Asthma

Sometimes when people ask about Blake being sick (or if he’s sick AGAIN), I really exaggerate, and tell them he’s been sick his whole life. Obviously untrue, but there are times when it just seems like his reality.

He’s been sick for almost a month. I thought it was 3 weeks but the doctor informed me today we were working our way toward 4 weeks.  After seeing that, looking at his history, and listening to his lungs he determined Blake has asthma, which he believes is what we’ve been dealing with all along, made worse by allergies. He’s already been allergy tested for common environmental and food allergies, all of which came back negative, but even as the allergist said, we just may not know. Dr. G believes his allergies are at play here, and the asthma sets in and because we haven’t treated his asthma it may never be fully going away or getting better, or quickly returning. This would explain why his colds seem to go on and on forever. I don’t know enough about asthma to speak intelligently on it, I can only relay what the doctor said. The doctor is prescribing Blake Singular to take every day, and we are using his nebulizer daily for the next week or so.  He said that if he’s not significantly better in two weeks then we should go back to explore other options (I’m not sure what those options are at the moment).

A part of me is relieved, but the other part of me is frustrated.  When we visited the ENT a few weeks ago he asked me so many questions about Blake’s history, of which I tried to answer by memory the best I could.  I asked the ENT office to request his records before we came, but they didn’t. The ENT even asked me if we had a nebulizer, and when I answered “yes” he asked me how often we used it.  I told him it wasn’t often, may be twice in the past year, because I wasn’t sure when we should use it, or how bad it should get.  (Shame on me, I guess, for not checking in to that). He then replied “Oh you would know, so he must not have needed it.” I brushed it off at the time.  According to Dr. G, his asthma is pretty severe at the moment. Once he discussed the signs with me and what to listen for in his cough, I realized there were plenty of times when I probably should’ve used the nebulizer on him.  Mommy fail.

Dr. G mentioned he probably wasn’t eating or sleeping well.  Eating, no, he tends to have a big loss of appetite when his colds are this bad, but sleeping? The kid has NO trouble sleeping. Ever. As it is he sleeps 10-12 hours a night, with about a 2 hour nap during the day.  And when he’s sick that nap can go from 3 to 4 hours easily.  (Love my kid!) He said he’s probably sleeping so much more when he’s coughing/has a runny nose because his lungs are wearing out from having to work harder, then he asked me to listen to him breathe, and boy was it heavy.  How have I not noticed this? May be because I thought he was just breathing that way due to a stuffy nose?  I don’t even know.  I can’t place any self blame here and think about what I should’ve done or should’ve seen with signs. I’m just glad I took him in today, and I’m thankful that he was wheezing (you know, usually you take a kid to the doc with an ailment that magically goes away when you walk through the office door!)

He’s hoping this is seasonal and we can reevaluate everything by Spring.

It’s crazy, because I have felt for so long that there was just something more here.  That him getting sick this often wasn’t normal.  He was prescribed a nebulizer about a year ago, but I think the doctors and I thought it was just for a one-time cold, never putting all the pieces together. May be there were no pieces to put together at the time.

I could reflect on everything, but it isn’t worth it.  I’m feeling confident and optimistic that we’re actually going somewhere.  And that it actually all makes sense given his history, you know, when I look back and reflect on the mommy-guilt reflecting that I’m trying not to reflect on.

Tonight Blake was upset because he didn’t want to take a bath. He cried and pitched a fit and this sent himself into a coughing frenzy,coughing so much it took him a few seconds to get his breath back.  When he was able to, it completely freaked him out and he grabbed Michael’s neck and cried in his shoulder.  Scared me a little, too momentarily.

He wasn’t keen on his breathing treatment before bed, so we promised him he could watch “Tars” (aka: Cars Toons) if he’d wear the mask and not mess with it.  It worked! Michael’s brilliant idea.  I love that husband of mine!

Though he isn’t well yet, I feel like we made some headway today.  I’m hoping the asthma diagnosis, with treatment, will help him to stay healthy for long periods of time. Of course because I want Blake to feel his best all the time and not be bogged down with illnesses as frequently as he is now, but also because Michael and I cannot keep missing as much work as we have been.  I’ve missed 5 days since the beginning of September and he’s missed 2.

Until he’s feeling better, we have to limit his activity. This will be hard at daycare but I’m hoping they can help us with this. He was running around the house this afternoon pushing his firetruck around and had a coughing attack. Again, which he’s had before in the past, but I just never thought anything of it.

What a light bulb mommy moment. Hindsight, huh?

All in all, I’m feeling optimistic.

I’m hoping asthma will follow the same course the GERD and Milk allergy did, that he’ll grow out of it.

I know asthma varies so much from kid to kid, but I’d welcome your experiences as well!

And, unrelated to Blake, I’m now getting a sore throat.  Praying this doesn’t get worse!
I cannot miss any more work.

I cannot miss any more work.

I cannot miss any more work.

I cannot miss any more work.

I cannot miss any more work.

All work and no break makes Brittney a/(an almost) crazy mom.