sgtiger
04-06-2007, 01:10 PM
My eyes are brimming with impending tears of relief after coming home from my son's doctor's appointment today. He was diagnosed with asthma just 2 days ago and proscribed a fairly aggressive treatment. We had his follow-up appointment today and the doctor said his breathing has improved greatly. On Wednesday I was told his trachea was swollen to the diameter no larger than his nostril, when it should be almost 3x that. Today he's almost normal.
I know it sounds weird to be happy to have a child be diagnosed with this disease, but I've been so stressed with worry every time he has a "cold." Two years ago during Spring he had a cold that wouldn't go away. He was hacking continuously and I could visually tell he was having difficulty breathing, not to mention the wheezing. Because of the longevity of his "colds" and the fact that they were so frequent I would take him to his then doctor only to be told that some children are more susceptible that others to them and it was not uncommom for children to have ten or so during cold season. And none of his doctors could hear any wheezing by the time I could get an appointment to see them 2-3 days after the fact. To make matters worse his regular doctor was bad about charting every symptom , so if I couldn't get in to see her I would have to explain everything over to one of the fellow doctors in the clinic. I would try to explain that his regular doctor had said that if he had another episode she would run some tests to try to find out what the possible causes might be. They gave me skeptical looks and said that the other doctor hadn't written that down so they couldn't do anything about it. :confused: :mad: Arghhh!
Last year at a new clinic with a new doctor he was finally diagnosed with allergies. Because it was the middle of summer the doctor suspected it was grass pollen allergies and recommended Claratin. After that his symtoms went away and we kept him on the Claratin until the grass died out and rainy season began. As soon as the sun started coming out, my son's nose started running and he would cough now and then so we knew it was time to start him up on his allergy medication. But a few days ago DS's coughing became worse, so we gave him some cough medicine. It wasn't very effective and his chest started heaving and he said that his chest felt like a boa (he's into reptiles) was squeezing him. This was his complaint the other times so I thought here we go again and this cold feeling settled into my stomach.:( :confused:
Well Wednesday I sent him to school, only to have his school nurse call a couple of hours later. Alarm bells started ringing in my head even before she had a chance to explain the reason for her call. She told me that he was coughing excessively and would it be possible to come by and give him something for it. I told her that I had already given him a cough strip that morning and that the directions said to administer at least 6 hrs apart so I didn't feel comfortable giving him another one so soon. She agreed that that wouldn't be wise. She asked if DS had any allergies and was he being treated. Both of which I answered in the positive. Then she mentioned that he sounded a little wheezy to her (you mean someone else can hear it too!) and that I should monitor it closely. That with his allergies it could indicate asthma or it could be one of the upper respiratory diseases going around his school. I brought him home and I could see he was struggling with each breath so I decided to call his doctor to make an appointment. When I mentioned that he sounded wheezy, they fit him in that day! His doctor had the day off so DS saw one of the other doctors. As soon as the M.D. saw DS he could see that DS's breathing was labored. The doctor then opened up DS's file which the other doctor had written down all of DS's symtoms from her previous examination of him (I would have kissed her if she was around). So the doctor was able to determine from his own examination and DS's previous symptoms that DS has asthma. DS's Claritan dosage was upped and he was prescribed Prenisolone (oral steroid) for three days, Flovent twice a day, and Combivent 4x day. He has been breathing so much easier and has coughed very little since then. After his exam today we're continuing Flovent 2x day for another week. And the Combivent has to be continued 1-2 times a day until all the trees stop flowering. Sigh.:o
I am so relieved to know what is wrong so that now we can get DS the treatment he needs. Even though as a mom, I would rather he not have to deal with asthma, but since he does, we are able to do something about it now. Since I have some friend who live with it, and they lead very active and otherwise healthy lives, I'm not too worried.:)
Thank-you so much for listening. I needed to get this off my chest and I am sorry this is so long.
I know it sounds weird to be happy to have a child be diagnosed with this disease, but I've been so stressed with worry every time he has a "cold." Two years ago during Spring he had a cold that wouldn't go away. He was hacking continuously and I could visually tell he was having difficulty breathing, not to mention the wheezing. Because of the longevity of his "colds" and the fact that they were so frequent I would take him to his then doctor only to be told that some children are more susceptible that others to them and it was not uncommom for children to have ten or so during cold season. And none of his doctors could hear any wheezing by the time I could get an appointment to see them 2-3 days after the fact. To make matters worse his regular doctor was bad about charting every symptom , so if I couldn't get in to see her I would have to explain everything over to one of the fellow doctors in the clinic. I would try to explain that his regular doctor had said that if he had another episode she would run some tests to try to find out what the possible causes might be. They gave me skeptical looks and said that the other doctor hadn't written that down so they couldn't do anything about it. :confused: :mad: Arghhh!
Last year at a new clinic with a new doctor he was finally diagnosed with allergies. Because it was the middle of summer the doctor suspected it was grass pollen allergies and recommended Claratin. After that his symtoms went away and we kept him on the Claratin until the grass died out and rainy season began. As soon as the sun started coming out, my son's nose started running and he would cough now and then so we knew it was time to start him up on his allergy medication. But a few days ago DS's coughing became worse, so we gave him some cough medicine. It wasn't very effective and his chest started heaving and he said that his chest felt like a boa (he's into reptiles) was squeezing him. This was his complaint the other times so I thought here we go again and this cold feeling settled into my stomach.:( :confused:
Well Wednesday I sent him to school, only to have his school nurse call a couple of hours later. Alarm bells started ringing in my head even before she had a chance to explain the reason for her call. She told me that he was coughing excessively and would it be possible to come by and give him something for it. I told her that I had already given him a cough strip that morning and that the directions said to administer at least 6 hrs apart so I didn't feel comfortable giving him another one so soon. She agreed that that wouldn't be wise. She asked if DS had any allergies and was he being treated. Both of which I answered in the positive. Then she mentioned that he sounded a little wheezy to her (you mean someone else can hear it too!) and that I should monitor it closely. That with his allergies it could indicate asthma or it could be one of the upper respiratory diseases going around his school. I brought him home and I could see he was struggling with each breath so I decided to call his doctor to make an appointment. When I mentioned that he sounded wheezy, they fit him in that day! His doctor had the day off so DS saw one of the other doctors. As soon as the M.D. saw DS he could see that DS's breathing was labored. The doctor then opened up DS's file which the other doctor had written down all of DS's symtoms from her previous examination of him (I would have kissed her if she was around). So the doctor was able to determine from his own examination and DS's previous symptoms that DS has asthma. DS's Claritan dosage was upped and he was prescribed Prenisolone (oral steroid) for three days, Flovent twice a day, and Combivent 4x day. He has been breathing so much easier and has coughed very little since then. After his exam today we're continuing Flovent 2x day for another week. And the Combivent has to be continued 1-2 times a day until all the trees stop flowering. Sigh.:o
I am so relieved to know what is wrong so that now we can get DS the treatment he needs. Even though as a mom, I would rather he not have to deal with asthma, but since he does, we are able to do something about it now. Since I have some friend who live with it, and they lead very active and otherwise healthy lives, I'm not too worried.:)
Thank-you so much for listening. I needed to get this off my chest and I am sorry this is so long.