Cassidy has now been to the doctor 6 times in 2 months. Some visits were part of her scheduled checkups, but all 5 visits consisted of a sick baby with concerned parents. Cassidy has had a horrible cough and congestion for over 2 months now. Her doctor, who we love, has tried breathing treatments, allergy medicine, reflux medicine and none of them has put a dent in her cough. She referred us to a Pulmonary Specialists and with the way family news has been flowing since the beginning of 2010, of course we feared the worst. The news breaks my heart, but we are thankful it wasn't worse. Cassidy has a slight birth defect called Tracheomalacia and Bronchomalacia that is typically hard to diagnose. Many babies are on and off antibiotics for up to 2 years before it is diagnosed. We are fortunate Cassidy hasn't been on a single round of antibiotic and are grateful our doctor didn't hesitate referring us to a specialists. Getting an appointment with the specialist, sooner than a month, is another story. I am not ashamed to say we resorted to a dear friend pulling strings. Thank you again Mrs. B!
There are 3 types of Malacia disorders and little Cassidy has 2 of the 3. Malacia disorders are where the walls of the tubes have weak cartilage which present noisy breathing, wheezing, coughing and reflux due to collapsing of the tubes. Let's say you put a straw in a milkshake and suck hard to get the milkshake up the straw. None of the milkshake makes it to your mouth, so, you suck harder. Even though some of the milkshake is making it into your mouth, the straw starts to collapse. This is what happens when Cassidy breaths. When she is excited, eating or coughing, she begins to breathe harder to get more oxygen into her lungs. When she breaths harder, her trachea and bronchi tubes begin to collapse and she begins making noises as she breaths, starts wheezing and has coughing fits. Then the only way to get more oxygen in is for her diaphragm to push down even harder. At this point, it is pushing on her stomach, which causes her to reflux. She has had two episodes where she was coughing so hard she stopped breathing for a bit. Unfortunately, there isn't a whole lot we can do for her during a fit but try to get her to calm down until she begins breathing normal again. It is very scary when she looks at you with those big blue eyes and knows something is wrong and there really isn't anything you can do for her. The good news is she should grow out of this somewhere between 14 and 24 months. The bad news is that the disorder is at its worst around 6 months. There are many things we are now doing to minimize her discomfort, and we are thankful cold season is almost over. A simple cold can really make things worse. Even with the difficulties Cassidy has had the last 2 months, she is the sweetest, happiest baby. I can't imagine how happy she will be after she grows out of this. Can she get any sweeter?
