24 hour progress report

...and Cooper seems to be doing well on the Enfamil Lipil that I abruptly switched him to last night after the choking incident with the Enfamil AR formula. He has spit up a small amount during a couple of the feedings today but that's OK - he does have reflux, after all, and I'd rather he spit it up during or immediately following a feeding when it's still thin than after it's been partially digested many hours later. Besides, it's better for him to spit up than to re swallow it as he has tended to do.

He slept very well today which was great. His shortest nap was 45 minutes, and the longest was 3 hours! :). He coughed less frequently today compared with yesterday and that's great news in that it should mean that the pneumonia is indeed clearing up. During one of his long naps in the swing upstairs I managed to have a shower and get properly dressed. I even got a 30-45 minute cat nap on the couch while he slept in the swing in front of me.

Last night was his last breathing/nebulizer treatment (it was a 5-day prescription) so that was one less big task for me to manage throughout the day and while it wasn't difficult to do, I had to get Cooper to fall asleep and stay asleep as I held the tube in front of his nose and mouth and occasionally he would wake up and get mad and try to push it away, causing a bit of the mist to get wasted. After the breathing treatment I had to use a little rubber device to tap on Cooper's chest, back and upper sides to help break up any loose stuff and prevent scar tissue from forming. It doesn't hurt him - it's like a heavy tapping massage and often he laughs while I do it. I will continue with the tapping routine since the fluid in his lung is still in the process of breaking up even though the breathing treatments are over.

He's almost done with the oral antibiotics - just two more days on that, thankfully - and then hopefully the poopy side effects (literally) will resolve and Cooper's bum will heal more quickly. Poor baby!! :(

This morning I had left a message for Dr.MaryEllen (pediatrician) letting her know I'd like to fill her in on what happened last night so she called me back and we spoke at length. I described the incident and then told her my theory (based on my log - which, by the way, she fully supports me keeping - unlike Dr. E the jerk) about the formula's potential role in the aspiration and subsequent vomiting of chunky/globs of formula between night time feedings. She said it's very plausible because reflux babies do react different to different thicknesses of formula and one of the tests that Cooper might end up having is an upper GI barium swallow test where they feed the baby barium and formula at different thickness levels and watch to see which triggers the reflux and/or confirm that it actually is reflux that is occurring. I don't know if Cooper will have this test but I suspect that he will as that test can show whether or not the baby is aspirating during feeding or during a reflux episode. We'll find out next Wednesday when we meet with Dr.Beverly Hills who comes very highly recommended by the pediatricians' office.

So...remember my gripe with Dr.E? Well...Dr.E's assistant finally called me to tell me they had a cancellation and therefore an appointment for us on Monday. I calmly explained to her that we are declining and explained why. She said she'd relay the message to Dr.E but made some kind of snyde remark which I can't remember what it was about and I just told her I was appalled by Dr.E's total lack of regard for the urgency of our situation. She said he was on vacation and I reminded her that most doctors set up back-up for such things and that he could have ordered tests for Cooper without having to see him - even the pediatricians both said this. Oh, and I told her that while speaking with the pediatrician I learned that Dr.E WAS IN FACT NOTIFIED that Cooper was in the hospital. Yup, the attending physician at the hospital notified him and he IGNORED the call! The attending physician specifically told Cooper's pediatrician (while updating her on Cooper's bloodwork results), that Dr.E had been notified and that he hadn't called back and obviously he never showed up either. I guess he was too busy daydreaming about his vacation to worry about his patients and then when I called him on Monday he probably assumed I was calling to complain he was a no-show so he made up the story about not being notified - what a jerk!

Those of you who know me - in my personal life, and in my professional life, I do not take things laying down (OK, 5 months of bed rest aside LOL) - and now that I'm a mom, I will fight for my child more than anything else and for as long and as hard as necessary to ensure he's protected, respected and cared for in the best ways possible. So anyone that dare messes with my child either deliberately or through neglect had better watch out ;0.