This may not be the most upbeat post I have written, but in the spirit of documenting stories of Elliott as he grows up, I wanted to share what he has been going through over the last month.
We had a glorious reprieve from doctor visits during the months of July and August. The ear tubes Elliott got in June put a stop to the recurring ear infections he had since January. Everything was going great, and when he would get a cold I didn't feel like I needed to rush him to the doctor since his body was finally able to fight them off without the assistance of antibiotics. And then, mid-September, he woke up on a Monday morning with a runny nose and a slight cough, which I didn't think much of because I am no longer worried about ear infections. Throughout the day at daycare he was fine, until he woke up from his afternoon nap at 4:30. By the time I picked him up after work at 5:00, his lungs were very congested, he was running a fever, and he was struggling to breath. He continued to worsen after getting home, and we were concerned about how we would get through the night. Thankfully urgent care was open until 7pm, and as soon as we arrived the nurses and doctors flocked to us. They were concerned about the way his ribs were flaring out as he was trying to draw in air, and his low blood oxygen levels.
The doctor and nurses were fantastic, and we were quickly rushed down the hall for a chest X-ray. It was a very scary moment, and at the same time I was so fascinated by the process that I paused to oblige the little voice in the back of my mind telling me to document the moment for the blog, and future memory.