment. Now I"m just wondering since we're on pneumonia round #2 in 3 weeks if it IS time to push for something more to be done.
If you've made it this far, thanks for reading....sorry it was so long!
Re: Am I being paranoid? (re: child illnesses)
Have they ever considered asthma? My youngest sister had similar issues when she was about 2 and they kept treating her for bronchitis. Turns out it was asthma. You could seriously hear her breathing two rooms away.
I will say, my sister Erin had mengitis when she was 18 mon (my mom was also 9 months pregnant with my brother during all this). While she never had any of the most common side effects (hearing loss, etc) to this day(she is now 31), when she gets sick it knocks her on her arse. My mom asked the doctor when she was younger if it was a side effect and they said no but none of us ever got sick like she did from a simple cold.
I'm so sorry Emmy. It certainly sounds like much more than the normal daycare sickness.
I'm not a worrier by nature, but in this case I'd probably want at least a second opinion due to his long list of issues and two bouts of pneumonia so close together.
Hugs to you, I hate dealing with sick kids, and you've had more than your share lately.
Ditto Amber - I would ask again, and if you're getting the same answer, get a 2nd opinion or push for testing. (I'm not sure how invasive any testing would be, but if he is always getting sick, I would hate to continue to put him through that if there is an underlying issue or alternative treatments...and if the testing doesn't find anything, well then at least you know that.) Good luck!
Thanks, ladies. Lisa-like you, I consider myself a fairly laid back mom when it come to stuff like this (I'm normally the one telling other moms, "eh--don't worry about it! He/she's in daycare, they get sick a lot, it's part of the package deal!") but I just feel like something isn't right at this point.
Kris-we haven't talked about asthma. I did bring up allergies over the summer (any time he goes outside his eyes get red & watery), but they said they don't treat them this young for that, and that hopefully it would be something he'd outgrow.
Jake - 1.15.08
Liam - 5.17.11
Poor little guy.... and poor momma. I will be wondering the same thing probably. So I agree with the others. Even if nothing shows up, you have peace of mind that you looked into. Joys of motherhood for sure!
Emilie was a bit older when they diagnosed her and she did outgrow it by the time she went to school. The treatment was daily neubulizer treatments. They did do allergy testing at the time since it seemed worse in the fall and my dad has asthma and allergies.
Every kid is different but save for the meningitis, Liam sounds a lot like Jude. First ear infection at four months, I think he had 6 in his first year, sometimes spiking a fever in the 104/105 range with it. At 9 months he started with the lung infections, 3 in three months. For his first birthday he had an ear infection plus pneumonia. Good times. One trip to Children's around 18 months when we couldn't get the wheezing under control at home or in the ped's office. Several bouts of the stomach flu (which DH and I always seem to get worse than he does!). I just chalked it up to daycare germs + lingering preemie issues (35 weeks/immature lungs).
Jude started to do much better after his second cold & flu season (around age 2). But the second season definitely sucked and put me on edge. Is Liam on a preventative like Pulmicort?
No, he's not on any medication (aside from the antibiotics right now). Sounds like Jude has had a tough time, too
the paranoia over the wheezing killed me over the weekend, I was staring at him all day, making sure he wasn't turning blue.
Jake - 1.15.08
Liam - 5.17.11
My three sons!
I haven't had to deal with your situation, but I do strongly believe that if your mom instinct is telling you something isn't right, you should push the pedi or find another avenue to get some answers.
I hope Liam catches a break soon! For both of your benefit.
I'm sorry, Emmy. I don't know if it's a consolation, but I'd be worried too. That's a lot of illness, and if there was some underlying issue I'd want to explore it. I'd probably at least ask if they can tell you more about additional tests and what would be involved so that you can know going in what to expect and make your decision based on real information. Big hugs to you and little Liam!
ETA: I'm also a big proponent of second opinions. I never used to get them, but then after my pregnancy with Lanna I regretted not doing it even though my instincts were telling me to. Wether you see a specialist or just another pedi, if you're not getting the answers you need it can't hurt. I've regretted not getting a second opinion, but I've never regretted getting one.
How time flies! Caileigh (9), Keira (6) & Eamon (3)
I'm not a worrier by nature either--but I think if I were you I would like to know for sure that it's just a run of bad luck.
