Diagnoses

Brandt has been coughing for over a week.  Blythe stayed home from school yesterday, complaining of a sore throat, and then, this morning, said it was worse.  Tired of all this sickness, I scheduled an appointment with Dr. Lauret.  

Blythe was quickly diagnosed with strep throat.  I had thought he might have pneumonia, but he had none of the classic symptoms--fast breathing, wheezing, fever, chills, stuffy nose, loss of appetite, trouble going up stairs--so I figured it would just go away.  Dr. Lauret listened to his lungs and said he heard a rattle in his lower left lung.  But the incessant coughing gave him pause.  Long pause.  He was worried that Brandt has whopping cough.  That would be very bad.  While Brandt has been very good about wearing a mask all day since he got sick, Brick and Cora had been over for a bit during the week, and I had been at Mikayla's house with all her kids, including the babies, throughout the week.  Brandt had a band concert last night he had to attend or he would lose lots of points, so we sent him, bemasked, and told him to not cough on people.  He wore the mask until he had to play, then put the mask back on.  But whopping cough is super contagious and I worried we had infected half the band students at Centennial Middle School.  

Dr. Lauret wanted us to go get a chest x-ray and have a nasal panel workup.  Wanting a sure diagnosis, we headed to the hospital for tests.  While Blythe watched a Disney movie in the waiting room, we went back for x-rays.  The nasal swab was just that, and the x-rays weren't painful.  They told us we should have results with a couple of hours.  

Before we had even made it home, Dr. Lauret called to tell us that Brandt does not have whopping cough, but he does have walking pneumonia.  Phew!  While walking pneumonia isn't terrific, it can be easily treated with antibiotics, and he should be feeling better in a couple of days.  The coughing should ease, though it will likely persist for another ten days.  I was so relieved to know we hadn't infected lots of people, and that we wouldn't be quarantined by the Health Department.  We're none of us excited about taking the antibiotics, but it is just two pills a day, so we're hoping it won't be horrific.  Taking the medication can't be as bad as coughing non-stop for weeks.