Breathing treatments?

Beginning Thursday morning, Tanner developed a deep, raspy cough that persisted throughout the day and night. He felt warm and didn't seem to feel well overall. Then, he started the sneezing. Soooo, Friday morning I called his pediatrician and luckily got an appointment. After being evaluated, she decided to give him a breathing treatment of Albuterol. Correction, she showed ME how to administer it since she had more patients! Basically, it consists of a nebulizer that blows medicine mist up toward his nose. There are several parts to it, that all have to be cleaned after each use and then disinfected with a vinegar solution at the end of the day. Tanner doesn't care for it, but he is to receive it every 4-6 hours until the coughing subsides. She said that if he is crying, he actually takes more medicine in because he is literally breathing harder. That makes sense, but it is not fun for me trying to administer this and keep it on his nose and mouth area! So, we have been getting 2-3 treatments in per "awake" hours, but have not been waking him overnight. If he is breathing and sleeping fine, then why wake him? He does seem to be quite a bit better, but the cough is not completely gone. The 100.4 degree temperature was taken care of with Tylenol, but most importantly, it is NOT RSV disease. I was very worried that he would or could develop that since he was preemie. Even when preemies start to look healthy and strong, their lungs are still smaller and less developed than those of full-term babies. We are still waiting to see if he qualifies for the Synagis shots. Being in daycare, seven weeks premature, and lung issues at birth place him a greater risk for RSV (respiratory syncytial virus.) Synagis is a very expensive drug, so we are waiting to see if he qualifies, and if insurance will cover it.

It sound so sad to hear his little cough because you expect that sound to come from someone that has really bad pneumonia or something. I'll keep you updated if anything else develops.