OFFICIALLY sick of doctor visits and hospitals...

Brent woke up on Thursday morning feeling dizzy and lightheaded. We called his doctor and went in for an appointment and lab work. The lab work came back indicating that he might have a blood clot in his lung--SCARY! Kelly came to stay with the kids (THANKS, Kelly) and we went to the hospital right away for a CT scan.

The scan revealed that it was NOT a blood clot (thank God!!), but he has a condition called pericarditis. The pericardium is the lining around our hearts that acts as a lubricating "sleeve" that separates our heart and lungs. His lining is inflamed, and fluid has collected around the heart. There are many causes, but most of the time the cause is unknown. We met with a cardiologist this morning, and he believes that Brent picked up a respiratory virus that settled into that area for some reason. He got some medicine and was told to take it easy for the next 10 days--no yard work, no exercise, nothing strenuous at all. We go back to see the cardiologist after 10 days. He's feeling good, and I know he's happy to finally put a name to this feeling he's been having! The symptoms of pericarditis are exactly what he's been experiencing, and include extreme chest pain (that mimics a heart attack) and shortness of breath.

Now an update on the kids: The RSV, pertussis, parainfluenza and some of the blood work came back, and everything in those looks great. They don't show any infection. We're still waiting on the allergy blood results, which will tell us if they have allergies to milk or soy (since those often present themselves as respiratory issues). The boys seem to be feeling a lot better, though, and are finally smiling and laughing again. They HATE, HATE, HATE their breathing treatments, and shriek the entire time. I've heard that's almost better, since they take such big breaths while they're having a fit and get deep breaths of the medicine. It's torture to hear them so mad, though!!