Most people by now know that Tori has had a lot of health problems within the first year of her life. It got worse after she turned one! It's crazy. Here's a quick rundown of what happened within the first year.
Birth- tongue tied, she had to get her tongue clipped when she was just a week and a half old, poor girl.
1 month- double ear infect and broncialitus
2 months- ear infection
3 months- breathing problems as well as another ear infection
5 1/2-6 months- constant ear infection
6 months- ear tubes
9 months- roseola
11 months- cold (which came with more breathing problems)
I think that's it for her first year. Keep in mind the first 3 months of her life she was pretty much congested the whole time! Once we switched her to SOY formula that went away (thank heaven). We started to give her real milk around the time she turned 11 months old (we worked it into her formula) to try and get her accustomed to real milk. We were also curious to see if she was actually lactose intolerant (dad is just for milk). Nothing happened so we kept giving her real milk. Well, we think that was her problem the whole time. From the time she turned 1 to the end of February she was not doing well. The worst of it started about halfway thru January when she received another cold and her breathing got worse. The doctor we saw was concerned about the breathing issue because when she looked at her records, breathing was not good. She recommend that we go to a pulmonary specialist. UGH! Another specialist! We already had the ENT, now one for her breathing. It has been really hard to pay for all these doctors. My mom said that she really wanted me to take Tori so she would help in any way possible (but I wouldn't let her, unless it was come to the doctor with me). So, a few days later we had an appointment with the pulmonary specialist. We were actually really lucky to get in so fast. The pediatrician had Tori on oral steroids which was making her crazy! We found out why, she was overdosed! After cutting that down and giving her pulmacort on top of the albuterol we were set. She also wanted Tori to be allergy tested to see if that is what was causing the congestion/breathing problems. Two weeks later (once she was feeling a little better) Tori was allergy tested.
Can I just say, watching that was the hardest thing ever!?!?! Okay, it wasn't as bad as the tongue getting clipped, but it was not fun. I'm glad my mom came with me, it was nice to have her there for comfort. You probably guessed right, there were no allergy problems seen! Ugh! Now what to do. When we talked to the doctor she said that we have at least narrowed down one thing, there are two more solutions to the problem. THe doctor thought that she either had an immune defficiency or acid reflux. We got an order for bloodwork to be done and we got zantac for the acid reflux.When she mentioned acid refulx then it hit me like a train. Cow's milk. I mentioned the SOY versus regular formula issue we had when she was a baby and she said that could be the problem. However, we still needed to check. So, on February 15th, we did the unthinkable. Tori had her blood drawn. It was terrible. Josh was able to get some time off to be able to come and help me in this process. I'm glad he came because with my belly I wouldn't have been able to hold her down. Poor girl probably thinks we don't love her because we torture her so much and take her to the doctors all the time! Okay, so the blood being drawn was really hard to watch as well. The test results came back and there was no problem!!! That totally sucks!
We actually went back to the Pulmonary doctor last week. We had finally got her breathing under control, thanks to my sister lending me her warm-mist humidifier. The doctor was really impressed because we did that and took her off all of the albuterol and pumacort. She said that she can stay off that as long as she is doing well and not having any problems. We also don't have to go back for 3 months (unless there is a major problem). YEA!
We also went to the ENT a couple weeks ago and her right ear tube was blocked (again). We have been putting drops in her ears and we go back on Wednesday to see if they are unblocked or not. She's been pretty happy since we got over everything and the blocked ear tube isn't bothering her. She is becoming quite the independent little girl! Let's hope we have no major problems over the next few months!
