Cough Cough

We have our first test since getting Dr. Koumbourlis' marching orders last month, and we got caught off guard. We made a rookie mistake, except we aren't rookies any more: whether due to allergies or illness, Fiona developed a stuffy nose over the weekend, but we didn't think to start her on the program in the naive hope that she wouldn't drip down into her chest.

So Monday morning rolled around and shortly before 6:00 a.m. Fiona started coughing steadily. She wasn't wheezing, but she had a backup, and she wasn't going to kick it quickly. I tried holding her up in a chair for 30 minutes or so, but the problem with a cough waking her up at 6:00 a.m. is that she stays awake, so finally at 6:40 or so I gave in and got up with her.

And she continued to cough. And cough. She complained that her chest was hurting.

Now, we're in a bind in this situation sometimes, because it sure sounds like Fiona doesn't have to cough quite as much as she does, but it's hard to explain to a four-year old the difference between coughing because you really have to and coughing because you have a bit of discomfort. We tried to ask her about it, and she told us she needed to cough. We didn't press the case.

At around 8:30 or so, she started playing (more about that in the post to follow, which you may have read already). And, lo and behold, once her attention became focused on playing... the coughing slowed way down. Almost as if she hadn't needed to cough quite as steadily as she was.

Anyway, we put her on the program, and 36 hours later we're doing much better. I'd still expect to be up at least once tonight, but (knock wood) I'm not worrying about any wheezing or worse. And Fiona went back to preschool today, where Miss Eny said she seemed "just like Fiona." Which is a good thing.