Cough... Cough... Cough

It started as a cold. Then last night it was a constant, all night cough. Chris, who has been striving for the perfect attendance award at the end of the year, actually said he felt too bad to go to school today. Just last night he had told us that he would go no matter what and if the teacher thought he was too sick she could just call for me to come get him.

Since I am usually the overcautious mom and take my kids to the dr at the first sniffle, I told myself it was just a cold and to ride it out. However the cough got progressively worse as teh day went on, as did his ability to breathe. My neighbor heard his dry hacking and said maybe I should just take him in to be safe. So off to the dr we went. And boy do I feel like crap for not taking him in sooner. My poor boy has walking pneumonia. Pass me the bad mom award please.

Apparently there are two kids of pneumonia –– bacterial and viral. This one is viral. So we got a script for Zithromax and an albuterol inhaler. The doctor (whom I love) said this could be a sign that Chris's asthma is coming back (he had it when he was younger and then he grew out of it). Sigh... I hope not. However considering both Matt and I have asthma, as does both of his grandpa's and other great grandparents I think Chris may be doomed to join the "puffer club".

Luckily we caught it before it turned into anything too serious. Pneumonia and asthma do not mix well. However the part that the doctor did forget to mention is that viral pneumonia's take longer to go resolve completely. Like possibly 4 to 6 weeks compared to a week or 10 days of bacterial pneumonia. (God bless the Internet) No wonder we got 3 refills on the inhaler.