The Scariest Acid Reflux Diagnosis

I never knew how scary Acid Reflux can be.  I thought it was just like really bad heart burn.  Then it happened to Maxx.  He didn't have any issues with this as a baby.  That's why it came as such a shock.

It was the night of our 15th anniversary we had just settled in for the night.  When suddenly I hear a choking cry come from down the hallway.  I turn terrified to my husband.  It's Maxx again. He was gasping and clawing again.  We held him as we tried giving him a breathing treatment.  He was spitting frothy/slimy spit and wiping his mouth as if it was disgusting.  We believed it to be another asthma attack and followed what the doctors told us.  This time making the diagnosis a permanent part of his life.

I watched in horror as he struggled and screamed. Slowly his lips started to turn blue.  This was the moment I called for an ambulance. The wait for help felt eternal.  Before we were even in the ambulance the paramedic trainer said "oh yeah this is just another croup case."  The paramedics tried to make me ride in the front as Maxx was strapped in the back for the ride.  He lost it as soon as I disappeared from view.  I ended up riding the 10 miles strapped on the gurney in the back of the ambulance holding him. I argued throughout the ride that it just sounds wrong. There was a weird wheeze but no cough.   She told me that I didn't know what I was talking about and that she was the medical professional.  It was hard to silence my mom brain.  It screamed at me that this diagnosis was wrong.  I've been through croup, whooping cough and so many other childhood illnesses between my 5 kids. Croup would have responded to his breathing treatments.
 
I'll never forget sitting in that chair next to his hospital bed as he took breathing treatment after breathing treatment to get his breathing normalized.  Terrified that it was not working and they were not doing enough to help.

Maxx ended up being admitted to the Pediatric ICU.  I sat there as my normally active kid just lay there listlessly.  Pulmonary specialists were called.  They now said he may have been admitted with croup but it was not croup, because it was not responding how it should to croup medicine.  The wheeze was too high in his chest and he had no cough. They were now considering an asthma diagnosis.

With nurses in and out constantly taking note of his vitals I explained to Maxx that they were checking his numbers.  The numbers said how sick he was and when he got better numbers we could go home.  One visit late in the night as the nurse was adjusting tubes. He tilted his head back to watch the monitor with his "numbers" that was hanging just over his head behind the bed.  It was almost as if magic.  His horrible wheeze disappeared.  Before the nurse could rush out I pointed this weird phenomenon.  She had a confused look on her face and said to me "that's weird."  I demanded to see a doctor in his room now.

The doctor arrived and asked me to repeat what had happened as he listened to Maxx.  Sure enough the wheeze was gone when he looked up but back when he sat normal.  The doctor was stumped so he then called in the Pediatric Ear, Nose, and Throat specialist.  With the scope still down Maxx's nose the doctor announced, "Look at those acid burns, he has acid reflux not breathing problems."   The acid reflux had made his vocal chords swell to the point it was causing difficulty breathing.  This was long term damage. (even his tonsils had burn marks on them) I asked if this could be what was wrong when we were at the hospital 6 months before.  He said it was most likely the problem.  Not only was it missed by the hospital we went to for treatment but also by his pediatrician at his follow up appointment.

Now Maxx knows what food he can't have.  I've helped to educated him on what causes him to make excessive acid.  He refuses to eat chocolates, because as Maxx explains they make his tummy hurt his throat and make him not breathe.  Nothing like a scary trip to the hospital to scare your away from chocolate for life.  He is now on a daily dose of prescription Zantac.

I never knew this was even a possibility with Acid Reflux.  I never knew it could be so severe that it could actually swell his throat closed.