I have asthma.
I've had it my whole life. As a little kid I was hospitalized on and off for years. When I was a little older I had a nebulizer and my folks could give me my breathing treatment to prevent me from having to be hospitalized. (they always joked about me smoking!) Now as an adult I'm still allergic to cats and dogs, but can take allergy medicine to control that. Although I've mostly outgrown my asthma, twice in the almost 8 years we've been married Paul has had to take me to the ER or Urgent Care though because a head cold turned into a chest cold which turned into an asthma attack and I couldn't breathe.
Breathing is pretty important and most people take it for granted until they are having a problem breathing.
Anyway, Brian has had a cough he couldn't get rid of for a year or so now. It would wake him up in the middle of the night and several times got REALLY bad where he was having a hard time breathing. Back in June we took him to the doctor and she said he was having an asthma attack. Why that didn't occur to me I didn't know. She gave him a breathing treatment there in the office and sent us home with an oral steroid for a week and an inhaler for him to take as needed.
This is when Brian was sick back in June
The beginning of September it happened again. His cough got really bad until he couldn't breathe, and we took him in to the doctor again. This time they gave him a breathing treatment, put him on an oral steroid, another inhaler, and some antibiotics then sent us to the allergy/asthma specialist.
The specialist changed things up. "Yes to this inhaler, no to that one, get a nebulizer, finish this steroid and antiobiotic and add this allergy medicine and cough medicine. And he has an allergic reaction to cashews? Well then here's an epi-pen and don't let him have any nuts until he gets tested again." YIKES!!! She said they were treating him for allergenic asthma and allergenic rhinitis. One week later and he is doing great. We're still waiting for the blood work on the nut allergies, but the skin tests showed he is allergic to dust mites and some mold spores.
Thanks to my mom for taking care of me when I was a sick kid. Now I kinda know what you dealt with. I love you!
Brian with his nebulizer
(Thanks to the Girth family for lending it to us)
We do the nebulizer every morning, he chews his singulair every night and the c-pav and albuterol are "as needed" and we haven't had them in several days. We've bought new bedding for his room, new pillow, a special allergenic pillow cover, have put in new air filters and...and I'm committed to cleaning this house more. Wish me luck!
He gets to play our Nintendo DS while breathing, so he doesn't mind!
2 comments:
Before Justin went through allergy shots, he used to have to have a few breathing treatments every March when everything he is allergic to starts blossoming. Even for an adult, it is so scary to see the look at their face when they can't breathe - I bet it is even worse when it is your child. Glad to see that they are getting him the help that he needs!!
My poor little Brian. It really does remind me of you when you were little. Luckily Brian doesn't look as sick as you did when you were doing your breathing treatments!
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