Feeling a lot better....

Ethan saw the Pediatric pulmonologist on Thursday July 9th. He did some blood work to check his immune system and also did a CBC. He looked at Ethan's most recent 2 chest x-rays and said that the x-rays didn't look like true pneumonia but more like atalectisis. He wanted me to schedule a bronchoscopy to look down into his throat and lungs. He said we can stop the breathing treatments and contine the Zyrtec. We left feeling pretty confident that we would have some answers soon. That evening I got a phone call around 6:30pm and it was the doctor. He had gotten back some of Ethan's bloodwork and wanted to admit him into the hospital for further testing. My heart dropped into my stomache. My first thought was that it was cancer or something really serious. Come to find out Ethan did not have a white blood cell count. The doctor felt that since he had been running fevers and his white count was depleted that if he were to come down with an infection then he might not be able to fight it off. So off to the hospital we went. He saw quite a few doctors and a few nurse Ratchetts. They were concerned that it was either chronic Neutrapenia (not good) a virus or the beginnings of leukemia (not good either) They were able to rule out chronic neutrapenia We go for bloodwork at the end of this week. If his counts are up then they can pass this off as a virus that depleted his neutraphils. If they are still low then it could be what is called autoimmune neutrapenia. They also are watching him closely for leukemia. We have to have a swallow study done and then pending the results of that we will go for the bronchoscopy. From now on if Ethan gets sick we have to take him right away to get his neutraphils checked.

Even with all that Ethan has been through he still has a smile plastered on that sweet little face. I have a lot to learn from my little boy. When my instinct tells me that I can do this all on my own I have to trust in God. It is hard for me to do. It is hard for me to not be in control of all of this. I know that it is all in his hands though. He put that sweet little boy into my home for a very good reason. Thank you everyone for your continued prayers and support.

frustration

I am so horrible at updating my blog. It has been a very frustrating 6 months. Ethan has constantly been sick since January. I have switched doctors and we are trying to get to the bottom of all of this. Ethan has been hospitalized 3 times with Pneumonia. He has had several bouts ot bronchiolitis, bronchitis, sinus infections, colds and strep throat. Currently we are trying to take care of the Pneumonia. He was diagnosed with pneumonia for the sixth time on June 10, 2009. His new doctor is the only one who ever ordered a follow up x-ray to make sure that the pneumonia actually went away. We went on vacation to Myrtle Beach and while we were there Ethan developed a high fever and would not eat and was so crabby. He had huge sores on his mouth. I actually got angry with him. I know he can't help it. It turns out he got Herpangina. He has sores in his mouth and throat which is why he wouldn't eat. I feel horrible for getting mad at him. Since he caught the virus it of course brought out the pneumonia symptoms. He had his follow up x-ray yesterday and no suprise there the pneumonia was not gone. So now instead of him having pneumonia 6 times it probably was there the whole time. I am so worried that his lungs are going to be scarred. Now we are looking into reflux. The doctor put him on zantac twice a day to reduce the acid. I had to take him this morning to get a TB test to rule out tuberculosis. He has already seen an ENT and Thursday he sees the pediatric pulmonologist. I am just beside myself. I am so tired of dealing with doctors and I want my little boy to be healthy and strong. I want him to have a normal life and not have to deal with medicine and breathing treatments and fevers. I love him so much that it hurts. I hate to see him sick. I hate it even more that I get frustrated with him. I want to know when this will end. When will my little boy be healthy? How can people have 8 kids or 18 kids and every one of them have the correct number of chromosomes. I somehow feel like it is all my fault. I do everything I can to prevent him from getting sick and yet it still happens. I am so thankful for that little boy and he has opened my eyes to a whole new world. One that I never knew I wanted to be part of until I had Ethan. Please don't leave any negative comments. I am not looking for sympathy. I just needed to get things off my chest and this post only refelcts how I am feeling at the moment. I will try to keep this updated more often.