The One With the Barky Cough

Most kids, when you ask them what a puppy says will respond with “Woof woof,” or “Arf arf.” Not Lily. When she pretends to be a puppy, taking lessons from Slink, the dog (Toy Story), she says, “Bark bark!”

I love the way she phrases things. I love how she uses the term “thingie” quite regularly. I love it when she says things like, “Maybe I have to go potty,” or “My nose is hurting,” which means, “My nose is running.” And, I wish I could just bottle her up to play back later, when she’s all grown up.

To update, most of last night Lily had a very croupy-sounding cough. She slept well between nebs and vest treatments, but after her vest, she would cough nonstop until we’d give her an epi neb.

All morning Lily has been working a little harder. She’s had retractions all over, elevated respiratory rate, and increased O2 needs. Her labs look a little better, but her chest x-ray is mostly unchanged. So, she’s not better, but she’s not necessarily worse; there are just moments when she’s more comfortable than others. When she’s working hard to breathe, I can’t let her eat anything, and she gets pretty upset about that.

It just takes time. I would expect us to be here at least a week (today is day 4), and likely longer, depending upon how Lily does over the next few days. For now, I really haven’t seen much improvement in her breathing. On the other hand, I know how quickly she can turn around for the better. So, I hope for that quick, positive turnaround, but I’m content, knowing that we are where we need to be for now.