Double, Double, Toil and Trouble

A little over 2 weeks ago, Carter went to the doctor for the return of the all too familiar cough. He had a double ear infection and another Upper Respiratory Infection. In true Carter fashion, he never once made any indicator that his ears hurt or that he was in any real pain.  We are still on the nebulizer, so the pediatrician gave us some oral steroids, Prednesolone, to treat the cough and antibiotics, Omnicef, to treat the ears.

We finished our round of medication and the cough was still there. He was coughing a little less, but he still sounded like a lifelong smoker with emphysema. It’s a cough that comes from deep in his chest and rocks his whole body. The coughing fits take a lot out of him. He loses a lot of energy from the episodes.  He coughs so hard, he throws up. He’s even learned how to throw up. I’ve never seen a one year old bend over and throw up like that. Guess he’s had enough practice! So back to the doctor we went yesterday.

Our doctor listened to Carter’s lungs and said they sounded much better than the last time. One ear was perfectly clear, while the other still had some fluid. The oral steroid did not do the job though since the cough was still there. So now we venture down a new road. We are trying Singular, which comes in little packets that I will need to mix with food. The biggest side effect, nightmares. What a trade off! Improve the cough to give him better sleep and more daytime energy, but risk night waking due to nightmares.

The doctor thinks that because of the runny nose that is still there, Carter may also be battling a sinus infection. So the Omnicef didn’t do it’s job either. But now it seems that our antibiotic choices are limited. We can’t do amoxicillin. It gave him horrible tummy pain, cramping, gas and diarrhea last time. The only antibiotic we had left to try was Augmentin. It is still part of the amoxicillin family and it’s biggest side effect, diarrhea. This medicine is hard for a normal digestive tract to tolerate. How is Carter going to handle it? We were told to try doubling his probiotic to help limit the discomfort from the medicine.

So yesterday afternoon I gave him the first dose of Augmentin. I did not do any research on the medicine’s ingredients beforehand, something I should know to do by now. Turns out that it may contain both lactose and traces of soy. So all night I waited to see how he would do. And he did great until 6 am. He woke up screaming and just wanting to be held. Was it the antibiotic?

So now I wait for the pharmacy to call. They didn’t have any Singular in stock, so they will be calling today to let me know when their order arrives.  I will ask them if they can tell me about the ingredients in Augmentin, and if it isn’t safe, then I will ask about compounding the medicine. This is yet another road we have yet to travel.

We will see what tonight brings. How will he handle the Singular? Will we find a safe way for Carter to take the Augmentin? Will he even be able to tolerate the medicine, regardless of it’s ingredients? Will the cough ever go away? Time will tell.