I'm starting to sense a pattern...

Yesterday I made another trip to the pediatrician with Brogan. He was sick again, and again his breathing was sounding pretty bad. He had spent most of the day screaming bloody murder. He got a breathing treatment while we there (with some oxygen mixed in, this time). His oxygen level beforehand was in the high 80s. (That's lower than Ayden!) After the treatment, the level was back to a better place.

We figured all the screaming meant an ear infection. The pediatrician saw a bunch of fluid in there, though no infection (yet). Nevertheless, an antibiotic was prescribed (NOT amoxicillin) to deal with an impending infection. He's also getting a steroid to help deal with the inflammation in his lungs. And I'm giving him breathing treatments as needed, which he continues to do well with. He even fell asleep during one.

The day after, he's doing much better. He's drinking a lot more, playing a lot more, and screaming a lot less. These are all good things, obviously. However, I had a moment today that was (initially) really bad.

This afternoon, Brogan pooped for the first time in a while. Allison was occupied, so I had diaper changing duty. I soon discovered everything in his diaper was red. Really red. After everything we went through with Ayden, I'm conditioned to not overreact to things like this. Even so, I was thinking, "Well, this can't be good." After finishing the diaper change, I went off to inform Allison. That's when she told me the pharmacist had mentioned that one of Brogan's medicines might turn his poop red. I kind of felt like this.

At any rate, crisis averted. And all out war averted: Brogan pooped again later (again all red) while Allison was at church with Ayden, where we have no cell phone coverage; I'd have been at Vandy by the time she could call to inform me of the pharmacist's warning.

So, clearly Brogan's body doesn't respond all that well to getting a cold. We're wondering how many times this has to happen before the pediatrician starts investigating the possibility of him having asthma.  What's interesting, though, is that Ayden has been sick each time Brogan has, presumably with the same thing each time (Ayden's probably brought it home from school each time and given it to Brogan). Yet, Brogan is the one that we keep having to take to the doctor.

We haven't taken Ayden - the one with the single ventricle and lower oxygen level - once. Of course, if Ayden's body reacted the way Brogan's has, we wouldn't be counting trips to the doctor. We'd be counting days spent in the hospital. In some really weird way, then, the way it has been is the way it's needed to be.