Timing is everything

When you have a chronically sick child, it seems like timing is everything.  There is a fine line when bringing them to the doctor between being too early and too late.  Too early for an antibiotic or too late and pneumonia has settled in.  This is where I find myself tonight-waiting for a fever or something to warrant a trip to the doctor.  The coughing has certainly gotten worse in the past two days, but is that enough?  We were at the pediatrician's office on Friday afternoon for the repeat x-ray to check for the atelecstasis in the lower right lung.  With only a quick glance at the films, it looks as if the right lung has recovered, no obvious signs of the atelecstasis still being there.  Although, a "spot" on the upper left lung showed up.  At this point, we're still unsure of what the spot is.  The pediatrician's office called as we were walking in the door to ask a few questions, when was the last antibiotic for Rylee and had she been coughing frequently.  I explained to the nurse while Rylee has a wet sounding cough, she wasn't coughing a lot.  It wasn't more than a few minutes after I hung up that Rylee had begun coughing much more than I've heard in the past few weeks.  It's been two days and I can tell the cough, that seems to be occurring a major part of the day, sound very different from Friday afternoon.  Having a child who has suffered pneumonia 7 times in less than 3 years and suffered a partially collapsed lung more than once, when is it time to take her to the doctor?  Do I wait for a fever or more apparent signs of a sickness, or do I go on my gut instinct and take her in.  Sometimes I wish Rylee would complain or let me know that something is "uncomfortable" or "bothering" her.  The only hints I get is the restlessness during the night, the declining oxygen numbers, the grunting and the constant coughing in the night.
With flu season in full swing, I'm a bit more concerned with every sniffle and cough.  Knowing what we know now about Rylee and PCD, and knowing how bad the flu is hitting people this season, I'm scared it'll land her in the hospital.  With her much anticipated concert of Justin Bieber and Carly Rae Jepsen just over a week away, I may have to jump the gun on this one and take her to the doctor.