Not The Best Start to the New Year

So far, 2014 hasn't been kind to us.  Not only has the weather completely sucked and we've been blasted with super cold temperatures (although I'm grateful that our temps haven't been as low as some of my friends scattered across the country, it's still pretty darn frigid here!), but we've been in a battle against some respiratory crud.  John actually had a nasty cold before Christmas, but it took until New Year's Eve for Judith to break out with symptoms.

By New Year's day, I knew it was time to act, because the faucet from her nose went from clear to green.  Gross for most people, but since I'm so used to dealing with mucus at this point, it didn't phase me other than being a signal to take action.  I got a sick appointment at the pediatrician on Thursday since Dr. G. wanted me to take her in for a listen to make sure her lungs were still clear, and luckily they were.  She has a cough and sinus infection, which she so graciously shared with me.

Of course this means we've entered into yet another epic battle of wills with liquid medicine.  Dr. G. has Judith on a higher dose of bactrim right now, which would make for some interesting pill splitting if we were able to do the pills.  I think it's going to come down to that, though, because once again we've tried everything we can possibly think of to get the meds into Judith, and she just.won't.take.them.

It's frustrating, to say the least.  This piled on top of the eating issues feels like one pot hole after another.  She's eating even less now that she's sick, and I'm concerned that she'll lose any gains she's made over the past few months.  The dietician is aware of our problems, and I had another good conversation with her the other day.  We decided that we're going to try to get Judith enrolled in feeding therapy, and will try an appetite stimulator to see if that makes a difference.  We're starting to max out on options, and John and I are getting increasingly frustrated while feeling defeated.  I'm sure we're going to have a long discussion about all of this at Judith's next clinic appointment later in the month, and I'm hoping that we can think of a couple other options in addition to the ones we're looking at that will help Judith eat more so she can have better weight gains.