On The Perihilar Pneumonitis Scare

I don’t particularly hate when I have to take lab tests. However, the opposite is true for when it’s my kids who need to take them, specifically Ziggy. He has hated going to the doctor since he was a baby. Doctors appointments with Ziggy have always been very stressful and tiring because he throws a huge fit in the clinic every single time we go there, even if it’s just for a check up.

So, I wasn’t particularly looking forward to his check up last Saturday. We decided to take him for a check up because he had been coughing almost non-stop since that morning. He’s had cough on and off for the past two to three weeks but we didn’t take it seriously because the coughing never lasted long. He’d be coughing in the morning then it would be gone in a couple of hours.

Anyway, it was really surprising that for the first time ever Ziggy did NOT throw a fit during his check up. He was actually very pleasant and followed the pediatrician’s instructions. He was such a good boy. I was super proud and super relieved! Such a milestone, right? I credit Curious George for this amazing feat. Yes, Curious George the monkey cartoon. Ziggy’s obsessed with it. There was one episode wherein George pretended to be a doctor by playing with his doctor’s stethoscope. I guess because of that Ziggy became less afraid.

So, back to the story…. The pediatrician listened to Ziggy’s chest and heard a lot of wheezing and crackling. So, she asked us to have a chest x-ray done on Ziggy to figure out if there’s something serious we should worry about. I started to dread the x-ray session because based on his last one, Ziggy also threw a fit. But a miracle happened this time around. He listened to us when we said that the technician just needed to take a picture of his chest. We kept encouraging him to smile for the picture and he did. Another proud mommy moment.

It will take three days before we could actually get the results but the doctor already prescribed Ziggy to take some antibiotics and have him nebulized. So, we followed all the instructions while we waited. These were his medicines sans the nebules he had to use. He had an antibiotic and a mucolytic too.

Finally, Tuesday came and we were able to get the results and saw this.

What the…..???? When I saw this I started imagining the worst. I didn’t understand what it really meant but I knew that pneumonitis sounded a lot like pneumonia. I had never encountered this with  my two girls before. So, Hubby and I immediately started Googling it while we were waiting to see the doctor. I was super worried already. I felt like such a failure as a mother. I must have done something really wrong for Ziggy to get this illness.

We eventually got to see the doctor and thankfully, Ziggy was still really very pleasant. The doctor even said he doesn’t even look sick because he was so cheerful, smart and active. Well, according to her, we didn’t really have that much to worry about because apparently, Perihilar Pneumonitis is not yet pneumonia. But if left untreated can lead to pneumonia. She explained that if a person has pneumonia you would see several cotton-like patches on the x-ray. Ziggy had none. He only had a few streaks which is not serious and was most probably due to his asthma. The doctor also could not hear anymore wheezing or cracklings from his chest. Apparently, the medicines worked. Thank God! Huge sigh of relief.

I mean, this photo was taken on the same day and does this look like a sick kid to you?

He’s not totally in the clear though. He still has to continue taking his medicines until tomorrow then we’ll go for a follow up check up after. Hopefully, he’ll fully recover already. I’d appreciate it if you can help us pray for his speedy recovery. Thanks!