Tough Tuesday

Fiona's been relatively healthy this winter, at least by four-year old standards. She's had a sniffle she's never quite been able to shake, but she stopped coughing at night quite so much, and she hadn't had to miss any school since October.

On Tuesday Fiona started coughing at about 5:00 a.m. and didn't stop. We decided to keep her home in the morning to keep an eye on her, expecting that we'd bring her in for the afternoon.

She kept coughing.

And coughing.

Sometimes she'd go a minute or two between coughs, but never more. Any time she blew her nose everything was clear, so we knew she didn't have anything viral, and we were reluctant to take her to the doctor in that situation since they almost always look at her and say "it's a cold, run a humidifier, blow her nose regularly..."

She kept coughing, and now her breathing was starting to sound a little more labored. We'd reached mid-afternoon. Ten hours without a break in the fits.

We took her to the doctor.

The doctor took a quick listen and told us we were right to bring her in. Her chest was full of mucus, and if we'd waited until the next day she would have been in real distress. They had her breathe into a nebulizer and prescribed some steroids to help her get back to normal.

So now we have her on drugs that she hasn't had to take in years. It's considerably easier this time around, and her condition improved almost immediately, with steadily reduced coughing after seeing the doctor on Tuesday, and almost no coughing now. We kept her home on Wednesday but she was back in preschool today and having a great time. The only downside is that the steroids make her a little quick to anger (toddler 'roid rage!), but she stops the heavy ones tomorrow, and we're glad to have our daughter back after a rough day out of the blue.