Oh, thank goodness!

Let’s go back to the summer of 2014. Jake was at an engineering camp at a prestigious engineering university near our hometown.  He called and felt like he was coming down with something,  but he could stick it out. He didn’t seem too sick, but he had a nagging cough that didn’t go away. I took him to our primary care physician.  “Looked like a touch of pneumonia,”- what else was new? I said,  “Do you think it’s time he saw a pulmonologist? “, and he was referred to one I had heard good things about. A month later, Jake was feeling better but still coughing. After an examination,  the doctor concluded it was acid reflux. “Oh, thank goodness! ” We left with 4 new prescriptions and an appointment for October.  Jake had started his senior year in high school. He was at the top of his class and excited for his future. I wish then I would have known the exact words of the radiologist before the referral,  “There is something wrong with that kid’s lungs,”- I wouldn’t have accepted acid reflux as a diagnosis. ..