I'll take my MD now, please.

So, just as we are getting Lucy figured out, Theo decides he needs to have some medical issues, too. Since he's started school, he's been sick a lot. Well, like all the time. Countless colds, croup and a stomach flu. This most recent "cold" has lasted 6 weeks. We took him to the doctor who said it was just a cold and the cough was postnasal drip. Thursday he woke up sick *again* (meaning new/worse symptoms than the lingering cough we've been dealing with for over a month). Coughing, runny nose, fever and a coughing spell that made him throw up. Since he's under 6, he can't take anything, so we were reduced to trying to give him herbal meds. We finally started giving him a little Benedryl, dosed according to Dr. Sears. He was acting fine yesterday, so we sent him to school. When I picked him up, his teachers said they thought he had bronchitis and should be checked. I made a doctor appointment on the way home and she got him in yesterday afternoon.

Susan took him and the verdict is that he has environmental allergies and since they went unaddressed, they turned into a sinus infection. So, now he is on Zyrtec for allergies and amoxicillin for the sinus infection. I was a bit annoyed because we DID take him in earlier and were told it was just a cold, no mention of allergies. I was also puzzled, because he's never shown any signs of allergies. And just to make us feel like the worst parents ever, apparently you are supposed to clean humidifiers every other day. Yeah, we've had his for two years and have never cleaned it and use it almost every night when he has a cold. Yes, I realize we are morons. So, we've likely been blowing mold directly into his face all this time. I pulled the donor's profile out to check for allergies and guess what he's allergic to? Yep, mold. MORONS.

All this time, we've blamed the germy preschool (and, likely that is where some of this comes from) but it's been us who have made him sick. Ugh. Susan did have a conversation with the ped about withdrawing him from preschool to improve his health. It's a tough decision because he loves going and we think it's beneficial, but we don't need him to go. We are home when he is at school, we don't use child care. So, should we leave him somewhere that makes him sick for no good reason? Or should we continue to build his immune system? I think we have decided to clear up his sinus infection and see how the allergies respond to the Zyrtec over the Christmas break and then see how he does in the new year before deciding.

Then there is the issue of testing to see what he is allergic to. The ped wasn't convinced we need to since he is so young, but said she would support us if we wanted to. I can get him seen at the AI clinic at work, so that's not an issue, we just need to decide if we want to put him through it and what we would do with the information. We're already doing what we can - we don't have carpet in the main part of the house and keep the dogs out of the bedrooms. We are going to get him a new pillow with an allergen cover. We strip him down when he comes home from school, wash his hands and put on clean clothes. He takes a multivitamin, an immune support vitamin, drinks tons of water and doesn't eat any sugar. I don't know what else we could really change by finding out what he's allergic to. Well, unless it's the dogs, I guess.

So, yeah. We've been under water with medical stuff for the past few weeks and it's tiring. I have a cold myself and when it's super cold out, my Raynaud's is worse, meaning I have to take more meds which give me a headache. I feel like crap, but the kids seem to be improving. I'm so happy for that, I hate seeing them feeling bad.

Oh, and just in case we weren't already candidates for parents of the year - Susan took him to Stride Rite today and his shoes are a whole size too small. We are SO rocking out this parenting thing. Don't call CPS.