Meet our newest house guest, "Payton the Panda".....
and let me tell you, she has not been welcomed with open arms.
Payton is not your ordinary adorable panda, she is actually a Nebulizer in disguise.
And even though she is as cute as can be, Reags is not diggin' her new "furry" friend.
It has been nothing but illness after illness in this house since the girls started daycare in the Fall. Reagan has had a cough that has never really gone away, at times it seems to subside, but then it comes right back. On Sunday, I noticed that the cough was starting to sound different......and not in a good way.
First thing Monday morning, I packed her up and we headed straight for the pediatrician's office.
As soon as the doctor put the stethoscope on her back, I saw the concerned look on his face.
He listened carefully for more than a few minutes and then finally took it off and said that he did not like what he heard.
They ran a few tests to check her oxygen levels and they were not where they should be. So it was decided to start her on breathing treatments immediately. They agreed to let me take her home and administer the breathing treatments there as long as I promised to bring her back in a few days to be re-evaluated.
Reags needs 4-5 treatments a day and that in itself has not been an easy task.
She is scared of the machine..... She is fine when she sees the Panda and will even play with it as long as it is in the "off mode", but the second that motor goes on and the mist starts coming out, she starts to scream, cry, and carry on.
We have tried just about everything to get her to see that there is nothing to be scared of.
This morning before her real treatment, we let her play pretend with it.
Sarah has been such a big help and stepped right up to show her that there was nothing to wearing this mask on your face.
She agreed to give it a try..... as long as it was turned off and nothing was coming out....
but even then, when pretending, she preferred to be the nurse and not the patient.
It is going to be a long couple of days.....
Hoping we see some improvement in Reags by Friday, when we go back to visit the doctor.
He used two words when we were in his office Monday, one being "Pneumonia" and the other was "Asthma". Neither one of these words sounds good to me.......but oh man, if it is Asthma? Payton the Panda may be more than a house guest..... she may become a member of this family.
Thank goodness I have the world's best and most understanding boss.... I am basically home all week with her to try to get her over whatever it is that is causing her lungs distress.
I will update everyone after Friday's appointment. For now, we are just praying we get our girl's lungs back in good health, quickly and painlessly.
44 comments:
Oh no!! Praying for your sweet baby girl!! Hope Payton gets to go home very soon! ;) xoxo!
Oh my -- you all have had a tough winter! Hope little Miss is feeling better soon!
janet
xoxo
Day care can be tough;however, you almOst wonder if they have a mold issue or some other environmental issue that is causing her to be so sick. You might want to consider switching day cares.
Oh no, Lisa!! I am so sorry to hear this. I remember Mia had only been home from China a few days when we had to take her to the E.R. on Christmas Day - her FIRST Christmas - and she had pneumonia. It was so hard to hear her coughing so hard and having difficulty breathing. It looks like Sarah is being such a great helper. I hope that Reagan will quickly change her mind about Payton the Panda and take her breathing treatments with ease. I have to say I think the panda is pretty darn cute!
Saying a prayer for Reagan to recover quickly!!
xoxo,
Michelle
What a nice start to your winter! :) Hope she gets better soon!
Praying for little Reags and hoping that she gets better soon. The Panda has been a member of my family for many years now..:-(
I can only say I wish we had a panda version! Our nebulizer is not pretty and oh so loud! Hard to sleep when it has to be turned on in the middle of the night. We were "lucky": it was the 7 year old who got to stay first in the hospital for 7 days on the nebulizer (and with an oxygen mask in between the sessions on the first days), so our little miss got used to seeing the tubes and mask. Sorry to say I have no advise to give you on how to make it easier... Keeping my fingers crossed for a good outcome and better results.
Poor Baby!! I know how hard it is to do the nebulizer. We have had one for almost a year now. Nugget first had it last February. It was really rough at first. Ours isn't nearly as cute at your panda! ;o)
The thing we found that finally worked for us was watching Elmo on the iPad while doing the breathing treatments. I was uploading anything and everything I could for that five minute nebulizer moment. Little Bear and Cars are the new favorites
Good Luck! I hope Reagan is better each day!! Sending lots of good thoughts!!
Oh dear...I'm sorry to hear the latest. (It just hasn't stopped for you guys.)I'm sure she'll get used to it but meanwhile...hang in there.