FWIW--my niece went through a period of about 8 months where she got every sickness under the sun. It was constant, my SIL had to take off work so often to take her to the doctor that she eventually was let go. They did a barrage of tests to see if there was an underlying issue. Turns out she had mono, which made her more suceptible to every germ that came through daycare.
Now the kid is 8 and never misses school :-)
I am surprised they didn't give you any albuterol for the wheezing.
Not a doctor but this is kind of what I thought when I read your post. S had serious asthma issues from between the ages of 1-2.5, complete with 2 cases of pneumonia & a handful of ER visits and hospital stays b/c of wheezing/difficulty breathing. I'm kind of surprised you weren't told to do neb treatments with the kind of wheezing you're describing. S took Xoponex (rescue med - treatment was multiple times a day during an attack) plus twice daily Pulmicort (maintenance med). For S literally every single cold turned into a breathing issue but once we had these meds straightened out it was fairly smooth sailing. Our ped was really on top of things but we still took S to a pulm to check that he agreed with the treatment from the ped. She eventually outgrew it but I can honestly say that seeing my kid have difficulty breathing has been the scariest part of parenting for DH & I. I'd really push your ped and get a specialist involved as well.
Hoping your little guy is feeling better very soon...
Not a doctor but this is kind of what I thought when I read your post. S had serious asthma issues from between the ages of 1-2.5, complete with 2 cases of pneumonia & a handful of ER visits and hospital stays b/c of wheezing/difficulty breathing. I'm kind of surprised you weren't told to do neb treatments with the kind of wheezing you're describing. S took Xoponex (rescue med - treatment was multiple times a day during an attack) plus twice daily Pulmicort (maintenance med). For S literally every single cold turned into a breathing issue but once we had these meds straightened out it was fairly smooth sailing. Our ped was really on top of things but we still took S to a pulm to check that he agreed with the treatment from the ped. She eventually outgrew it but I can honestly say that seeing my kid have difficulty breathing has been the scariest part of parenting for DH & I. I'd really push your ped and get a specialist involved as well.
Hoping your little guy is feeling better very soon...
I was surprised about no nebulizer too, I even asked that specifically to the doctor at children's express on Friday night. I have a call into my doctor's office, I called and talked to the nurse just to see what the next step is, when we should be seen, etc...and once she pulled up his record, she said she was more comfortable with me speaking to the doctor directly. So, I'm waiting for that call.
My mom is home with him today & said his breathing sounds much better today, although he's still been doing nothing but sleeping and sitting in her lap.
Jake - 1.15.08
Liam - 5.17.11
i read your post but don't have enough time to read through the replies-
my liam also had a lot of illness when he was young... 3months- 18 months were bad. reflux, rsv infections (one which got him hospitalized), then diagnosed with asthma, and so many ear infections almost got tubes. basically what we figured out is that his runny nose and congestion would lead to ear infections and go deeper into his lungs when his nose was runnier than usual and create breathing problems. they always asked me if he was a premie (which he was not) b/c they were worried about the lungs. seeing a pulmonologist was the best thing we did for him. the pulmonologist diagnosed him with something called airway malacia (the cartilidge in the lung are still soft/floppy and allow the mucus to get in there and stay in there). we ended up not getting him tubes b/c it was starting to be spring and the doc said we could wait if we wanted to. since then he has only had 1 ear infection so i am very glad we waited. at 2.5 years old his pulmonologist asked if we still hear wheezing ever and we don't so he said its ok to stop his preventative inhaler. he also said he has outgrown his airway malacia and he has been fine. however, we did start flonase to see if all of this mucus/nasal stuff was allergy related and it has made a huge difference and i think has fixed this whole thing.he still gets sick but gets better! before it was like a cold just made him go downhill in the chest and ears...
Hope he is continuing to improve! Did your pedi want to see him?
I ended up getting a call back from the nurse at 5:30 last night, who had to wait all day to catch the doctor to speak with him. For now, we're going to finish out the antibiotic then have a follow up with the doctor the week after next. He said he would probably order an xray to make sure it's gone, and discuss further testing/specialists at that time.
My mom is home with him again today...he probably could have gone to school, but since she was willing to stay with him, I figured one more day of rest would be better. He napped for almost 5 hours yesterday, so clearly he needs the rest!
Jake - 1.15.08
Liam - 5.17.11