Pulmonary Pedaitric doctor

Yesterday we drove up to Bellevue to Overlake Hospital, rode the elevator up to the 4th floor and entered the Children's department. It was decorated like a jungle and they had toys and a playstation. Alexis's room was in the lion section, she thought it was neat. Our Appointment was at 1:20 the Doctor didn't get into our room until 2:05...not so good for a toddler. So she asked us questions and then looked at Alexis. She was very concerned about her tonsils. She said that there was two things going on with her. The first thing is that she says her symptoms sound like asthma. She said that the coughing is the main symptom of asthma and so she gave us 2 inhalers, albuteral and flovent. She said that we should use the albuteral and then add the flovent if the cough is still uncontrolled, but if we start the flovent then we need to keep using it for 1 month or until the cold season is over. The reason is that the tissue in the lungs take longer to heal and so if she is getting cold after cold the lungs are staying swollen so the flovent will help with that. That is good since that is the problem we had last winter.

The second thing is a little bit more scary then the asthma. She said that her tonsils being as large as they are could be causing the snoring and they call that obstructive sleep apnea. So that could be causing her to not sleep well and could be why she can be such a grump. So we are getting a sleep study done, but that appointment isn't until December 23. They only have four sleep rooms and so they are always booked a few months out. She is also going to see an ENT doctor on the 26th. Our doctor said that the ENT may decide without the sleep study that the tonsils are indeed a problem and that they need to be removed. He may also want to want until after the sleep study to get the results. I am not sure which I would prefer; I don't want her to have surgery and I want her to be a happier girl that isn't having her breathing stopped while she sleeps. So that is the results of this visit; not sure how much it will cost since it was a specialist, but so glad we got new insurance. I have my appointment next week so this is the year of high priced health! Oh well you do what you got to do.

I am so glad that Britt went with me, because Alexis lost it half way though the appointment. So he was able to take her out to the lobby with all the toys and I was able to get all the info from the doctor. On appointments like this it really is a good idea to have help.