Sending a bis hug, my friend!!!
xoxox
Aww, poor thing. I will keep her in my thoughts.
Lisa...my 14 yr. old son has moderate to severe asthma and it's really easy to manage IF we stay ahead of it. Hopefully, that's not what you're dealing with, but if it is, there are many wonderful preventive medications out there and they work very well. Tyus is a very competitive athlete, it hasn't slowed him down at all, but it is something we are very aware of always and do our best to stay one step ahead of it. Praying for Reagan and your family!
Poor Reagan!!! I hope panda time gets easier! Did anyone utter RSV? Wondering if it could be that?
Oh no- so sorry to hear that!!!!! Praying for her to not need that anymore. Hoping to hear better news soon. So hard to see your little ones feeling like that.
Love the new look btw!
I will be praying that those little lungs are back to normal very soon. I have a friend and both of her little ones from China do daily breathing treatments.
Blessings and hugs sweet friend,
Robin
Poor sweet lil girl. At least she has a cute buddy to help her through this. Hope she recovers soon and that it's not asthma. P.S. My daughter has those jammies too. Too cute.
Oh Lisa, poor Reagan and you too!!
Have been there done that with breathing treatments. They don't usually diagnosis a child with asthma for a while, so maybe this is wheezing and cough caused by a virus. Hoping the nebs work, if not she may need an oral steroid to give those little lungs a rest. This is the time of the year I'm afraid. :(
Love your new blog look.
hugs, Gail
I wish Gene's nebulizer was that cute when he was little! SO sorry she is not well. Hope Friday brings good news.
Hope she is feeling better asap...those nebulizers make the worst sound, my kids where scared of it too. Praying for a quick recovery and no asthma!
Tiffany
We just went thru this last week. I worked in a peds office for 6 years before having my kids and I'm surprised they are having you use the mask, we NEVER did. YOu use an adult size does and then just do "blow by, still annoying to have something blowing in their face (plug up the other end with a cotton ball) but way better, my son did not cry one bit, other then sitting still for teh 8 mintutes it took every 3 hours. If she's a sound sleeper this also works so well at night. We always had the reps bring us masks but we never used them and now I am going to a different doctor and he said the same thing, the masks scare kids and they don't like them, butter to do blow by, they can still put the piece of the tube in their mouth if they want to, Benjamin enjoyed this, he's also teething. turn on a favortie video at her age and the blowing treatment might work great.
I posted pictures on my blog of last week if you want to see what I"m talking about.
Poor girl no fun to feel yucky.
I should have added if she hates the sound maybe she would like to watch a video with some headphones on to drowned out the sound and put her attention to the movie.
I pray your sweet girl does not have asthma! Hoping she recovers very soon.
The girls are so sweet playing together!
Scary as all get out, huh? It really does get easier! I promise! We've been there-- pneumonia at 18 months (and again at four) with the nebulizer ever since (we have a "regular" adult one and did the blow by technique described above with a dixie cup over the end that you had to keep tipped toward the child's face when my daughter was little). It's actually a good sign that Reagan is fighting it-- it means she has enough oxygen to fight. Hang in there-- you'll get through it.
(BTW, back rubs help with asthma and breathing issues. If you can get her to lie on her tummy and let you massage her back it will relax her and take the weight of her ribs off her lungs and both of those will ease her breathing some-- generally in a less stressful way than the nebulizer. Dairy can exacerbate asthma, though, so you might want to limit her dairy intake. Not that you need any unsolicited advice.)
Leah has great ideas! Try the blow by - getting some of the medicine in her is better than having her scream at the top of her sore little lungs;(
Oh no... that would be a litte fiightning for a little one.... hoping she gets used to it soon... and a lolipop follow a treatment? Best of luck and hope she feels much better soon, tara
Poor little sweetheart. I so feel for her... especially seeing her in that picture with her two fingers in her mouth, melts my heart.
Praying that she warm to the idea of the cute little panda.
Jill
aw, poor little thing! I am so sorry she is feeling so distressed. Hope Friday's visit will give you better news.
lea
xo
Love the fresh new look! Awesome!
We just got a nebulizer treatment at the pedi office over the weekend for my 20-month-old. The doctor actually had him eat a popsicle while we did it! (One of those that you push up from the plastic wrapper.) It was awkward, me holding the mask as close to his little face as I could and my husband trying to keep this popsicle up *under* it, but it sure was a nice distraction. Think about it?
