Spring seems to be a really bad time for Nathan when it comes to his asthma. Last April he had his first ambulance ride to Children’s Hospital. He’s also had a couple of 911 calls to my Mom’s house where the paramedics had to give him breathing treatments, and another ER visit last month as well.
After another difficult day (yesterday), it was decided that Nathan would start seeing a lung specialist (plumonologist) and he will also be on a daily inhaler called FloVent that should help prevent the asthma attacks. It seems his asthma is triggered every time he gets a simple cold for the most part, but what is scary is that the rescue Albuterol inhaler and nebulizer machine (we use the machine if we are at home, the inhaler if we are out) will just not help if he is on a downward spiral with it.
Symptoms are a chronic cough, a lot of cheek puffing when breathing, and you can see his ribs too if you pull up his shirt when he is having an attack. It is so scary, because he will be fine once you give him the inhaler, but then 20 minutes will go by again and he’s scared, crying and cannot breath again. The rescue inhaler should work for 4 hours, not 20 minutes. Its also scary when you know you are at your max of medicine you can give him, and you have to call the emergency line to the doctor or 911. Asthma is serious stuff, so I cannot wait to get him into the specialist next week. I hate, hate, hate putting him on a daily inhaler, but after all of the scary attacks, I just don’t care. And, all of the school he has missed, work I have missed, and hours of sleep we all have missed.
After another difficult day (yesterday), it was decided that Nathan would start seeing a lung specialist (plumonologist) and he will also be on a daily inhaler called FloVent that should help prevent the asthma attacks. It seems his asthma is triggered every time he gets a simple cold for the most part, but what is scary is that the rescue Albuterol inhaler and nebulizer machine (we use the machine if we are at home, the inhaler if we are out) will just not help if he is on a downward spiral with it.
Symptoms are a chronic cough, a lot of cheek puffing when breathing, and you can see his ribs too if you pull up his shirt when he is having an attack. It is so scary, because he will be fine once you give him the inhaler, but then 20 minutes will go by again and he’s scared, crying and cannot breath again. The rescue inhaler should work for 4 hours, not 20 minutes. Its also scary when you know you are at your max of medicine you can give him, and you have to call the emergency line to the doctor or 911. Asthma is serious stuff, so I cannot wait to get him into the specialist next week. I hate, hate, hate putting him on a daily inhaler, but after all of the scary attacks, I just don’t care. And, all of the school he has missed, work I have missed, and hours of sleep we all have missed.
I must say, this morning was a little hectic, with all of the medicine he needed:
- 1 Nebulizer treatment (this is just every 4 hours for the next few days)-each treatment takes about 10 minutes
- Oral Steroid medicine (this is just for 5 days)
- FloVent Daily Inhaler, 2 puffs
Poor boy! I am still hoping he will not need to use the daily inhaler all year, just during the Spring time season when he is at his highest risk, but we will see.
