Snap, Crackle, Pop

Seriously, my daughter's lungs sound like breakfast cereal. It is crazy. They purr, the rattle, they wheeze. They could likely tour the country as a one-man-band and bring in enough money to cover that care-flight. (ok, kidding, the care flight was covered by insurance)
We had her follow up appointment with our pediatrician this morning. After a long night of counting respirations, looking for blue lips, checking for belly retractions, and listening to wheezes in the lower right lung, I walked into their office armed with my stethoscope. I know not every mother out there has a stethoscope, but now they know who they are really dealing with. :) I basically told them that I am listening with a stethoscope, whether I should be or not (just as I did with Elias and his virus that landed him in the hospital at 3 mths old), so they might as well re-orient and educate me on what I am hearing. Thankfully they took me as a concerned mother who wants to be involved in her child's healthcare as opposed to a crazy, sleep-deprived, over-reactive, dramatic mother. (though both may actually be true...)
I learned a lot in my 15 minute crash course on pulmonary sounds. We heard mucus plugs popping, wheezing, purring, and crackling. I learned that an inhale wheeze is a little more serious than an exhale wheeze as it means there is more inflammation and constrction. I learned how to discern between nasal congestion and lung congestion (nasal sounds the same in both lungs and gets louder as you move up where true lung congestion would be louder on one side and generally get quieter as you move up). I also learned how to adjust the stethescope to tightly fit your own ears. Hmm, I guess I have not been using it to it's fullest ability the last 6 years. Really, I am NOT trying to manage Elena's care on my own, I just want to feel empowered to make the best decisions for her. Does she or doesn't she need a rescue treatment? How bad did she sound before the treatment and does she sound better afterwards? You know, things like that. Actually, we gave her a treatment in the office and the wheezing completely disappeared. (which was great for the moment, but likely affirms the suspicion of asthma long term) I just felt so much better being able to actually hear for myself the improvement that she made.
It kind of stinks to be such a concrete thinker sometimes, because I need such tangible evidence to convince me of anything. But I think, in a situation like Elena's, being concrete and factual is helping me cope with the crazy emotions that have been overwhelming me. See, I am not normally a hugely emotional person- I rarely base decisions on emotion alone. But this is my baby we are talking about! And we are talking about her at a time that I am quite sleep-deprived! So, emotions have been pouring out of me in a way that I am completely unable to control. And it is kind of nice (at least more in line with my comfort zone) to get back to the facts. She was wheezing, we did a treatment, now she isn't. Her pulse oxygen also went for 95 (not terrible at all, but also not great) to 98 (very good for a sick kid!!!). I like seeing that and not having to base my perspective of how she is doing on how I THINK she is doing.
On that note, I am off to listen to the lungs one last time before bed. :)