Things have sure been crazy in the life of William lately. A couple weeks before we left to go on our vacation, William got very very sick and ended up with beginning pneumonia in his right lung and ANOTHER sinus infection. (This made #4 since the beginning of the year!) Our pediatrician sent us back to the pulmonologist for another opinion, and it wasn't great. I got quite and earful from the nurse practitioner about why I had not been giving him his preventative breathing treatments and why he never had a follow-up swallow study after he finished his vital-stim last summer. The reason we were not giving William breathing treatments was because when he finished his vital-stim last summer, he was doing FANTASTIC! We really thought he was all done with aspiration and lung issues. Also, his preventative treatments were making him CRAZY! He was getting so destructive and aggressive from them. He also would not rest well. What child can improve if they cannot rest! He never had a follow-up swallow study because the pulmonologist said he was not going to do any more. His words were, "We are going to treat William symptomatically." (Hence the reason we had not been back to the pulmonologist since July'08. Sam and I were very frustrated at that decision. How would we know if the vital-stim worked!)

Well, after feeling like the world's worst parent, the nurse told us to come back in 6 weeks for another evaluation. HOWEVER, if William got sick again before the end of the 6 weeks, they would want to see him right away. Famous Last Words! On our drive home from Florida, Sunday morning, William wakes up with a horrible bout of croup. We were so glad he made it all the way through our trip to enjoy it, but also very concerned. William spiraled downhill from there. I continually called the pulmonologist office to let them know what was going on, but they were too busy. I was madder than a hornet when all was said and done. William ended up in the pediatrician's office twice that week with severe asthma and low oxygen levels. They thought he had pneumonia again, but luckily his x-rays came back with fluid, but no infection. We definitely have now confirmed that William HAS asthma. As much as I was in denial about it, that it would go away, or never truly existed, I could not hide any longer that my son needs his treatments to stay somewhat healthy. My ideas that all his lung issues would clear up if he was no longer aspirating were wrong. His lungs have had so much fluid, of all kinds, dumped into them that it makes good sense that they would be damaged. William's highest fever during this spell was 102.7, which miraculously cured itself after 1 breathing treatment, never to return.

After all was said and done, William finally did have his follow-up swallow study, which turned out fantastic! I was thrilled! He did have a little trace penetration, but nothing like we have seen in the past. The radiologist and speech pathologists agreed that we should thicken his drinks still when he is sick or starting to cough with his liquids. They also really feel like he is still having reflux issues. They told me that his reflux will make his lungs worse more than his aspiration alone. (We have yet to hear from the pulmonologist on the results of the study.) Also, when William had his 2nd visit to his pediatrician, in the same week after we came home, the pediatrician recommended having William tested for Cystic Fibrosis. He told me it is highly unlikely that William has it, but he just wants to make sure he leaves no stone unturned in trying to get William on a healthy track. I am very grateful for that! We will see how William does over the next few weeks. As for now, he is finally doing better, just slowly increasing his activity level. After he has been sick, it takes him a while to get back up to speed.