Home at Last

Jacob came home from the hospital yesterday afternoon. He's on antibiotics and nebulizer treatments for the next ten days. We may have uncovered an underlying medical condition with this hospitalization. Jacob tends to become asthmatic every time he develops a respiratory infection, whether it's pneumonia or the common cold. I remember he had the cold (a cough) for three weeks once. This time he was coughing for about two weeks but he had been sick for almost three. We had taken him to see a pediatrician twice and even up until the Friday before his hospitalization, he was thought to have the cold virus. Anyways, when the lungs respond to infection, they secrete more mucous. Usually we are able to cough up the mucous and clear the infection. In Jacob's case, his lungs also respond by "tightening up" and he is unable to effectively clear the mucous so he continues to cough for weeks. With a bacterial infection, this just allows the bacteria to make a home in his lungs because it is moist, and warm, and dark. It's possible that Jacob's right sided weakness may also play a role in his inability to cough effectively - maybe a muscle weakness. So since everything happens as it should I have no problem with postponing the surgery, which by the way is scheduled for December 22nd to allow enough distance from the pneumonia and antibiotics. In the meantime, we will be making appointments with the pulmonary and immunology programs in Boston to get a handle on Jacob's condition prior to surgery. In just one year he has had 6 ear infections (some double), strep throat, and now pneumonia. He has never gotten well on his own because every cold turns into something else so he has always ended up being treated with antibiotics. Hopefully these appointments will give us some answers...