Thank goodness for Childrens Hospital (MUSC)

We had an eventful week starting Monday. After Carl swam in cold water at his swim team practice he came out early and began coughing. Around 11 that night he came in with a bad croup cough. We did all the stuff we could at home but it wasn't getting better. We took him to the pediatrician in the morning, when she saw his oxygen levels she called 911 and he was taken to the nearest ER (across the street). After he had been hooked up the doctor came to check on him and while listening to him breath he told lil Carl to "stop making that noise" to which my husband responded that he couldn't, that is why we brought him here. We were told his chest x-rays looked fine. They wouldn't believe he had croup because he is too old at 9 to have it. They began treating him for asthma. That went on for 5 hours and when the treatments did not make a difference they finally decided to take x-rays of his throat and discovered that he did have croup (what we had said all along) and that their treatment for the last five hours had been useless. They began treating for the croup at that point as he had improved very little. At this point they decided to admit him into the hospital, when they called our pediatrician they insisted on his going to the children's hospital in Charleston. I had been watching his breathing as he lay there and I was convinced that his right side was doing all the work breathing. I am always nervous bring up things to doctors. I mentioned it to the nurse who said she hadn't noticed any difference in the sounds from the lungs. She listened again and stated that she might hear a little difference and that next time I take him in for a checkup i should tell his doctor about it. I then stated that was the reason we were there not to wait til his next appt. Anyway, we then went to the children's hospital (Lil Carl's second ambulance ride of the day) where they were amazing and awesome. They listened to his chest and back and knew instantly that his left lung sounded worse than the right. From the x-rays they said that he had croup although they also said it was really rare for a child his age which concerns them and they also were able to tell from his chest x-rays that he had pneumonia in his left lung. That was all in the first hour of being there. I can't imagine what excuse the other hospital could give for not seeing it, they showed me the x-rays and I could see it. They also showed that his right lung was over extended and the left was really small. They say that all these things together are really concerning. It was also apparent to them that his asthma had not been treated well and needs more attention. He continued to improve now that he was getting the right treatment and his pneumonia broke up and his left lung cleared. Our respiration therapist Anita was so great, I am in awe of her. She taught us so much about managing his asthma and I feel like we can be proactive now and maybe he can enjoy his time outside without fear. Everyone at the hospital was enchanted by him, when the interns had their rounds they were in our room for a while, not just because he is such an interesting case but he held them captive telling them stories and asking them questions. After three days in the hospital we got to bring him home. He still has to go back so we can meet with the pediatric pulmonary doctors so they can do further investigation and maybe we can have more of an idea of why he is having all these problems. We have a few outstanding tests that we are waiting on the results for also. I am hoping everything is negative but I also want answers for him. We are grateful for everyone's prayers and we want everyone to know that he is doing well and seems as chipper as ever even when he is having problems breathing (which indicates that he is comfortable with difficult breathing, poor guy!) He is super happy to be home and we are all happy to be home as well!