Come and Take a Ride in my Coop, Croup.

So, Travis has croup. He has had a runny nose for several days now and I actually started to worry about it so I made an appointment with his pediatrician on Tuesday afternoon. Lungs, ears, nose, throat....all looked well. So, we went on our merry way. Of course he started sounding like a barking seal immediately on the way home. I wasn't sure if I should be concerned because 1) he had just been checked out, 2) his SATs were fine, and 3) he has been crying a lot due to the sleep training. Anyway, he sounded so pathetic that I decided to call his cardiologist on his cell (I'm sure he regrets giving me that number :). Anyway, he said to bring him in and he would meet me at the office (at 7pm). He is so awesome! After exams from a different pediatrician and his cardiologist they both agreed it was croup (an upper airway virus that is fairly common). Dr. Levy ordered an x-ray just to make sure all looks well. Travis is bigger than the last time we had an xray and he had to be put into the PIGG contraption this time. That thing is scary looking and of course Travis cried the whole time :( His xray looked normal. The doctors sent us home and told me to come back if anything seems like it is getting worse. So, we wait and pray that it doesn't get any worse....

Meanwhile, we were waiting for Travis' doctors and surgeons to all get together and discuss the plan for him. Today we received "the call". Dr. Levy brought his chart and information to the surgeon's at Childrens and the consensus is.....we stick with the original plan. Travis will be scheduled for a heart cath in 2-3 weeks. In the cath, they will open up the aorta. Then, they want to do his Glenn/Fontan combo anywhere between 17-20 months of age (hopefully, the latter). It would be better for Travis to be bigger and stronger before the next surgery. So, although we are still anxious, we are happy that (for now) we are back to only one more surgery.

In other news, Travis is sleeping in his own bed! Almost two weeks ago we started putting him in his bed. For the first week, we stood there by his bed until he fell asleep. This was working okay EXCEPT he woke up every few hours and I'd have to go in there and stand there until he fell asleep again. After a week of VERY broken sleep, we decided to do cry it out. Travis needs to learn how to fall asleep without momma or daddy there. The first night was so scary. We let him cry for intervals (5 min, 10 min, 15 min) and it lasted 1 hour. Roger and I were so scared. We were worried that it was stressing his heart. But, after awhile he fell asleep. I am happy to report that every night since then has been a bit better!!! Now, I need to get naps figured out. He just will not take a long nap in his crib. Hmmm, I only have a week left before I got back to work to figure it out.

Please pray that he kicks this croup quickly! Thank you!