We have had a lovely fourth of July week. ??We went to lake Bartlett and swam and fished with the kids, went to Lake Pleasant and got caught in a wicked monsoon on July 3rd and then a BBQ at Aunt Beck’s on Friday night. ?? GOOD TIMES. ??On Friday night, Jim and I were in the pool with the littles and Tori was practicing swimming. ??She is slowly but surely gaining confidence. ??At one point, she came up from underwater gasping and choking having aspirated some pool water.

“I just swallowed water into my lungs but I am fine!” she says.

We giggled at her practical, no-nonsense, typical Tori behavior.

As the evening progressed, Jim and I both noticed she was struggling to get remnants of the water out of her lungs. ??She was quickly developing a strange and persistent cough – almost had a croupish sound to it. ??She also claimed her tummy was hurting from all the water she claimed to have swallowed. ?? During the night the cough worsened. ??Jim and I discussed it and both of us wondered if she was going to be at risk for aspiration induced pneumonia. ??We are no strangers to that one because Ty and Troy both had such aspiration issues that this was always a concern (in fact, Troy was almost put on a G tube as a baby because his aspiration issues with bottle feeding were so bad and he did develop pneumonia). ??Tori was hospitalized as a baby for pneumonia (with RSV) so I knew what it looked like on her and wasn’t in a hurry to see that again. ?? I told Jim that it could escalate to pneumonia quickly and a high fever would be the give away. ??Yesterday (Saturday) she seemed fairly okay but when she went to bed the coughing was even worse than the night before. ??I got up and checked for signs of fever a couple of times but she was good. ??At 3:45 AM she got up and tried to drink some water and then ended up vomiting it up. ?? She was burning up at that point and because I had been checking, I knew it had come on FAST. ??I knew she had pneumonia.

I put her in the car and took her to the ER and Phoenix Children’s. ??When we arrived her fever was at 104.4 with a very fast heart rate (obviously). ?? The good news was, she was satting well (98ish). ??The scan revealed “atypical pneumonia” and I was questioned about her preemie lungs because the Dr. said her lungs looked foggy. ??She did not have respiratory distress as an infant so I found that curious. ?? The Dr. said that her pneumonia didn’t present the way submersion pneumonia normally does (the high fever and something about the right lobe of the lung didn’t look like she would expect). ?? Jim and I both feel confident though that this WAS aspiration induced. ?? We saw it happen, saw her immediate and persistent response to what happened and then just waited for the fever to hit so no surprise to us. ?? With all the times that Troy and Ty have aspirated, I have been surprised that they weren’t plagued by more bouts of pneumonia. ??Both boys seemed to always clear it though and didn’t have persistent coughing after the trigger event. ?? I would never have suspected a problem from what happened in the pool had she not been observably struggling to clear it for so long.

For arguments sake, cough and fevers are going around and Tori and Troy both have been recovered for about 2 weeks from a really strange mystery virus. ??They were both sick for 5+ weeks with a strange diarrhea and random vomiting virus. ??I was suspecting bacterial issue but stool samples didn’t show it (though they often don’t). ??Troy got so sick that his breath was smelling like ammonia and had a waking blood sugar level of ??134 (they say over 125 is diabetic) BUT Jim had given him a little bit of apple juice before we tested and that would have skewed it. ??I think he was in ketosis from losing so much of his daily nutrients. ?? All this to say, I do know Tori’s immune system has been compromised so maybe it was the perfect storm. ??Also had to wonder how much dirt she inhaled on Thursday night when we were caught at the lake in the Haboob. ?? Who ever knows with these things? ??As I said though, all things considered, Occam’s Razor applies – ??the simple answer is typically correct and I am confident that the persistent coughing is directly related to the aspiration incident.

She just told me a little bit a go that her chest is starting to hurt. ??That concerns me a bit but her breathing is still okay. ??I have her on motrin and tylenol and the Dr. prescribed azythromiacin and we started that at about 11:00 AM so hopefully we will get her turned around really quickly before this can escalate into a respiratory distress issue. ??She seems to be going downhill in terms of her energy and fever despite the motrin/tylenol this afternoon so I am hoping the antibiotics will kick in soon.

Someday I would love to see Phoenix Children’s Hospital out my rear view window for the VERY LAST TIME. ??(But also so glad that I live in close enough proximity that I can get my children to one of the finest children’s hospital in the whole wide world when the situation calls for it – just wish circumstances would QUIT calling).