Colin's been asthma related sick this past week. Translation: he doesn't have a bad cold but he's got all the symptoms of a cold and a deep cough. How do I know the difference? Four years of training. Anyway, he's got a round of medicines he takes regularly to prevent a serious case of full blown asthma outbreak but sometimes, even that doesn't quite get it done.
On Monday, MLK Jr day, we went to Santa Barbara for the day. Walked on the beach, ate pizza outside and watched the ocean, played at a great park and in general had a fantastic day. However, all the "good fresh air" undid my child. So, he comes down with a nasty cough and snot-nose. I decide to be proactive and take him to the doctor on Wednesday before it gets worse. Sometimes we have to add a round of Prednisolone steroid to really kick the episode. As it turns out, I'm becoming a pretty good doctor for my child. I was right that he needed the steroids but while there, the doctor decides he should be on an allergy nasal spray routine as well as everything else we do. I say okay. What's one more at this point. It's amazing what one can get used to.
As soon as we get home from the doctor and pharmacy, I give him the first of five doses of steroids. And at bath time, I'm explaining to Colin the new routine. His response is a lot like mine, in what's one more? So we do the nasal spray to clean the sinuses. Then 10 minutes later we do the allergy spray, Fluticasone. Then we take our antihistamine and our daily vitamin, then we follow up with a dose of Albuteral through the nebulizer and right before bed we do the inhaler 2x of Flovent. Not to mention the Epi Pen we NEVER leave home without. I know right!? What the crap.
The next night we begin the same thing. As we are doing the allergy nasal medicine he asks, "Mom, this is the second time for this medicine. How long do I have to take this one?" I say, "For the rest of your life." He asks with hope, "Then I'll be done?" I smile at the irony in his sentence and respond, "Yep, then you'll be done." He liked that answer.
By the way, Colin will remind me, "Mom, we need to take my meds." I guess he knows they make a difference for him.
1 comment:
Sometimes I think we should have trained to become pediatricians. Or, I think being a mom of a child with asthma should automatically qualify us as pediatricians. Just call us Dr. Mom.
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