Cheryl and child with presumed bronchitis and ear infection

[Guest guest]

Here goes the most conservative mom in the world: I think he needs a

chest X-ray:

1) to rule out pneumonia, even a tiny area;

2) to see if any significant scarring or appearance of such is there;

3) in a small child, to make sure that he has not inhaled an object

or possibly the contents of his stomach, which often happens in cf;

4)to compare with the one to come in April.

Three in a child with cf, to just announce that it is " bronchitis, " is silly.

If it is only that, true, it may NOT show up on an X-ray, but one would

want to be sure and to get a sputum culutre and X-ray and treat on

that basis as the bacteria in his ear(s) may not be the same as those

in his airways. This is the new " shopping mall " approach to saving us

all money by doing to little and billing our insurances less. And it threa

tens the lives of all of us, as well as of those of us with cystic fibrosis!

Said she, with a curl of the lip, whilst snarling,

Love to you and your family--Go Get 'em!

n Rojas, who can be counted on for genuinely biased opinions