She still has a nasty-sounding cough — even after being on steroids to help with inflammation, antibiotic, increased inhalers, and a nebulizer — and the persistent bugger shows no sign of letting up.
There was nothing special about the visit itself. The nurse took vitals. Namine’s oxygen was between 94-96, which is nice and solid. Her heart rate, though, was at 145-150, so something is going on. We just don’t know what.
After the doctor came in, she listened to Namine breathe. She said she sounded okay, but there might be something brewing that she can’t hear, so she ordered a couple x-rays.
Namine likes x-rays. Rather than fight off every little thing, she usually just goes along with whatever is necessary. Some things we’ve had to teach her — managing anger is one of them, which makes sense because both Jessica and I have quick tempers — but this is not one of those things. She’s just always been pretty relaxed about hospital stuff, save for blood draws (except not anymore; she’s pretty chill about blood draws now, too).
Namine and I walked over to the waiting area where she would get her x-rays. While I checked her in, she wheeled over to the magazine rack. There were several Discover Kids magazines on the lowest section; I thought she’d pick up the one about butterflies, but she went one over and grabbed the one about spiders.
When the nurse came out to get us, she asked Namine if she was ready.
“Yep! I just gotta put my magazine away.” She wheeled back over to the rack.
“What were you looking at?”
“I was reading about spiders.”
“Aren’t spiders yucky and gross?”
“No! Spiders are cool. I love them!”
“Oh. I don’t think I’ve ever heard a girl tell me that.”
The first x-ray was taken from the front — no big deal there — but the second was from the side, and they always want Namine to raise her arms. I always explain that she can’t raise her right arm more than 90 degrees. But she did the best she could, which is all we’ve ever ask of her. It was enough. And as far as x-rays go, this one was short and sweet. They only wanted two, after all. There have been times when we’ve been in the x-ray room for more than 40 minutes, so this wasn’t bad at all.
After the x-rays were done, we went back to the clinic room and waited for the doctor. Nothing was immediately apparent to her. Because the antibiotic that Namine was currently on didn’t seem to be doing anything for her, the doctor took her off that one and prescribed a new one. We’ll start that one tonight.
Leave a Reply