Tuesday, January 31, 2006

#2 Son's Diagnosis

...in case you were wondering.

It seems an upper respiratory infection has hit his lungs. Typical - we used to see this in #1 son all the time.

The PP said that "he wasn't moving air well" and his resp rate was up, although his sats were fine. And the poor baby looks and clearly feels miserably.

Bottom line: Nebs every 3 hours around the clock. Alternating DuoNeb and Albuterol (or Xopenex). Zythromax. Continued Flovent. Dimetapp if needed. Hopefully, no Predisolone necessary.

The 'round the clock' bit should be especially fun, since I'm nursing a six-week-old. I'll be in great shape tomorrow!!!

But it beats the PICU, any day.

Bandwidth for Babysitting

Quick one -- both the preschoolers are sick. #1 son is manageable, but #2 is pretty sick again. The peds pulmonologist asked me to bring him over right away, but of course, that meant loading him and the newborn into the car -- and exposing the newborn to all those germs at the hospital. Plus, I'd have to jockey the carseats around because I drive a PT Cruiser, and it only holds two car seats, despite having LATCHes for three!!!

Anyway, as luck would have it (for a change) my best friend asked to come over to use my wireless Internet. She just got a new Compaq laptop, and the wireless card wasn't working. She needed to call tech support from a location with an available wireless connection.

So - long story short - I let her use the wireless in exchange for a few hours of babysitting! #2 son got his emergency PP visit, the baby got to sleep safely through the whole thing in the comfort of his own home, and I got to do significantly less schlepping than I thought I would. And to make it a *real* win-win, Compaq tech support was able to resolve my friend's wireless issues.

Sometimes, life can be beautiful.

Thursday, January 19, 2006

Lethargy - Asthma-Related? Or Just a Growth Spurt?

#1 son, though only four, has been behaving more like a sixteen year old for the past few weeks.

On two seperate occasions, he's come home from preschool, declined dinner, sacked out on the couch, and crashed. And then he slept straight through til morning.

How weird is that?

Now, granted, we're moving next week (albeit six houses away), he's just gotten a new baby brother, and he's gearing up to start kindergarten next year. If he *was* sixteen, it'd be a sure bet that he was suffering from adolescent depression.

But at age four?

Sure, it could be depression, but I really do think he's a happy kid. He loves his little brothers, he's psyched about having a playroom in the new house, and I don't think he's quite grasping the whole moving-to-a-new-school thing for next year.

More likely, he could be having a growth spurt. He's barely fitting into a 4T at age 4.5, and after two years on corticosteroids, it's about time he shot up a few inches!

But could it be a new asthma symptom? Is that possible? I'm sure I learned at our hospital's pediatric asthma class lethargy is a classic symptom. (MENTAL NOTE: retake that class!)

Just to be safe, I'm keeping an eye on his breathing these days.

Isn't it great how we asthma-moms love to make ourselves crazy??

AngryAsthmaMama Featured Blog at Genetics Health

I'm so proud! I have the featured blog for the week on Genetics and Health.

...I'm also a little embarrassed, as I'm a little behind on posting. Blame Baby Iggy -- it's a little tough to keep up with him, work, moving AND blogging!

Friday, January 06, 2006

*So* over breastfeeding....

Just a little rant here -- it's been two and a half weeks, and I'm already SOOOOO sick of nursing!

I'm committed to it, as I already have two asthmatic sons, and I'm determined to give Iggy the best possible odds for beating asthma. And since I nursed my other two, I definitely owe him this.

But, God -- it just SUCKS. I'm so sore, I'm too big for any bra on this planet (seriously, Pamela Anderson would be jealous), and if I do wear one (like if I have to actually see an adult who isn't an immediate relative) I end up with a painful plugged duct.

I know this is temporary. After six weeks, it will be a piece of cake, but this is just HELL.

Ah, the things I do for my boys. (But I promise to never, EVER hold this over any of them!)

For Aisha

Thanks so much for your comment! I'm so sorry your little girl's having such a hard time with her asthma. Sounds like you're doing a great job...and since I'm not a doctor or anything close to a medical professional, there's not much I can recommend.

But here's what I would suggest: Get a referral to either an Asthma/Allergy specialist or a Pediatric Pulmonologist, if you're not already seeing one.

Since your daughter's asthma clearly isn't under control yet, there are a few different things your doctor might recommend. Possibly, you could increase her Flovent dosage. Or, you could add another medication -- we've got both Singulair and Nasonex in addition to Flovent on my oldest's action plan. It may be something as simple as adding an over-the-counter antihistamine to your daughter's nighttime routine. We find that helps a lot, but I don't know if it's even an option for someone as young as your little girl.

But see a specialist if you haven't yet. Hopefully, there's one near you and on your insurance plan. There's a huge difference between a pediatrician and a pediatric asthma specialist. For us, it made an enormous, life-saving difference.

Some other resources: http://aanma.org - Everything from discount nebulizers to news. But Nurse Christy, an asthma educator you can speak to for free, is by far their best offering.

I also HIGHLY recommend the joining the Asthma Parents discussion list at http://asthmatrack.org/list.html. You'll learn more than you ever thought possible from these wonderful, supportive moms!