Frustrated for Sage

Today has been overwhelming and exhausting. Mostly, exhausting. I'm exhausted for Sage and frustrated to no end for her. She came down with her usual cough/croup/asthma/whatever-the-heck-you-want-to-call-it-annoying-cold this weekend. Last night the coughing started. For those of you who have not been around this cough, it is somewhat torturous to listen to, and no, I'm not exaggerating. She coughs about every 10-20 seconds all night long and all day long. We have to put her in the pack-n-play to sleep in the basement b/c the rest of us do not sleep listening to her cough. Lance sleeps on the floor of the main level so that 1 of us is near her. I cannot tell you how tired she is from coughing and we are from listening to her cough and it makes us hurt for her. I had to put her back on the Prednizone today (we swore we wouldn't do it again) b/c she was coughing so hard and shaking on exhalation--that's where the problem lies for kids that deal w/ asthma-on exhalation. I threw the towel in today and called her pediatrician. We need a new gameplan for this child. After quite a conversation the plan is to:
1. consult a different pulmonologist. Both Dr. Hall and I don't feel that Sage needs a CT scan to rule out sinus issues so it's time to move on to a different pulmonologist and get a second opinion. Dec. 2nd she'll be seen by a pul. with Children's Hospital in DC. Thankfully, they come out to an office in Rockville and I don't have to make the drive to the hospital.
2. start her on Singular daily to see if this helps with her overall health. Thankfully it is not a steroid. We should know in a few days if this helps her.
3. Give her an albuterol/nebulizer treatment each morning
4. We always have prednizone handy. I have a love/hate relationship with this steroid. It really works for Sage and can clear up her cough quicker than anything but it has some bad side effects with stunting growth being at the top of the list. We swore that we would not put her on it again but had to today as our last option. I was afraid we might end up in the ER if we didn't do it and the doctor really thought it was the only way to calm down her cough.

A side note- One difficult thing about all of this happening over the weekend is that it means at least 1/2 of our family misses church at least 1x a month due to illness. When we're already having a hard time feeling plugged into our church, this is of no help to out situation. But that's the least of my frustrations.....Sorry to digress.

Anyway. It's 8pm and Lance is on his way upstairs to try to comfort her and give her another nebulizer treatment b/c she is crying and can't sleep. Pray that the Singular works for her!!!!

On to more positive news....Melissa and Mike are now the proud parents of 2 little girls! Grace Elizabeth Fuller was born Sunday at 4:30am. Start to finish Melissa's labor and delivery was only 2 hours TOTAL! Born to breed.....