We have been fighting this cough since May 8th. I know this date because I have been documenting everything for the multiple doctor visits we have been to over the last month and then some. It started with a fever that triggered an allergic reaction to cats. We know this now that we have been to a “specialist”.

I am blogging about this now because the process was horrible. When this cough first came on our first instinct was common cold so we waited it out for a couple weeks. It was keeping her up at night and we would take turns going in and sitting with Lexi upright until she would fall back asleep. We tried elevating her bed, firing up the humidifier, removing certain blankets, removing dairy, and even visiting the chiropractor (which has been great but not for the cough).

Once the cold was over the cough didn’t let up. Every time Lexi tried to lay down for naps or at night she would cough like crazy and eventually wake up crying because she was hacking so much. At several doctors appts I tried to describe this cough and could never really do it justice. On my way to one appt I took some footage to show the doctors. This is 3 different rounds of the cough on the way there.

On the third visit the doctors prescribed a Ventalin Puffer (“the Blue one”) and some saline for her nose. We did that for a week and it made little or no difference at all. She was fine during the day but was still not sleeping during naps and night time. It seemed to postpone the coughing for a bit but not enough to get through a nap. As parents we were super concerned with all this hacking and the lack of sleep. It had to be hard on her physically and the lack of sleep made her BEAR and tired all the time. By the end of that week I was basically lying in bed listening to her cough on and off all night. Going into her room several times a night to sit with her.

At the end of the week we went to another appointment and a second puffer was introduced. Flovent I think. The “purple one”. We also got an appt to see a specialist in October! The Flovent, the Vetalin, and the saline changed nothing. After a week on both, plus the saline, with no results we went back to the doctor and she was able to call the specialist and set up a sooner appt. In the meantime she also gave us some Advair to try.

The first night on the Advair the wasn’t a huge difference. The next day we saw a 2 hour morning nap and another 1.5 in the afternoon. That night we heard a little coughing around 1am but she managed it herself without waking up and she slept her normal 11 hours from 8pm to 7am.

We have continued to use it with success and finally saw the specialist yesterday. She confirmed Lexi has asthma that was triggered from the fever back in May. More specifically it brought out her allergy to cats and as a result she hasn’t been able to break this cough. We are staying on the Advair for a couple more weeks and then we go back. Eventually something will be prescribed to rid the cough completely.