All week I've been watching my oldest cough and sneeze up mucus for 1-2 hours each morning, fall asleep in the middle of activities like meals and swimming, and run out of energy and get cranky faster and faster each day. She isn't eating much and yesterday she seemed like she just didn't have the energy to drink much either, so for the first time in months, I used her feeding tube. Yet, she doesn't have a cold or a fever.
I've just observed this all week, but as it has continued and new things showed up, worry has started niggling at me. Not paralyzing, heart-stopping panic or anything. Just a little uneasy or unsettled feeling way back in the background of life. I did make her an appointment with a pulmonologist, but that isn't for another couple weeks.
We had a checkup with a different specialist on Tuesday which required some blood work. I wasn't sure what all they checked, but it was all normal stuff for that office. However, last night while I was at work, they called home. This is unusual. If there's one thing I've learned about medicine, it is that no news is good news. If someone actually calls you, that means something got someone's attention. And that is not a good sign.
My husband had them send the results to her cardiologist, and I'm hoping to get our pediatrician on this today too. I hope it's nothing, and most likely it is. But no matter how well a child does for no matter how long, if they've ever been really really sick and had a significant diagnosis, even if they completely recover, you never lose the shadow of worry that something really serious might happen again. You know that it really can happen to you (or someone you love).
Meanwhile, I'm packing and prepping for a day at the zoo. My sister and my daughter's aide are coming with us and the kids are very excited. I suppose if someone from the hospital calls and wants something from us, we'll be nice and close to the hospital -- it's about 2 blocks from the zoo. (Of course, Murphy's Law says if they want something from us, we won't hear from them until we get all the way back home.)
Edited at 4pm to add: The cardiologist called this afternoon (just as we were leaving the zoo), to say that everything was within our daughter's normal range (which isn't a typical child's normal range, which is why the other department was concerned). We might consider an iron supplement since she is slightly anemic, but nothing major is wrong.
