Pneumonia!

Ben's got pneumonia! Ben went back to school on Wednesday after staying home sick for two days, but his cough wasn't going away and sounded like it was getting phlegmier (is that even a word?!) and deeper. He had a ridiculously long coughing fit in the middle of the night Thursday night so Friday morning I decided to call the doctor to see if this was more than just a cough. I took him in on Friday afternoon, and after examining Ben, Dr. Vermont sent us to the hospital for a chest x-ray. He called us at home a little while later to say that Ben definitely has pneumonia and that he'd call in an antibiotic for us. He also tested Ben for whooping cough (Wow, Ben did NOT like having his nose swabbed!), but I have a feeling that the extremely long coughing fits that he's having are all about the pneumonia. Who knows...I must have missed medical school that day. Anyway, he also wants us to see a pediatric pulmonologist to see about getting tested for asthma since this is the second time Ben has had pneumonia (last time was two years ago at Thanksgiving). Can't hurt to check, right?

So that's our story around here. We're still going this afternoon to see the Backyardigans Live at the Fox Theatre. If we didn't go I think Ben would absolutely go beserk. He used to come to me out of nowhere and tell me that he wanted to go to Chicago or Washington, DC, and when I'd ask him why he'd tell me that the Backyardigans Live were going to be there (Thanks so much, Noggin). And tomorrow are the rescheduled soccer pictures (and soccer game) so we have to go to that too. We're just hanging out at home today and resting. Ben was up before 8 this morning (yuck) and isn't too bad right now. He's pumped full of antibiotics and cough syrup and only coughs once every once in awhile which is much better than it was before. I think he'll be fine to do a few things. Besides, the fresh air will be good for him.