This morning, after keeping Ricky home from school because he wasn't feelong well, I took him to the pediatrician.

Well, at the pedi's his lungs were all crackly. She put him on Augmentin and Orapred (the latter, she gave him a dose of right away) and at my suggestion she sent us for a chest x-ray, after giving him an in-office breathing treatment.

After a 45 minute wait, during which Ricky fell asleep on me (he's really, really not feeling well), we had the chest x-ray. A while later the pedi called me and said that it showed bronchiectasis (duh) and infiltrates in the lower lobes of both lungs, the left one being worse. I had already called the CF clinic and left a message. The pedi got the fax # up there and was going to send the x-ray report.

A while later she called me back and said she'd spoken with the CF doc, who seemed to think the ilfiltrates were no big deal (!) and anyway, she stated, there are no available beds. I informed the pedi that I hadn't seen him this sick in years (working so hard to breathe and all) and she suggested we go to the ER.

I called Dave (my RN hubby) at work (after leaving my third message of the day for the CF nurse) and told him what was going on. He suggested we come to the unit he works at (different hospital) and check Ricky's oxygen saturation.

So we went there and Ricky's sat was 92, which is low for him but I guess not too low in the grand scheme of things. I finally got tired of leaving messages for the CF nurse and had her paged. She sounded irritated when she called me back and said, well, quite frankly, there are no beds. Give him fluids, keep him elevated when he sleeps, and do lots of breathing treatments. DUHHH. But thanks. She said sorry, we can't do anything else. If you are very worried tonight then take him to the ER. She said they already had one CF patient hanging out in the ER for treatment because of there being no beds.

I drove the rest of the way home feeling very grumpy, annoyed, and helpless. Meanwhile Ricky belly breathed all the way, looking miserable.

The CF nurse called back later and sounded a little less brusque. She told me the same treatment things and reemphasized that I should take him to the ER if he was worrying me.

So Ricky has eaten some, drunk some, and currently is passed out on the couch looking uncomfortable. I don't think either of us will be getting much sleep tonight, with me constantly looking in on him, and him struggling to breathe...

That's it in the way of an update for now...