Wednesday, June 23, 2010

just breathe....

my oldest has what they call "asthma".
he seems to flare up in the fall & winter months.
it seems mostly related to allergies or a cold...
essentially anything that causes post nasal drip.

its awful.
he coughs, and coughs
and coughs
and coughs
til he throws up
and coughs some more.

how sad.
this was taken after her threw up one night from an attack.
and was in the bathroom for the steam.
heart breaking.

it gets worse at night.
he will ask for the steamy shower!
i have anxiety... terrible anxiety that starts the SECOND i hear "that cough".
i panic.

recently i discovered,
sort of by accident,
that he didn't really need the drugs he was taking
-albuterol inhaler
-advair inhaler
- zyrtec
- nasonex
- patonase
- saline spray

EVERY SINGLE DAY.

not to mention the oral steroids used during flair ups.

so, against the better judgement of the pulmonologist
i advocated for my kid {proudly}
and took him off everything.
he has been fine for several months now.
and was even better behaved!
{score!}

stay with me here....
so my little guy came down with a high fever this weekend.
i happen to JUST have switched their pediatrician.
so i was worried we would get a little lost in the shuffle.

let me tell you... this new place is AMAZING!!!!!!!!

they were more concerned with the health of my child than copying my insurance card
{can you believe our last dr's office required to show it EVER SINGLE VISIT... and if you didn't have it with you, you were required to sign away life & limb before being treated}.

the dr spent time reviewing his symptoms.
onset of them.
to what was happening now.
to what may or may not happen moving forward.
she sent me on my way with papers to read.
a script just in case his cough got worse in the middle of the night.

its the most amazing thing to have a pediatrician's office that really cares.
not just a business!

ok... sorry for that detour.
back to the asthma and sick kids.

long and short... my little guy came down with a cold.
and after 2 trips to the new pediatrician's office he has croup!

and guess who started coughing again today!?!?!?!
you guessed it... mister asthma!
caught his baby brothers cold.

i had to start ALL the drugs again.
the nurse at the pulmonologist made me feel like a horrible mommy for stopping them to begin with.
and im back to pumping him with drugs.


all just in time for our planned weekend get away to the beach for tomorrow.
so much for that!

so...
my little lovies...
please sleep well tonight.
respond to your plethera of drugs to help.
so we can go away and have a nice family weekend!
please?!?!
THANKS

4 comments:

  1. oh Robyn, poor Jack looks so pathetic :(
    good for you for advocating... that's a whole lot of meds for a little body. You know how I feel about this. I wouldn't give Kai the 2 inhalers the ped. wanted me to give to him daily "just in case" hell no! he's been fine!
    But I did keep one for an emergency.
    It's hard, you want to do what's best for their health... you think doctor's should have all the answers... but they know medicine and how to hand hand it out. well I could go on and on...
    I hope they feel better tomorrow and you get to go away :) even though that means you'll be missing out on my party !!!!!!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Poor baby. And this heat surely can't be helping their breathing challenges. Hope things get better for everybody.

    ReplyDelete
  3. the heat is definitely not helping. we are AC bound. and looking forward to the major storms that will take this humidity away with them!

    the good news is they all slept!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Oh. ROUGH.

    That picture really is so heart-breaking. Poor little guy ):

    I hope all is well for each of you now!

    ReplyDelete