The one about snot

Why do you think I try to downplay Nate's stuff?  Seriously, why in the world do I automatically say his snotty nose/coughing is allergies?  Because, what if it isn't?

I am frustrated with myself right now because I may have let his snotty nose go for too long and if it ends up delaying the surgery he is scheduled for in November, I will kick myself.  I'm pretty flexible, I could probably very well kick myself.

He is ALWAYS snotty.  Always.  And he seems to have pretty horrible allergies (inherited from HIS FATHER).  And sometimes it's hard to tell when it's regular snot or not.  His upper airway is collapsed and the thinking is there is no where for normal secretions to go, so they stick around and get bacteria-y and thick.  Antibiotics don't always clear up the snot so I try to err on the side of no antibiotics, what with him being colonized with a drug resistant staph (MRSA) and having developed an allergy to one of the drugs that could help clear that up.  I want to save the drugs for the big stuff.  But as a doctor by training and not by schooling (ha!),  it's sometimes hard for me to tell what's big and what can be attributed to allergies/kennel cough from preschool/living in a house with carpet.

So here we are, 3 weeks out from surgery, Nate is coughing like a 20-year smoker, has a green nose and I'm filled with apprehension and self doubt.  I'm *hoping* it's a trach infection that can be cleared quickly because his trach smelled like stinky feet when I took him off the vent this morning (eww!).  But if it's not, maybe I will learn my lesson and stop being a pansy who doesn't like to involve the people who are paid to take care of him and, I don't know, let them take care of him.  Novel idea, eh?