Best wishes
-michelleJ
Poor baby! We do treatments via the chamber - pretty painless. Also, the dr recommended we pat her back regularly to help break up the congestion. Good luck!
That is a lot cuter than our nebulizer. Chloe does not mind treatments but we don't use a mask we just hold it in front of her face and she does just fine. I hope Reagan gets better quick and does't need Payton for very long. Chloe tends to get wheezy when she gets a cough and just requires the occasional treatment.
The poor little thing! We are in the same boat here! I think Kamree would have a chronic hacky cough if she didn't take her allergy medicine every day. It totally keeps her asthma in check.
Hope she is feeling better soon! Hang in there!
My son has asthma and we have the same panda at our house! I hope she gets used to it, soon!
Awww! So sorry to hear this...sending out prayers & hugs to all of you! Hope that Panda is a temporary houseguest!
Poor wee girl...praying for her and the rest of you that the colds come to a stop in your home. What a sweetie Sarah is, helping Reagan out like that. :o)
ah...Lisa...i'm so sorry you have to go thru this. Being an asthmatic all my life, It's something that just becomes a part of you and you can grow out of it...and Pneumonia can be treated. It's hard to see your little ones so scared and you can't convince or reason with them. Will you please keep us posted? Feel better Reagan....and Sara? You are a great big sister.
So sorry to hear Reagan is going through this. Do your best to get what you can in. It is tough. My DD is growing out of her seasonal/cold induced asthma now that she is 6. I found giving her treatments at night were some of the most effective. My Muriel is a sound sleeper, so that helped, but they were some of the best and longest treatments I could get in her when she was Reagans age. Best wishes.
Poor baby! She'll be okay, she's a fighter, a Spicy Girl, remember...and look at big sister helping out. How sweet!
Well you sure have your hands full there. Hoping both girls get better soon. Give them hugs for me. That respiratory stuff can sure linger unfortunately, but the meds and nebs will definitely help. Cute panda neb.
Hope they're better by morning!
I just read this. Poor baby...I hope she's adjusting to the nebulizer and you see good results. You must be miserable having your girls so sick since daycare started. I know it's unbearable when one of mine get sick for just a few days. I'm headed to mass right now so I will say a few prayers that Reagan starts to breath better on her own and both of your sweetie pies are healthy.
xoxo
Lisa, sorry you're having such a rough time.
Sarah is great! So helpfu, caring and mature.
You must be exhausted. Will keep you in my thoughts and prayers.x
Poor precious girl! Hope she feels better! Just a tip: My 1yr old grandson HATED his firetruck nebulizer. First off he thought it was a toy....until the mist and sound came on! That little guy ran faster than a fireman responding to a 3alarm fire!! NOTHING...and I mean nothing would calm his fears. We came up with the "attraction of distraction" method. We got out the portable DVD and added the headphones (the audio totally drowned out the sound) and gave him his favorite treat and everything was Suhhhh-weet!!! Hope this helps w/Reagan...although I think Sarah is a pretty SWEET distraction too!! Sarah is such a sweetheart!!
Dear Lisa_ My 4yo daughter had to have the oxygen mask once. She also has asthma and uses the pumps daily however, they are not as "scary" as nebulizers. I was also a respiratory therapits in a past life and you can use games like pretending to be on a train (the mist being the train steam) and that often works. It does get better with time as she will feel this mask is actually helping her. The only "consolation" when she cries during treatments is that she has very good chest expansion (big breaths from the crying) which helps with the medication deposit in the lungs. Hang in there...it does get better!
Bless her heart...
My McKenna had to do those & still does from time to time. She will get used to it..
The Big Sister Bribe... was a GREAT idea! ;)
Too cute!
Hope she feels better soon. ;)
Can you try the Premack Principle where for every 30 seconds (building up)she is on it she receives a reward?
Thinking of your little Reags and hoping she is better today!
The nebulizers sure have come a long way...the panda is so cute. :)
Love the jammies and the "sibling love"!
Love and blessings,
Robin
Thinking of that adorable baby girl and hoping she is on the mend soon! And hoping she's getting used to Peyton in the "on" mode and giving you a little less trouble ;) Hang in there, Lisa!
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